更新时间:2012-06-30
忆秋 • 诺言:Carry You Home
【Spoiler Alert! 'The Promise'&'Homeland'】
The camera follows Claire Foy. She strides through rooms of whispering Arabian men and women. I feel, for the first time, being so close to her, probably because we are about the same age (not exactly though... Erin should've been some four years younger than I, anyway Claire can very much look like my peers), probably because this is also a summer break for me (which seems very likely to be idled away). This time she embarks on the road, or flight, more precisely, less traveled by.
Her adventurous-yet-very-cruel summer break takes me in to the mid-Eastern countries for the first time. As innocent as her in the beginning, I could say, if not too much, in the end I did learn something from this journey, too.
'I want to know the truth.' As curious as Dawn in 'THE WRECKERS', Erin strove to find out the truth lying behind the lines of Len, her grandfather's diary. Seemingly feeble (she's a epileptic patient) and fragile (she cried and thought about flying back home after the suicide bombing attack, which is totally what normal people will do), she was, nevertheless, more a 'Lady Persie' than an 'Amy Dorrit', in a sense that she was very very reckless. Pushing her luck, she went to Hebron alone and did loads of highly risk stuffs, reminding people of the upstairs lady who did lots of thoughtless deeds. (Well, it is needless to say Erin did all for good reasons.) She was very persistent, highly-determined, and had incredibly strong will, which moved Paul and Omar, the 'insane' brother of her best friend Elisa and his 'dangerous' Palestinian bro, whilst put Elisa and her parents in a very awkward situation. If she thinks about coming back to do something, she needs to watch out. But this time, lucky for her, she made it. She carried the key home, and, to some extent, fulfilled her grandpa's promise.
The parallel structure of the two stories is more than the creepy coincidence of the suicide bombing attacks. The British army, who was there to 'settle them down', to 'get them living peacefully together again' turned to loot innocent Jews' houses only to find 'clean as whistle, like always' and to blow up 'martyr''s house after being attacked in King David Hotel, whereas Isreali army did the same thing to Palestinians this day and age. We saw Len, who was a 'pro-Jew' at the beginning who helped Jews and loved a Jewish woman, being marked as 'Nazi-British' later, and eventually chose to stand on the Arabian side, and point the gun at the Jews. Erin found herself facing almost the same twisted situation, as she shockingly found her grandpa's dear Arabian friend had a family member who was one of the suicide bombers who blew a cafe and nearly killed her and Paul. She started the series partying with the Jewish youngsters, and ended up binding her life with an Arabian girl.
'I suppose I feel embarrassed, and shamed, like the whole thing was a failure.' wrote Len at the end of his diary. It was not a mere remark of the broken promise made to Mohammed. It was also a conclusion drawn in the swaying prison cell. Len was heartbroken for failing to bring Hassan back to his family safe and sound, and he even failed to return the key to Mohammed for Hassan. He was also disillusioned to find that the promise of a peaceful state of condition that British army made to the Jews and the Arabs turned out to be but 'shit' left behind. Len was disheartened that he let everyone who ever trusted him down. But the truth was he was not the only one failed to keep a promise. His close army friend deserted the army like he did, but chose to fight the Arabs, only to find it was only his comrade he's aiming at. And Clara, the Jewish woman he loved dearly and trusted wholeheartedly, betrayed him.
The dislocation found its place in Erin's story, too. It was sad to see Eliza, the girl who once asked people not to be a racist, and to 'see the other point of view', infused Erin the idea the family of terrorists were exactly the people who tried to kill them The beautiful big house Mohammad once lived was flattened in one second. Standing in the rubbles, trying desperately to grab something for Jawda, Erin suffered an Epileptic fit and fainted, indicating the fragility of one individual's effort, and how everything is still very wrong.
Before helplessly falling back on the floor of the ambulance, Erin did her utmost to do something. Her strong intention to make a change did not stop after being a big sister guiding the girl students against the spiteful stone-throwers. The thought of helping was so heavy on her mind that it took the expression of the body of Len on hers in her dream. She wanted to be the saver, not only of those unarmed Arabian girls, but of her old grandpa who past his almost entire life mourning over the broken promise. In one way, she triumphed. In another, she was just a British girl coming from afar standing forlornly in the ruins of a demolished house, the last house belonged to her grandfather's friend.
