Adoration for the anthology Against Forgetting: Twentieth-Century Poetry of Witness

In the dark times, will there also be singing?
Yes, there will be singing.
About the dark times.*
                                            -Bertolt Brecht

     Extremity - that which pushes us to the edge of experience - is a universal touchstone. And upon it, those who once believed they suffered alone through their tortures can find innumerable company. It is what joins "them" and "us." We must speak our experiences, our pain, the hurt that endeavors to isolate each of us from one another. This is that which has a common language, if only we attempt to voice it to someone, anyone else. Think on those things that make you want to laugh, shout, rejoice, wail - that which causes you to truly feel beyond the usual, the mundane, the everyday. Those are what we should share. Those are the links of commonality between us despite any distances of geography, culture, creed, or time.   
     An anthology that attempts to bear testament to the extreme of human experience and endurance, Against Forgetting: Twentieth-Century Poetry of Witness was edited by the esteemed poet Carolyn Forche. The heavy volume draws from other noted poets throughout the former century, across a broad spectrum of tumultuous human rights events - war, torture, exile, repression - from the Armenian genocide to World War II to Tiananmen Square. It certainly doesn't cover everything that it could and should, and that is my only qualm with the anthology - but save that for the second volume, which is sure to come. Here, the collected works of these poets are each unique in detail and voice. Yet there is a connecting harmony running through every one that is, at first, faint and gentle. But it builds as a reader ventures farther within, gathering strength, creating a familiar rhythm that deeply resonates. And it lingers, continuing to sing - erasing that which has always seemed insurmountable. So that we can look upon one another with some bit of recognition, no matter the superficial differences present. That should stay at the forefront of every individual's mind after finishing Against Forgetting. Take the title as a motto, a creed, and a purpose to carry with as you move through this vast and varied world.

     

WHAT HAPPENS

It has happened
and it goes on happening 
and will happen again
if nothing happens to stop it

The innocent know nothing
because they are too innocent
and the guilty know nothing
because they are too guilty

The poor do not notice 
because they are too poor
and the rich do not notice 
because they are too rich

The stupid shrug their shoulders
because they are too stupid
and the clever shrug their shoulders
because they are too clever.

The young do not care 
because they are too young
and the old do not care
because they are too old

That is why nothing happens
to stop it
and that is why it has happened
and goes on happening and will happen again

-Written by Tadeusz Rozewicz
(Translated by Robert A. Maguire and Magnus Jan Krynski)






*Excerpt from the poem Motto by Bertolt Brecht as quoted in the anthology.

Review of the film The Loneliest Planet

“Properly speaking, the unconscious is the real psychic; its inner nature is just as unknown to us as the reality of the external world, and it is just as imperfectly reported to us through the data of consciousness as is the external world through the indications of our sensory organs.” 
                                   - Sigmund Freud
                                    The Interpretation of Dreams

     The Loneliest Planet is a film that lives in the wordless exchanges between its characters. And there are innumerable interactions that occur without any one speaking at all. The body conveys so much - the gentle tilting of a head, the brushing together of arms, the sharp narrowing of the eyes, the sudden entire body jerk of fright - we can recognize significance, and there are things that never need be voiced to be understood. 
      Sometimes this is a knowledge - a sneaking suspicion - that we are not even fully aware we possess until later. We are so caught up in the moment that our brains highlight some things, what seems essential, and submerge others. These hidden pieces of information may not be above that line of full consciousness, but they are there. And they will remain in the unconscious until that quicksilver second of recognition. Then we are left wondering how we had not fully realized their magnitude until now.
     This film unyieldingly explores a short few days in a relationship, between a young man and a young woman. They are intimate and in love - infatuated? - with each other and engaged to be married. They are on a trekking adventure through the country of Georgia, which is a greatly mountainous land lying beneath the great northern bulk of Russia and just above the desert coastal countries of the Middle East. The wilderness of foothills and valleys of these Caucasus Mountains are astonishing in beauty. But there is a foreboding nature to them as well - it is so quiet and desolate. There are moments when the couple's hired native guide suddenly puts up a hand to silence and halt them, and the air is undeniably impregnated with a sense of danger. As if someone is following them, unseen but uncomfortably close behind with sinister motives. But then they begin hiking again, and the young pair is laughing and talking as if nothing is astir except the mountain breeze and the cold water of the rocky valley creeks. We almost forget.
     Then that thing happens, the one we've been expecting. And it is still surprising and shocking, and it changes everything. And the event lasts less than three minutes. But its significance is without question - these two characters, this couple who had seemed so compatible and nakedly in love, may not be exactly who the other was so certain of. Again, there is not much dialogue, yet it is overwhelming to watch their faces in the moments and hours after, as they continue their trek. And the new ways in which they interact with each other and their guide. 
     There are no words to adequately describe what has occurred, what has changed, but there is visible reconsidering and realization creeping through every expression, gesture, and interaction. All around them, the vastness and ancientness of the mountains extend to every horizon. Rendered tiny and vulnerable by those heights and depths, the three walk towards the night that awaits them, and the two foreigners are unsure of what it will bring.
     A quiet meditation of a film, The Loneliest Planet offers what seems a simple story. But there is also a profound psychological narrative at play throughout. How well can we know each other? How knowable are we to others? To ourselves even? And what happens when we are caught violently off guard - and what transpires is so far from anything we could have ever imagined? What becomes of us? And, perhaps, we also ask ourselves in silent moments of naked vulnerability, was it really so unimaginable after all? Maybe there was evidence all along, evidence that we overlooked, submerged beneath the surface of our consciousness. We were just so caught up in the story that we were telling ourselves - a far simpler tale than the truth suddenly laid bare.

