Meg Ryan and Courage under fire....

Hi folks,

After this post, you may start to wonder if I am really serious about what I write about in this blog of mine.... I want to tell you that all that I write here is what I actually feel and nothing here is out-of-the-ordinary.

Just yesterday night, I watched a movie named "Courage under fire" on Star Movies in the 9pm slot. The primary reason for watching the movie was it's star-cast - Denzel Washington and Meg Ryan - Both of them are accomplished actors and I am a big fan of Meg Ryan's acting! So I decided to put on hold for a moment the stuff that I usually do and decided to see the movie.

During the course of the movie many things cropped into my mind. Some of these things I have listed below:

1) Sexist attitude that is still prevalent, especially among men.

2) The courage of a soldier in the face of death.

3) The sacrifices a woman has to make while taking up a job, especially one as difficult as in the army.

4) The honesty displayed by some people who stick to their values at all cost.

5) The fact that some movies can still show that actors are also humans who can portray other human characters in a realistic manner.

I was really affected by this movie and it's storyline. Here is a brave Karen, who is also a human being and can also be afraid at one time and courageous at another time. She also realizes that she is a Captain and that she must fulfill her duty of being one. On the other hand, some fella in her crew thinks that she cannot handle the pressure of the responsibility bestowed upon her. This sexist decides to take charge and in the face of all this, Karen retains her strength and defends her position with impunity. She shows them that her tears were really those caused by tension and not cowardice.

Imagine a woman with a little-daughter back home who was in the line of fire in a war in the Middle-East. Imagine her feelings when she is about to crash the helicopter that she was piloting. Think about what would have gone through her mind when she was about to die. I cannot imagine that because I can never understand the pain of a mother who knows that the last time she saw her child would be truly the "last" time that she would have actually seen her.

On the other hand, here is Nathaniel, who had killed one of his best-friends in an accidental friendly-fire and knows that the incident has been covered up. The guilt of not letting the world know that he was responsible for innocent deaths still haunted him. Inspite of various threats by his seniors, he tried to get the truth out, fully knowing that it risked his entire career.

This made me think about all the military officers and soldiers in India who die during our neighbourhood wars with Pakistan and Bangladesh every year. Just because of some people who want to get all the benefits, the true sons of the soil fail to get their due.... All that corruption in the military has left me wondering if there is still any institution left in this world that is corruption-free???

On the less serious side of this - Meg Ryan is a really great actress and has tried to make full use of this relatively small role to add to her variety... She did portray the character well. But what struck me was the acting of Denzel - I have seen very few movies of his and this is his best acting according to me. He was very much into the character and showed that all of us are human beings - We lie, cheat and even commit crimes because we are all still human beings. We must realize that a human who does not stick to his/her values ceases to be one. And both Karen and Nathaniel proved that one can be a human without being a super-human being.

Till my next post....

Ciao...