Link to past lives in new generation
Winnipeg Free Press
May 14, 2000
Winnipeg Free Press
May 14, 2000
I recently decided to take in David Lynch's new movie the Straight Story. Unfortunately I didn't think any of my friends would be interested in this film so I would have to make the trek alone if I really wanted to see it. I had read the reviews and it was unanimously praised. One CBC television reviewer went as far as to say if you are not going to see another movie in your life make sure you go see this one. So with a Friday afternoon stretched out before me I decided to take in a matinee.
It was like going to church. Clusters of white hair were scattered before me as I entered the theater. But that is where the similarities ended. Loud pop music blared in the background as I found my seat. A movie trivia game played on the screen. As I sat in the dimly lit theater it donned on me how much the movie industry was geared towards young people. I was already beginning to feel lost, making that turn into my thirties while everything around me catered toward the young. I felt sandwiched between the marketing of the technologically savy group below me and of course the baby boomers above me. But now I realized that there was another generation that was completely left out. A generation that has grown up in the depression and came of age in a world war.
The music seemed horribly inappropriate for the crowd. And then came the previews. But first there was the ad - a car ad of a young woman whose confidence and worth as a person was directly linked to her purchase of a Toyota Echo. A man's voice in the crowd makes a comment - the others laugh. Next we are treated to clips from a movie staring Gary Shandling as an alien from another planet who has to have sex with a woman to save his planet. Again snickers from behind me. Not going to see that one, a woman says. Finally there is Julia Roberts as a young twice divorced trailer park mom who can't believe she isn't taken seriously working in a law office because she dresses like a prostitute. But of course after launching her own investigation into some environmental cover up she wins the respect of everyone, who should feel bad that they ever doubted her. The crowd isn't buying this one either. I wonder of their perception of the generations that have come after them. If they believe we have completely let things go and are on the sure fire road to disaster. Like a cluttered house in desperate need of cleaning while everyone does their best to ignore the mess as it piles up around them.
Mercifully the previews end. The movie starts. It is a slow moving contemplative movie and it is beautiful. As Alvin Straight, Richard Farnsworth (the oldest ever nominated person for best actor) gives a subtle but poignant performance. The story line is simple one - an old man decides to ride his lawnmover over 300 miles to visit his estranged brother who has had a stroke.
One of the most moving scenes I have ever witnessed in any film involves Alvin Straight and another man his own age. They sit in a bar and tell of their experiences in World War Two - something that neither of them could share with someone who hadn't been there. They each tell of the horror that is forever etched in their minds and how it followed them home and drove at least one of them to try and find solace in a bottle. The confusion and madness of the battlefield can never be captured by Hollywood (not even Steven Spielberg) - and those post war John Wayne movies must have made veterens shake their heads in sad disbelief at how horribly wrong they got it. My Grandfather served in World War Two and hardly spoke of what he had seen. Only during one dinner did he tell of driving a jeep serving as an ambulance without any lights in the dead of night. He managed he way through, following the moonlight through the tops of the trees, while men dripped blood on top of him and moaned in pain. He also spoke of walking through Dresden which was just shoulder high rubble after the Allies firebombed it. He waited with his unit a safe distance outside the city while Allied war planes sent wave after wave of bombers. Of course we are told the Germans deserved it- the allies deemed it neccessary - but it was hard to believe that when you witnesses a city and it's people wiped off the face of the earth.
So as this generation slowly fades away drowned out by the buzz of a technological youth obsessed culture unimpressed with the character and strength that adversity and experience brings, I wonder how it must feel to be pushed to the sidelines and eventually forgotten. A generation where the ultimate sacrifice was made by so many with nary a word of complaint.
My grandmother recently passed away,( a woman who decided at the age of 50 to get her Nursing degree) and both sets of my grandparents are now gone. The living link to the past has been extinguished. A link to immigrants starting their lives over again in a new land on the harsh praire. To the Depression and World Wars and prosperity unrivalled anywhere in the world. But I know that I will carry their struggles and triumphs with me - it is who I am.
