Zwerglipatch March 8, 2011 18:37 a.m.
I have been downstairs working for quite a spell. I hear Dad Meyer moaning, crying, and yell to Mom, “I’m scared.” Mom said he was “a bit better” last night. One can see that this situation is getting her down. I spent some time with her this morning at the kitchen table. I listened. Where would we be without kitchen tables?
Friends have sent us notes of encouragement about our situation with Dad Meyer. Friends. We do have and need our Friends. As I begin this day, I am with my Friends.
René and I watched a film with Javier Bardem last night entitled “Second Skin”. Made in 2000, I wonder, if it were made in this decade, if the ending would be different. This film has a character who is sexually torn and ends up what we assume is committing suicide on his motorcycle. A usual melodrama reminiscent of the 1970’s. I do wonder how many people see these films that, for me, do no good.
Zwerglipatch March 9, 2011 10:53 a.m.
Alexander Sokurov’s film “Alexandra” with Galina Vishnevskaya in the title role is worth watching and pondering. The anger that powers rebellions can be avoided, yet, never is. Once a people’s minds have been set, change is futile. Wrongs are not acknowledged. Life, however rough, gets rougher. Watching this film, practically a private verité, is witness to the actual. Answers sought remain questions. The only given is that war is nonsense. Lives and homes and places are wasted. These givens are depressing realities.
In a press conference, also on this DVD, with Sokurov, Vishnevskaya, and the composer/producer whose name escapes me, René and I learned that the Twenty-first Century Russian society with its stronghold on ideas is the same as the early Twentieth Century and earlier. Mr Sokurov’s “fiction”, as he calls it, succeeds in presenting a universal portrait. This “Earth” is Everyone’s. Mr. Sokurov’s hope that generations will learn from his film is, as far as I see, just that: Hope. I, too, retain “Hope”. I, too, fear Reality. I, too, wish for an Earth with no strife. And, I, too, know that this, although easy, will never occur. Strife will always be contradicted. Turmoil will always exist. It is good to witness how people attempt to educate us all by sharing their craft. I applaud this effort. It would be grand to be able to witness more efforts.
