Heads or Tails

One of the black and white photographs on my wall is a heart stopper. It was taken by a friend of mine and shows a small blonde headed little girl in pigtails and on her tiptoes reaching for the doorknob of a dilapidated old cabin door. Above the doorframe, there is one word and it reads sharply and starkly, Colored. Of all the photographs she has taken, this one is my favorite. It doesn't just speak, it screams.

Recently I saw "Letters from Iwo Jima", a movie that doesn't just speak but screams. Pearl Harbor was several years before I was born but being a lover of movies from the 30's and 40's and fascinated with history, I never expected to feel sympathy for the Japanese, never expected to be moved by them. It's not so much a war movie as a story of sacrifice and loyalty, of duty and honor. It's the other side of the coin.

I watch movies to escape and be taken to a time when life was simpler, when heroes and villains were clearly defined and good triumphed over evil. Also for the magic and romance, the mystery and drama. The rough edges of John Garfield, the elegance of Cary Grant, the sheer perfectionism of Gregory Peck. There were characters you could always count on to be on the side of right - Jimmy Stewart or Gary Cooper, for example, and characters you always count on to be on the side of wrong - John Carradine or Vincent Price. There were some that changed with the tide and still be believable - Jimmy Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, Bogart. And there were grand old song and dance men like Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire, comedians like Donald O'Connor and the Marx Brothers. All the women were carved and beautiful, frighteningly thin, idealized and at the height of their power. Katherine Hepburn, Judy Holiday, Jean Arthur, all so perfect, so troubled, so alive. I know every note of music from "The Music Man", every song from "Yankee Doodle", every word of dialogue from "An Affair to Remember" and am still brought to tears at the end of "Citizen Cane". There are movies I will not miss - "Wuthering Heights", "Rebecca", "Gone with the Wind", "The Postman Always Rings Twice", "Madame X" - I am set in cement in front of the television. There is no other side of the coin to these epics, they are simple morality tales or love stories, designed to entertain and tell a simple story.

The story of Iwo Jima is not simple, not escapism, not easily watched, but a powerful reminder that there are two sides to every coin.