Friday, February 04, 2022

Life altering

Life changing films. 

I must be very easily persuaded to see the world in a different light after watching a film. 

Many movies, series, documentaries have changed my life. Like the day after watching I feel like a completely different person, seeing the world with a new pair of eyes, a renewed sense of humor. 

Sex in the City did that for me. When Carrie was writing her opening blogs bits and always said "Couldn't Help but Wonder", writing and rewriting headlines, put me in the weirdest but uplifted mood. Like I had spend hours laughing if up with best friends, then writing great, humorous blog post about it. It made me feel adventuresome, smart, like I was living in New York in my 20's.

Band of Brothers 

David and I watch this at least a couple of times a year and we both cry at the end. It is powerful and makes you understand how young, how brave our America soldiers were during WWII. I always say to David, how could they be that be that brave, so young? And I think about Band of Brothers when I see those fucking flag-waving Neo-Nazis in front of Starbucks in Florida, with NOT one person in power calling it out as pathetic. I think, have these idiots forgotten why we fought that war and how so many people died in the Holocaust? It is mind-boggling. I can't even hear the theme song without breaking down in tears. 

  

The Deer Hunter

I remember the first time I watch The Deer Hunter, it was so intense that I had a headache for days and got sick to my stomach. I had to watch it several times afterwards before I could watch it in peace. But it is not just a war movie, it has so many aspects to it. 

  

  

Private Ryan

The opening D-Day scene of this movie is so tough to watch, so riveting, so real. I think we are lucky that someone figured out how to film that so we could get just a glimpse of how horrible that experience was. 

  

  

  

Of course, Downtown Abbey for the costumes, history and entertainment value. Shawshank Remdemption, Shindler's List, all Harry Potter movies, The Green Mile, It's a Wonderful Life, Unforgiven to name a few of films are important to me (my list is very, very long). I love them, but I don't stop everything to watch them over and over again.

So back to what David and I started watching last night. After Life, a series written by Rick Gervais on Netflix. It follows a guy dealing (or not dealing) with his wife's death from Breast Cancer. It is black humor for sure. It has x-rated language. He says stuff that you just wish you could say to people out loud, instead of just thinking it.

My best friend's son died a few years back and we always talk about how hard it is to move forward, how many people (friends) think you should quit mourning and move on, that I appreciate this dialog so much. I don't think people can just move on, that just does not happen. I don't cry all the time with the thought of my mom, my brother, my uncle all dying so close together, but is does not mean I am not crying and mourning inside. 

Maybe because I wake up every morning and check how many people died the night before of Covid, that I feel we are surrounded by death or folks pretending like we are not in pandemic. Oh, and BTW, 3,000+ Americans died yesterday, and we are at 898K now. We went from 850K to 898K pretty fast. So, having the audacity to talk back to death and have feelings about suicide, for me, seems like a breathe of fresh air. Then the icing on the cake is when he turns around and finds the good in life. Anyway, I feel a little more alive today than I did yesterday.

On top of everything ... it also has a great sound track

Think I am not the only one who loves After Life.



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