Monday, October 27, 2014

In Love And War







Tonight's marathon is one that revolves around the issue of romance during wartime. There are several different scenarios and issues at play here, ranging from two brothers being in love with the same woman while one goes off to war. When that brother returns, he finds that things have changed and life has moved on without him. Or two best friends whose bond runs thicker than blood and one goes off to war, gets shot down and presumed dead, then comes back to find that the other friend has fallen in love with the same girl. Tonight we reflect on the effects war has on relationships before and after the fact. We have on tonight's menu:

               Brothers 2009, Atonement 2007, Enemy at the Gates 2002, and Pearl Harbor 2001

The timeline for the four films have been reversed starting at present day and going backwards in time to a point where there was a feeling of innocence before the true wars began. Brothers represents a modern day look at relationships involving soldiers who go off to war, and the effects has on not only the soldiers themselves but the actual families of those affected. War touches a lot more than just the battlefield, it hits our homes, and we experience the ultimate consequences of it. Those consequences can range from loss of a loved one to misinformation and people moving on with their lives when they don't need to necessarily. Brothers features strong performances from Natalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Tobey Maguire, making them feel like real people that we care about in the end. The storyline for this movie is modern day with the Iraq war, a husband of a family goes off to war to fight for his country, and is presumed dead. The wife and children are left devastated and are looked after by his brother. As time goes on, the brother and wife form a bond that grows with time and ultimately becomes an issue when the husband is revealed to be alive. He comes back after being traumatized by what he experienced during captivity. Brothers is the most realistic of the four because it comes straight out of modern day time, and we can all relate to this scenario. The next film Atonement, takes us back to the beginning of World War ll, where romance was also on the horizon going into battle. Nominated for 7 academy awards, this film deals with a 13 year old writer named Briony Tallis, a 13-year old girl who changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he didn't commit. The third film Enemy at the Gates, deals with a Russian sniper and a German sniper playing a card of cat-and-mouse during the Battle of Stalingrad. The two friends in this one played by Jude Law, and Joseph Fiennes, fight over the charms of a beautiful Russian soldier played by Rachael Weisz. During the course of the film, they battle a ruthless German sniper played by the great Ed Harris. He is as cold-blooded as the Terminator in this one. The fourth and final film in the marathon is Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor. Perhaps the most controversial film of the four movies up for viewing tonight, the film was a box office success in 2001 but got critically panned by critics for failing to capture the realism of war. Though the film got huge praise for it's astounding action sequences, some audiences were left cold by the love story. Going into the planning of this marathon, it was decided that Pearl Harbor had to be included to show the innocence of war before America got forced into World War ll, and the romance between a nurse Kate Beckinsale, and two fighter pilots Josh Hartnett and Ben Affleck is Brothers in past times. It has justification for being in this marathon because it helps to drive home the message that war not only affects the people on the battlefield, but the families of those involved.

Themes that cover this marathon are romance, friendship, war, and whether looking after a siblings family when they think you're dead betrayal?





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