November 17 – Day 61

Over the past few months I have spent every Saturday morning, half asleep watching Soviet propaganda films meant to highlight the most influential of all Russian cinema. On the whole I found much of it disturbing and had grown tired of spending three hours each week watching grotesque examples of Social Realism. Today we were given the opportunity to see something a bit different. It was the 1956 film “The Cranes Are Flying” by Kalatozov, and while it was still an example of Soviet propaganda (but let’s face it, how much of what we see today isn’t in some way propaganda) it was unlike many of the other films we have seen in that it subtly played thru the issues which affect our human condition and showed without obvious bias the realities of life in a time of war. It was one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen and reminded me so much of the first time I saw ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ as a young girl. I remember being so moved, so traumatized thinking about the suffering of someone so close to my own age. Watching this film, now decades older, I still feel that connection. It is a tragic love story and in a moment just before his death, the heroine’s father wistfully reassured his wife about their daughter’s well being. “That’s love my dear,” he said, “a harmless mental disturbance.” It was such a simple yet stunning moment and it played such contrast to the agony these characters were about to endure. I have thought so much about these topics here; about love and loss and who we become when it is gone. I can see clearly now that all things in life happen for a reason and that the experiences I have had here would never have been possible without first traveling down painful paths. There is something so timeless about the final image of this film – a young woman greeting a train full of returning soldiers, hoping against hope that the man she loves will be amongst them. Even though we know he will not be there we sit in silence praying for her that it might be true. Love is timeless and heartbreak human. And as we sit there watching her stand as a tower of strength in flowing white linen, accepting the truth and letting go, we see that releasing our past and moving forward with our lives is just as universal.