"Reality" in the Movie, "The Unknown"

I have recommended the movie, "The Unknown", because of its excellent direction. The movie keeps one spellbound. It captures the audience's attention and emotion, when "Martin"s memory is partially impaired.

Humans live from memory. We learn our language and remember the right words to even communicate with others when we grow up. What if we couldn't remember our words? This was not the case in "The Unknown", as his memory of important emotional facts was intact, but some of the other facts were forgotten due to an accident. Due to the "missing links", he is living in "limbo" land, not able to understand many things happening to him. How does he interpret them?

Whenever humans don't have a grasp on reality, such that they can find security, they find themselves anxious. Anxiety is the state of "not knowing", or fearing that which "might come". Why would this anxiety have any hold on a human being? When experiences continue to confound and there is no rationale for what is happening, humans become anxious about their futures. A "state of peace" or psychologial security is the result of learning about "cause and effects". Behaviors are conditioned by "causes and effects". But, "sometimes the "causes and effects" are not straightforward "laws of nature". These have damaging effects on the psyche. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder could be the result and might have a disorienting effect on the personality.

Humans must have some sense of control about thier life to maintain a sense of dignity and personal orientation about "reality" itself.  "The Unknown" brought to light what it is like to experience a dis-orienting experience where 'life doesn't make sense. The Unknown gave a sense of what life would be like if one lost partial memory and had to "live with it".

Memory or the brain's recording or experience is not the "whole story". Memories have to be itnerpreted to be meaningful, but when some information is "lost" and one is left to interpret without all the 'facts", then what? This made for a great movie.

Go see it. You won't be disappointed!

Review of "Dinner With the Smucks"

I recently went to see "Dinner With the Smucks" and liked the message, but didn't care for some of the comedy. The message was a familiar one; we all have areas to grow and acknowledge, no matter our station in life.

The story line was of an ambitious young businessman, who set his goal to move up the corporate ladder. But, for him to move up the corporate ladder, he had to attend a dinner and bring a "smuck" (idiot). The biggest "idiot" would win a prize and the corporation would grant the promotion to the one that could "lay one over" on another human being.

In the end, the young and ambitious man learned a human lesson that no one is above growing and acknowledgment of human limitations, and human dignity. We are all human, after all. And the "idiot" learned that he could overcome the obstacles in his life if he only believed in himself.

It reminded me of the recent play I saw, "Fat Pig". Helen understood, knew and accepted her limitatons/liabilities. But, she also learned, when she lost at love, that those liabilities are still liabilities in the real business world, where image is everything. Success in both "Fat Pig" and "Dinner With the Smucks" was defined differently than "real world politics", where lying, denial, competition, vanity, and vain-glory win the honors.

"The Curious Savage" and the Message It Made

I love theatre, because of its proximity to real life and it being in the form of "real life". The playwrights all know this method of relaying a message about "life" is effective. Last night, my husband and I attended a local production of the play, "The Curious Savage". It's message was no less poignant.

The notes on the play suggested that the main character, Mrs. Savage was an illustration of selfishness, but I thought that some of the other members of the play illustrated selfishness more starkly.

The play begins with Mrs. Savage being brought to a 'home" by her three step-children. She portrays her resentment of their control and their greed for thier inheritance, through a mockery of thier values. And is left by them to face "herself" in the many characters that inhabit the "home".

These characters; a grieved childless mother, an idealistic, sensitive "dancer", a stubborn defiant "hater", an accomplished neurotic pianist, and a "blind" unaccomplished violinist "mirror" Mrs. Savage's psychological "reflections" of "loss".

Mrs. Savage's hope for a family had ended quickly after marrying her step-children's dad. She was never accepted for "who she was", but for what she could give monetarily. These step-children were"well-connected" and had positions of promenience. It was obvious that their actions were only "protected" by their fear of loosing "status", but their greed over-rode their sensibilities in the end, when Mrs. Savage told each one where she had hidden thier inheritance. She did not tell them the truth, nor did she tell them the same thing. She was protecting the inheritance to provide a 'name" for her dead husband.

Justice finally rules at the end. Each character is "redeemed" from their situational/psychological "doom", the step-children have been exposed for who they are and what they really want, and Mrs. Savage ultimately gets her inheritance, and her freedom.

I found this play to really speak of "reality". People are prone to hide their fears behind religious walls of identification. These fears are "real experiences' that have impacted lives. And religion or tradition just covers over their denial of "real life".

On the other hand, character is truly revealed when desire runs over another human being, such as the step-children did in Mrs. Savage's case.

