The Goodness of War

Last night, I saw two movies I have wanted to see for a long time and both completely lived up to my highest hopes. “Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars” and “Little Dieter Needs To Fly” are both about triumph of the human spirit over the very worst that humanity has to offer. I suppose they both show how war can produce positivity, but the full-scale horror they experienced can never be justified. In search of some advice before I travelled to West Africa, I called a family friend, Banker White, who had spent some time there making a movie. A few years later his footage was assembled as the fantastic documentary SLRAS. In Sierra Leone, psychopathic monsters marauded the countryside and destroyed people and villages, forcing innocent civilians to flee to neighboring Guinea where they overwhelmed refugee camps. Music is such an important part of African life, and having witnessed the senseless brutality, it became an even more important means of expression. The All Stars play and sing about the conflict bringing awareness and escape, and in a world devoid of rationality they offer meaning, hope and purpose. Music brings eternal joy.

Warner Herzog captures the capture of Dieter Dengler direct from Dengler’s mouth. A US pilot flying in Vietnam, he is shot down, imprisoned and tortured for six months before he organizes an escape with his fellow POWs. How he managed to live through it and survive the jungle is still beyond my comprehension, but he did and he recounts it beautifully, without an ounce of resentment, returning to the site of his endurance and reliving it. Years later, Herzog made “Rescue Dawn”, the hollywood version of the story with Christian Bale playing Dengler, but the direct monologue in “Little Dieter” is even more effective at communicating the hellish experience firsthand.

War makes good movies, but only because the contrast between good and bad is so great. Making music is great, but do I need to see my family slaughtered for it to truly have meaning? Survival is inspiring, but do I need to eat rotting and maggot infested meat while having bamboo shoots slid under my finger nails to give life a purpose? I know that every day is a gift and I hope I never have to experience anything nearly as traumatic to appreciate each breath.