"The point of a story can penetrate far deeper than the point of any bullet."

~ Lawrence Nault - The Mountain Hermit

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire

 Second World War is still a popular subject, especially in entertaiment: YLE present every Independence Day 'The Unknown Soldier', the movie, which based on Väinö Linna's famous novel, everybody have heard about 'Saving Private Ryan' and in this year get its premier finnish scifimovie 'Iron Sky', where Nazis have colonized the moon. Into this same subject draw also Thomas Keneally's 'Schindler's list'.
   The book based on true story about Oskar Schindler, ethnic German industrialist and member of Naziparty and 1100 Jewishs he bail out. Like author hiself states, he have used aids that are typical for novels, partly because he thinks that he doesn't posses others. He have anyhow wanted to stay into facts as far as possible, so book contains lots of numbers and reference to his repositorys, especially to the Jewishs Oskar saved. All happens in the book are true and most of the conversations ( part of them had to reconstruct ) based on accurate memorys by Schindlerjuden ( Schindler's Jewishs ), witnesses and Schindler hiself. This create a confusing mess of cold facts and literature's emotionality.
  Reader can immediatelly identify to holocaust's Jewishs victims. She or he can almost see when Rosners brothers, Jew musicians, play literally for dear life in Podgóre's concentration camp's commendant Amon Goeth's villa. Reader can also conceive Goeth standing his villa's terrace in shirtsleeves just after breakfast targeting lazy prisoners with rifle.
   The book contains many shuddering stories about mistreatment of Jewishs: little girl has to see during action when SS-men beat people who was hiding in ghetto's houses. When group of men who belong to Schindlerjuden end up into Auswitch, they have to sleep in one another's lap so that they fit into their small building.
   Althought book gush out shuddering happens, there is also little glimpses of hope: it feels almost miraculous that same little girl, who have to see cruelty of action, contrives to slide from middle of SS-men's boots back to freedom. It's touching how young lovebirds want to date traditionally middle of Podgóre's camp's misery and horrors.
   In Oskar's and Jewish's he saved battle against revelation almost every means are allowed; they get officers to turn a blind eye with generous bribes or drinks, Oskar keeps SS-men away by threatening them with consequences, which would follow if somebody would disturd his Jewish workers, who are 'important to war' and saves many of his employees by pleading their so called 'proficiency' and they fake without a second thought official documents.
   Characters of 'The Schindler's list' are like direct to traditional fairytale: there is incomprehensible evil
( Nazis, at the head Podgóre's concentration camp's commendant Amon Goeth ), innocent people, who need help ( Jewish ) and a guide, who directs our hero to the right way ( Itzhak Stern ). Only Oskar hiself doesn't fit into this pattern. Although he managed to save 1100 Jewish, he was still a hard drinker with an iron liver and little bit flighty and he had many lovers, who his wife got at least suspicions. Despite that in his Jewish workers' memories he appears in mystic and almost supernatural guardian angel.
   Oskar Schindler and his acts are so complex that their are actually impossible to explain exhaustively in 412 pages, if at all. If I would know that all this is true, I would have hard to believe so.

Mark: 8-

Friday, April 8, 2011

Freemasons, mysterious intruders, weird weapons and coded messages


Arthur Conan Doyles fourth and final Holmes-novel 'The Valley of Fear'
includes everything this. Just like all the other Holmes-novels ( part from
'The Hound of the Baskervilles' ) it contains two part: in the first part
Holmes and Watson are examining the tragedy of Birlstone. Mr. Douglas
has killed brutally in his home and police is confused. The second part
places in past and tells how everything have came to this point.
   Novels language is a little bit obsolescent and so it little hard to read, especially if you english isn't good. That's why I recomend it to them who have read books in english before and who manages to use dictionary.
   Many of the Sherlock Holmes -fans think that 'The Valley of Fear' is Conan Doyles best and I agree. It's the most exiting and darkest Holmes-story I have read. There Watson's narrators voice get its rights. It shows that Doyle's Watson isn't a bit dumb like in later movies; compared to Holmes everbody look little dim. There is also the only truly funny moment for which I quietly chuckled by myself; the moment when Holmes awake Watson and ask him if he would "be afraid to sleep in the same room with a lunatic, a man with softening of the brain, an  idiot whose mind has lost its grip". And in the end, well, everything aren't nicely and well.

Mark: 7-