I didn't agree with the director's analysis of the play, as Mrs. Savage was the only courageous one in the play. She was resolute to defend her honor, face her problems, and protect her husband's memory.

I highly recommend this play.

Why the Jews?

Sunday I was listening to a classical piece that reminds me of the Jewish plight under the Nazis. Why has the West identified with the Jews?

The Jews have become symbolic to our identity. Our identity is rooted in freedom under law. We, in America, are a people because we believe in freedoms of all kinds. We are not a people identified with a religion, a monarch, or an ideology. This leaves the individual at liberty to choose his own way of life, as long as it does not interfere with the laws that provide for our security. Our solidarity is only based on these freedoms and Americans don't have a strong "cultural identity" unless freedom is challenged.

Myths have been useful for identification. Stories are told to children and children identify with the hero or herorine in the story. They dream of rescue, dreams and hopes coming true. These are basic to the human heart.

In America, we have benefited by these basic human desires of "becoming all we can". Hollywood is known worldwide to transmit these cultural values.

The "Jews" are symbolic for all human rights and many Jews today are humanists because of their story of struggle to attain what the human heart has always longed for, Freedom.

The U.N. Talk and Obama's Vision

I listened to Obama talk at the U.N. on radio and T.V. And I was impressed with his commitment to serve and represent American interests. But, he called for all nations to step forward in helping America fulfill the responsibility toward many social issues. I was glad that we were not going to be footing the whole bill.

Although he gave a great speech and many were positive in their reviews, I am a little wary of Lybian and Iranian interests. They did not seem to be interested in applauding our president during his speech, although Kadafi did acknowledge Obama's speech when he took the "stage".

I just wonder how much power can be distributed to the likes of these and still hold to democratic ideals? It doesn't seem that those who do not give their own countries a democratic type of government would lend an ear to ideals of "life and liberty".

China seemed from some accounts of their people to be open to taking a center stage place in the power re-distribution. America isn't to be the super-power anymore? Is this because we owe so many people and are really a "slave nation" today? But, the rhetoric was strongly focused toward a unified "one world".

On NPR there was a program taking calls to get feed-back worldwide on the speeches. One lady asked who would be making the ultimate decisions concerning a nation if a "one world governemt came into being. This is an important question, as it reveals that power will not be broad-based. The commentator answered that, of course, the decisions would be made by the
monied". Will the "monied" be a nation, like China, or will the "monied" be a group of people? These are pertinent questions in understanding what we can expect in the future in regards to our very "way of life".

I imagine there is little we can do globally, but we can do something nationally and I hope we will. The "Tea Parties" are a start and I think that if enough people raise their voices, then certainly someone will hear. We must try and not give up hope for our nation's recovery.

I will wait now and see if Obama does what he says for Amercian interests. And how much he upholds the values of human freedom and dignity to choose our own destinies. This is mandantory if we are to live in the future as free people.

An American's View of Value

While my husband and I were in Europe, our youngest son was sworn into the U.S. military. We value the military for its commitment to democracy and upholding and protecting our Constitution, under the authority of our president. But, our values were not the value in most of the European friends and family that we know and I begin to question why this was so....

While sitting with some European friends at dinner, we were sharing about our children and when we shared that our son was going into service, the wife questioned how I felt about that. I sat quietly, at first, as I weighed what I would say. And then, I compared service to the military with the husband's job at Phillips. Although one may not agree to every decision that is made by company managers, there is an overall agreement and upholding of company values and vision. This was similar to anyone that wanted to serve their country in the military.

Our country's values of "ordered liberty" is a value that we take for granted. We must not take these freedoms for granted, but be indebted to our fore-fathers for forseeing what the costs would be if there was no protection of these values.

All of the Europeans that we spoke to and we questioned about the European Paraliment could not give us a concrete vision or purpose for its establishment. Granted that there must be a way to order the vast differences of the individual European countries. The problems have resulted in unification at the sacrifice of individual identity. And this is one reason why Switzerland has not joined the European Union.

Our son's life is being committed to the values we have upheld for him, because we believe that all men are created equal, not in aptitude, but in innate being, as a human being. Human dignity is the basis of human rights, which some religious do not value. We should not apologize for these values, for they represent the highest form of moral order. We tolerate the intolerant at our detriment and our demise. How do we protect those who do not know they "need" protection, or do not value liberty, because they have not experienced it? I don't know, but I am so thankful to have had the freedom that we have in America.

Americans, and anyone who values individuality should uphold American government and defend its ideals. Our family has given their lives for these ideals to be protected and we think this is of ultimate value!