A better life

Normal people, regular lives. Artists, blue collar workers, writers, thinkers, doers. Just plain folk going about their business, making babies, raising families, getting up in the morning and going ot work. All it takes to see that the world is filled with folks whose lives are being screwed with every day is to pick up the paper and check out where the latest hotspot is. There are too many out there to list here, but Haiti and Afghanistan come to mind as being the latest poster children. Why is it that folks in power, in places where trouble brews up at a drop of a hat and folks fight for scraps with little or no provocation, seem to exascerbate things even more by applying really stupid and selfish stuff like greed, incompetence, power madness and religious intolerance into the mix? As my mother-in-law used to say to me, "why can't we all just get along?"

Seems like my film viewing has gravitated towards subjects like that recently. I fight the inclination to watch realistic movies almost every day. There are days when I want nothing more than mindless explosions, titillating celluloid filled with feigned sex, stunt doubles and dubbed dialogue. There are days when all I want is the delivery of that upfront promise, that what I plan on seeing will be a pure and total escape from the troubles of the day. When the world and all it's headlines scream out alittle bit too much reality I perfer to head towards the comfort and hilarity that old Columbia prints of the Three Stooges deliver, or, if really crazy and serious shit has gone down, yet another botched hijacking or horrific bombing or over the top natural disaster that seems to be yet another bit of divine retribution then yet another screening of Animal House or Airplane! is needed. There are days when we know we've had enough and that the rest of the world feels that way, too. If only the rest of the world had the option to turn it off for awhile and head to the movies, instead.

So, over the course of the last few weeks I've caught some old school stories about the Eastern Bloc before the fall of the Wall. The tales were all about folks not too far removed from people like you and me who ran afoul of the government at hand because they didn't know how to kowtow, because they wouldn't shut up, because they were stand up kinds of people who just wouldn't stand still for injustice. What got to me and made these films so recommendable is that they proclaimed the universal quest of the common man and that's just to be free to make a better life for themselves and their loved ones. I was touched by their need to tunnel or strike or cast aside draconian rules and live a life of integrity, to challenge the fist that was trying so damn hard to strike them down, to just be brave.

I know that my travails are small fish in comparison to what everyday folks suffer through,m be it political persecution, earthquakes, revolution, holy wars and the long term effects of Imperialism. I'm just a man who ran afoul of a system that couldn't and wouldn't tolerate a man who dared to write about the story of his life, who dared to wear his heart on his sleeve, blog style. The folk portrayed in these films are full out heroes in comparison to me. I haven't had to dig anyone out other than myself, I haven't had to go up against the machine and lose my life. I was "listened to", sure, but I wasn't hauled into prison for my words. All well and good. I am happy that the stories tghat I watched were all in the past tense, that the political systems that held them down, persecuted them, imprisioned them, are gone and that other ways of thinking and living are now available to them.

I feel lucky every time I watch movies like Strike or The Tunnel or The Lives of Others. What I feel is ectasy, joy, relief. Movies like that might not be filled with fast cars, hot women or CGI fakery, but they leave me limp, in a state of thankfulness, which is something far more wonderful than a bit of escapism ever could hope to give me.

Action!

The Tunnel:
http://www.allmovie.com/work/the-tunnel-244159


The Lives of Others:
http://www.allmovie.com/work/the-lives-of-others-350173

Strike:
http://www.allmovie.com/work/strike-360010