I cannot say what is biggest in The Bridge on the River Kwai: Colonel Nicholson’s pride in the bridge, director David Lean‘s budget for the film, or the nationalistic stereotyping within the film.
Categories
Tag: Politics
What makes a hero? Is it dying in the name of your country, or is it inspiring hope in the hearts of the civilians for whom you’re supposedly fighting? In what ways are soldiers sacrificed to serve the greater good? In the 2006 film Flags of Our Fathers, director Clint Eastwood attempts to answer to these questions in his exploration of the mythos behind the soldiers of the Marine Corps War Memorial. In so doing, he shows how the United States ran its own war propaganda campaigns during the 1940s and how relative a term as lofty as “hero” truly is.
At one point in the book Persepolis, Marji’s father tells her that “politics and sentiment don’t mix,” and yet much of the book’s power comes from precisely that combination–on the one hand, there are the horrible realities of the revolution and the war; and on the other hand, there is the example of Satrapi’s family, whose strength and love really do become a means of survival for Marji.
Taking into account both the book and the movie, how do you react to the father’s statement that “politics and sentiment don’t mix.” Do you think that Marji herself believes that? Do you think the women in her family–her mother and grandmother–would agree with the statement?
The seismic pothole on Main Street has grown
and has started to gnaw on the sidewalk.
Most motorists and all pedestrians
avoid the byway, preferring the park-
way instead, so we ask that you refill
the road starting with the hole. We had planned
to send thousands of pleasant letters, all
requesting this favor with eloquence.
Sadly—Harold has to take the children
to karate; Karen has Pilates
until seven, and the rest have chosen
not to care, so we elected a mouthpiece,
this young writer named Michael Ollinger,
to deliver these capital concerns.