It just does not make sense

“I finally came to the conclusion that maybe he was right maybe there are no such things as heroes maybe there are just people like my dad, I finally came to understand why they were so uncomfortable being called heroes. Heroes are something we create, something we need. It's a way for us to understand what is almost incomprehensible, how people could sacrifice so much for us, but for my dad and these men the risks they took, the wounds they suffered, they did that for their buddies, they may have fought for their country but they died for their friends. For the man in front for the man beside him, and if we wish to truly honor these men we should remember them the way they really were the way my dad remembered them. – Flags of Our Fathers (2007)”

 

This succinctly describes not one but two movies – twin movies I should say – ‘Flags of Our Fathers’ and ‘Letters from Iwo Jima’. They are no tearjerkers, they are the heartbleeders. It is an attempt to do something that is truly beyond imagination and fantasy, how some people can DIE for rest of us. Nobody knows the answer to this but only few agree that they do not the answer. War is like a coin with two faces, one side having the real cost on it and the other side having some symbol. Former is a side that can only be lived (and died) while the later is one projected by the rulers in front of people of the nation for all good reasons such as to meet the cost of the war so that the nation can be safe. Mind you this cost is not only financial but also social, it makes us poorer, destroys existing infrastructure and negates the progress of the society. What is perplexing here is when this loss of life in a war and related cost is such a common knowledge, why do people still decide to fight with each other. I do understand there are disputes but with such a long and abundant history of war the whole world should try to learn how to avoid wars. That is a difficult problem, more difficult than inventing an atomic bomb but the final solution has to be of that difficult problem. Bottom-line is that those who have died in wars - do not matter which side - deserved a full life and their families deserved a normal life.

 

Linkys: [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418689/ Flag of Our Fathers] and [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0498380/ Letters from Iwo Jim]