London Can Take It!
Last March, I took a course in documentary filming organised by the University of Southern California and the Royal Film Commission in Jordan.
Parts of the lectures were dedicated to watching short documentaries and analysing them from the director’s point of view.
The selection of films varied in time and topic, from World War II and concentration camps , to a wedding in the westbank city of Ramallah!
As we all have heard about the tragic terror attempts that took place recently in Britain particularly in London and Glasgow, I thought I would share with you a film that we watched and analysed part of our training course called “London Can Take It”, it was produced by independent film maker Quentin Reynolds during World War II, when London was under daily strikes from the German Air Force.
It’s very short (9 mintutes), yet it’s very expressive.. I encourage you to take some time and watch it.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mXGy38xL5U[/youtube]
I visited Britain a little less than 2 years ago, it amazed me how a country so small in size was so great to an extent it was called “the Empire where the sun doesn’t set”. It produced scientists such as my idol Sir. Isaac Newton,whose scientific findings and theories profoundly transformed our lives,had it not been for him, we wouldn’t have enjoyed many things that we currently take for granted like cars and airplanes. He once said :”If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants”.
London could take it when it was under heavy bombing, I believe London will take it again and will stand taller and greater than any of those bloody terrorists.
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It’s interesting to note that the Israelis bore their terror bombings during the second intifada and their rocket attacks from Hezbollah with the same kind of matter-of-fact stoicism displayed by the Londoners in the film. After awhile, the shock effect of these bombings dissipates; what remains is a certain kind of bewilderment that someone should want to die that way in the first place.
All we can do is make wry jokes about them, thank our security services, and keep wondering if there is any possibility, ever, that there will be a true dialogue between Islam and the West in the future, as all signs point to more war instead.
And war isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
This is an extrodinary film, thank you for sharing it. It’s indeed very expressive… the narration adds to the effect and the imagery speaks for itself.
London can definitely take it, and hopefully its people will stay strong no matter what these terrorist try to do.
Check out the “headline of the year”:
http://instapundit.com/archives2/006845.php
London can take it! Though, ironically, the tendons will need to be taken care of by the NHS, the benevolent umbrella organization for the very same terrorists.