Intense "Entertainment"
I mentioned watching A Beautiful Mind a few weeks ago and that it was very good but intense. It will be awhile before I could watch it again. The next movie from NetFlix was 9/11. I mistakenly thought we were getting the one with Nicolas Cage so was unprepared for this documentary.
The film was shot by two French brothers who were making a documentary of the first few weeks of a probationer fireman at New Yorks Engine 1 Ladder 7....downtown New York. Should be a fun, interesting film until Tuesday morning of 9/11/01. The photographers shot it all. It is an amazaing video, no acting, all real, very emotional.
As always, after seeing the attacks on the World Trade Center, I ponder ....why? Why do people hate us so much that they would do such a horrendous thing? So I picked up a book titled The Thousand Year War by Richard Maybury. He writes about the start of Islam, the Crusades, the Dark Ages, The Renaissance and the constant warring between European and Eastern nations....mostly in the name of religion. There are reasons, right or wrong, why we are hated.
Two interesting poinst he makes: To Americans, what happened 50 years ago is old news. We typically want to move on, forget the past, look to the future. To Europeans and Asians, what happened 1000 years ago is as real as today. Wrongs must be revenged.
Secondly, something very important....a basic value. There are two laws that serve as the base for our legal system. They are very simple: Do all you have agreed to do; do not encroach on others or their property.
These two laws are common to all major religions. So simple, yet obviously pretty hard for humans to follow.
Maybury writes in a simple, letter style so it's a pretty quick read. He declares his bias upfront which is unusual. The book is also pretty interesting in that it was written ini 1997, before the 2001 attacks. So much of what he wrote about has now proved true.
Saturday night we watched The Departed. Lots of Academy Awards for this one and I can see why. Any movie that totally grabs you, wraps you up in the characters and takes you to another place is a winner. I'm not sure I wanted to go to this place, but it was another intense movie experience. It could only end badly and sadly...which it did. So many good actors did such a great job in this movie...but I don't think I want to watch this one again either.
So much to think about! I had to take a break and do a few Tough Sudoku puzzles last night to clear my mind!