Review of the documentary film Life Itself

     In 1999, the popular film critic and media personality Roger Ebert told his wife, Chaz, of something he had decided that became integral to his future life and character. This proclamation came shortly after the death of his contentious rival/colleague and dear friend, Gene Siskel. The latter man had suffered very privately from terminal brain cancer, which Ebert had been kept unaware of until the last possible moment. Ebert and his wife were planning on going to visit Siskel in the hospital on a Monday morning when he died the Saturday afternoon before. The surviving member of Siskel & Ebert & The Movies was devastated, not only by the loss of his friend, but also by the secrecy surrounding the terminal nature of Siskel's condition. 
     After a short while spent quietly processing, Ebert stated to Chaz that - if he ever fell ill in a similar fashion - he would never want to hide his condition, especially not from the people he loved. So a few years after his thyroid cancer diagnosis along with numerous surgeries and stays in the hospital and rehab, Ebert invited documentarian Steve James into his life to create a film to that built off his memoir by the same name. Steve James is the noted filmmaker of Hoop Dreams, which Ebert had declared was the greatest movie of the 1990s. Ebert's sincere and widely-heard accolades of that documentary helped launched it and its director into international fame and esteem. Despite this, the biographical film that emerges from James, with Ebert's enthusiastic cooperation, is not simply and purely exultation of the writer. It is true that James has great respect for Ebert and that shows throughout the film. This is most evident in how multi-layered the portrait of the man becomes as the director takes great swaths of time, life events, friend and family interviews, and moments with Ebert himself. There are passages narrated by the man's voice, which had been lost due to the invasive cancer surgeries, and they are handled with the grace of poetry. One can gather from the words why the writer has always been so well received. There are other pieces that are not always cheery - Ebert has been described as someone who was ostentatiously stubborn and petulant, as well as vain. James finds a lovely balance among the many sections of the man's life that he uses to to construct the film. The overall picture is that of a real man - and that is why Ebert would have approved. 
     Watching the man and his wife, Chaz, interact, one can view plainly how much the two complemented each other. And how much love lived between them. Ebert may have been pig-headed at times, but he truly enjoyed other people. The snippets of the film that give us other's stories and recollections of Ebert prove so interesting for this reason. A former producer or colleague may not have completely positive things to say about their interactions with the late writer, but each always has at least one glowing fragment to give. And as they add up, it is becomes clear that there is continual illustration of how he unquestionably impacted those who were around him. He was not a man that was easily forgotten as he moved in and out of other people's lives.  
     Roger Ebert loved movies so sincerely, and that was also abundantly clear throughout his life and those parts shown in the film. With the clout he gained from all his years and accolades as a writer and television personality, he pushed for the further accessibility of films. His writing about movies aimed for accessibility as well. As a young adolescent, I used to read Ebert's reviews with reverence and awe at his ability to compress so much information and so many lofty ideas about a particular film into such a tight, controlled space. He was a great writer. And a great champion of the movie industry - small and large. 
     His writing and every movie review he ever issued are collected at rogerebert.com. There one will find a diverse collection of new and old writers publishing reviews and op-ed pieces, that are in keeping with the spirit of the site's namesake. That is to say, they are all truly unique in voice and view. This site and the film, Life Itself, are lovely and lively tributes to a man's whose own voice will resonate long beyond the time of his passing. And in the memories of those who loved and honored his life.