Monday.....Miscellaneous.....Mrs. Miniver.....Redux

The bumper sticker on my automobile says 57 Days Left. It points to the November 2nd election that may put the republicans back in control of at least the House of Representatives and seriously hinder the agenda of the Leftist/Socialist Barack Obama. My heart is not in this day as it is with a lot of conservatives. Yes, it's necessary, yes it will stop the hemorrhaging but it is not even near the only Rx for our troubles that being a humbling of  ourselves as a nation before God. I have the bumper sticker there to draw attention to my blog's url which is next to it. The following blog is from April 10, 2009 and is on the 1942 British film Mrs. Miniver. I'm sitting in a Starbucks as I write this and when one gets away from the news on the web, the talk of radio and the headlines of the newspaper, it would seem as America rolls on like Old Man River, rough water here, high water at times but always the same whether it be Huck Finn on a raft or the well-to-do in their speedboats and martinis. Newsweek philosopher Fareed Zakaria believes that America's overreacted to 9/11. In the next 57 days we are going to see a Panzer movement from the administration in an attempt to influence the election. Economic measures that promise a lot but would be in effect another stimulus and another nail in our economic coffin; and another peace initiative in the Middle East that deals with rational people but utterly ignores dealing with those with the bombs and the hatred. The near future does not portend well for Americans but that is not the issue in the minds of the radical Left and the elites who only want time to fundamentally transform the world into a manageable, Godless, essential tyranny and totalitarian rule of the minds and actions of the les miserables. If our tranquility is interrupted in a major way, as it was in England and was projected for us in 2001, we will either, through God's mercy, respond in that essential humility or give these elites full command of our future.

The English film, Mrs. Miniver has been called by some the greatest movie ever made. A series of newspaper articles were written in London about the fictional character of Mrs. Miniver who saw the gaiety of a rather comfortable 'middle class" life morph into the severity and sorrow of life in World War II. At the start, Mrs. Miniver is preoccupied with fancy new hats, her husband is equally taken by purchasing a new automobile. Their son, attending Oxford is enraptured by the myriad of intellectual and social issues that were opening up to him, along with the affections for a young lady. During a church service where the family's minds seemed to be on anything but the gospel, the announcement was made that England was at war. Out of necessity, life changes. The horror of 9/11 brought on numerous comments about how America "would never be the same." It didn't happen, at least not the way it was envisioned. Our "war on terror" today has taken on a pre-9/11 strategy. Admittedly, this movie and the articles it was based on, were meant to encourage the English and challenge us in America. Admittedly also, I write often on the good but mostly the bad influence that filmmakers can have but there is more than enough evidence of the determination of the British people and it's army, navy and R.A.F., and the historical importance and accuracy of the happenings of "Dunkirk" that is pictured in this film. England had its protesters and its dissenters but it also had Winston Churchill and an overall indomitable spirit that would not be defeated. There is a scene in the middle of the film that deserves relating. Mrs. Miniver captures a German pilot that crashed, held her at gunpoint and then collapsed from his wound. Mrs. Miniver's compassion is displayed on the young man that is very much like her own son in the R. A. F.. That compassion is given a dose of reality as the pilot responds to the compassion with promises that those who come after him will kill tens of thousands. This movie was released in 1942. Churchill said that "Mrs. Miniver" had done more for the allied cause than a fleet of destroyers. (I've heard so many different variations of the quote that I don't know the exact wording.) I researched the film for facts and saw a review of the improbability of the character, the "slick propaganda" and general silliness of parts of the movie. Here is part of our problem also, whether we face more war on our homeland or not, there is sufficient evidence that we may find ourselves in a similar situation as the Miniver family and others and the same determination is indeed possible and may be required of us. There is a "false logic" that pervades much of the debate, if you can call it debate. on criticism of the film.  When challenged with a strong argument, the tactic is to find just one or two inconsistencies and then declare the whole argument (film) invalid. It works with a public that does not wish to work through issues to find truth. I won't reveal any more of the film in case you haven't seen it, except to say that it ends with a church service and the same hymn sung but a truer reverence (albeit incomplete), different worship and different priorities.