So at the end of March, I'll be rooting for Richard Farnsworth to win best actor at the Oscars. And if he does, they'll be a lot of white hair out there cheering right along with me.
It was like going to church. Clusters of white hair were scattered before me as I entered the theater. But that is where the similarities ended. Loud pop music blared in the background as I found my seat. A movie trivia game played on the screen. As I sat in the dimly lit theater it donned on me how much the movie industry was geared towards young people. I was already beginning to feel lost, making that turn into my thirties while everything around me catered toward the young. I felt sandwiched between the marketing of the technologically savy group below me and of course the baby boomers above me. But now I realized that there was another generation that was completely left out. A generation that has grown up in the depression and came of age in a world war.
The music seemed horribly inappropriate for the crowd. And then came the previews. But first there was the ad - a car ad of a young woman whose confidence and worth as a person was directly linked to her purchase of a Toyota Echo. A man's voice in the crowd makes a comment - the others laugh. Next we are treated to clips from a movie staring Gary Shandling as an alien from another planet who has to have sex with a woman to save his planet. Again snickers from behind me. Not going to see that one, a woman says. Finally there is Julia Roberts as a young twice divorced trailer park mom who can't believe she isn't taken seriously working in a law office because she dresses like a prostitute. But of course after launching her own investigation into some environmental cover up she wins the respect of everyone, who should feel bad that they ever doubted her. The crowd isn't buying this one either. I wonder of their perception of the generations that have come after them. If they believe we have completely let things go and are on the sure fire road to disaster. Like a cluttered house in desperate need of cleaning while everyone does their best to ignore the mess as it piles up around them.
Mercifully the previews end. The movie starts. It is a slow moving contemplative movie and it is beautiful. As Alvin Straight, Richard Farnsworth (the oldest ever nominated person for best actor) gives a subtle but poignant performance. The story line is simple one - an old man decides to ride his lawnmover over 300 miles to visit his estranged brother who has had a stroke.
One of the most moving scenes I have ever witnessed in any film involves Alvin Straight and another man his own age. They sit in a bar and tell of their experiences in World War Two - something that neither of them could share with someone who hadn't been there. They each tell of the horror that is forever etched in their minds and how it followed them home and drove at least one of them to try and find solace in a bottle. The confusion and madness of the battlefield can never be captured by Hollywood (not even Steven Spielberg) - and those post war John Wayne movies must have made veterens shake their heads in sad disbelief at how horribly wrong they got it. My Grandfather served in World War Two and hardly spoke of what he had seen. Only during one dinner did he tell of driving a jeep serving as an ambulance without any lights in the dead of night. He managed he way through, following the moonlight through the tops of the trees, while men dripped blood on top of him and moaned in pain. He also spoke of walking through Dresden which was just shoulder high rubble after the Allies firebombed it. He waited with his unit a safe distance outside the city while Allied war planes sent wave after wave of bombers. Of course we are told the Germans deserved it- the allies deemed it neccessary - but it was hard to believe that when you witnesses a city and it's people wiped off the face of the earth.
So as this generation slowly fades away drowned out by the buzz of a technological youth obsessed culture unimpressed with the character and strength that adversity and experience brings, I wonder how it must feel to be pushed to the sidelines and eventually forgotten. A generation where the ultimate sacrifice was made by so many with nary a word of complaint.
My grandmother recently passed away,( a woman who decided at the age of 50 to get her Nursing degree) and both sets of my grandparents are now gone. The living link to the past has been extinguished. A link to immigrants starting their lives over again in a new land on the harsh praire. To the Depression and World Wars and prosperity unrivalled anywhere in the world. But I know that I will carry their struggles and triumphs with me - it is who I am.
So at the end of March, I'll be rooting for Richard Farnsworth to win best actor at the Oscars. And if he does, they'll be a lot of white hair out there cheering right along with me.