Same as what happened in 'Homeland', it was the death of a child that made a change in people's heart (or less severer, the powerlessness of a child do stir something deep down the heart of Paul). As a specimen of the younger generation, in the end, Erin was not so sure that she could make an actual change. She waved goodbye to Paul, seeing no point of coming back, and gave a very weary look after he said 'There's a lot to be done.' Young as she was, the summer break planted the root of doubt down her heart and reminded callously her of the feeling of helplessness and powerlessness over and over. While I see on the screen Erin as a peer of mine, I wonder what did she saw before her eyes on the flight back home? The Arabian girl with a bleeding forehead? The young woman smiling in the photo frame who was in the meantime a suicide bomber? The wretched, horrified, injured Isreali women shambling out of the attacked cafe? The Isreali girls swearing 'whore' to the Palestinian woman? Or the Eliza, who sat beside her on her way to that faraway land, who defined the enemies to her on the roof of the house which was about to be pulled down before long?
Children change it all. But judging from the conditions of the young people in the two countries, as people like Paul and Omar who shake hands are a rarity, the future still looks very grim.
The key was carried home. But was there any home for it? A world without map, murmuring the English woman in the winds and sands. In the winds and sands, there is a world, with blocked wall, occupied territory, war zone, with a map of tears and blood.
The camera follows Claire Foy. She strides through rooms of whispering Arabian men and women. I feel, for the first time, being so close to her, probably because we are about the same age (not exactly though... Erin should've been some four years younger than I, anyway Claire can very much look like my peers), probably because this is also a summer break for me (which seems very likely to be idled away). This time she embarks on the road, or flight, more precisely, less traveled by.
Her adventurous-yet-very-cruel summer break takes me in to the mid-Eastern countries for the first time. As innocent as her in the beginning, I could say, if not too much, in the end I did learn something from this journey, too.
'I want to know the truth.' As curious as Dawn in 'THE WRECKERS', Erin strove to find out the truth lying behind the lines of Len, her grandfather's diary. Seemingly feeble (she's a epileptic patient) and fragile (she cried and thought about flying back home after the suicide bombing attack, which is totally what normal people will do), she was, nevertheless, more a 'Lady Persie' than an 'Amy Dorrit', in a sense that she was very very reckless. Pushing her luck, she went to Hebron alone and did loads of highly risk stuffs, reminding people of the upstairs lady who did lots of thoughtless deeds. (Well, it is needless to say Erin did all for good reasons.) She was very persistent, highly-determined, and had incredibly strong will, which moved Paul and Omar, the 'insane' brother of her best friend Elisa and his 'dangerous' Palestinian bro, whilst put Elisa and her parents in a very awkward situation. If she thinks about coming back to do something, she needs to watch out. But this time, lucky for her, she made it. She carried the key home, and, to some extent, fulfilled her grandpa's promise.
The parallel structure of the two stories is more than the creepy coincidence of the suicide bombing attacks. The British army, who was there to 'settle them down', to 'get them living peacefully together again' turned to loot innocent Jews' houses only to find 'clean as whistle, like always' and to blow up 'martyr''s house after being attacked in King David Hotel, whereas Isreali army did the same thing to Palestinians this day and age. We saw Len, who was a 'pro-Jew' at the beginning who helped Jews and loved a Jewish woman, being marked as 'Nazi-British' later, and eventually chose to stand on the Arabian side, and point the gun at the Jews. Erin found herself facing almost the same twisted situation, as she shockingly found her grandpa's dear Arabian friend had a family member who was one of the suicide bombers who blew a cafe and nearly killed her and Paul. She started the series partying with the Jewish youngsters, and ended up binding her life with an Arabian girl.
'I suppose I feel embarrassed, and shamed, like the whole thing was a failure.' wrote Len at the end of his diary. It was not a mere remark of the broken promise made to Mohammed. It was also a conclusion drawn in the swaying prison cell. Len was heartbroken for failing to bring Hassan back to his family safe and sound, and he even failed to return the key to Mohammed for Hassan. He was also disillusioned to find that the promise of a peaceful state of condition that British army made to the Jews and the Arabs turned out to be but 'shit' left behind. Len was disheartened that he let everyone who ever trusted him down. But the truth was he was not the only one failed to keep a promise. His close army friend deserted the army like he did, but chose to fight the Arabs, only to find it was only his comrade he's aiming at. And Clara, the Jewish woman he loved dearly and trusted wholeheartedly, betrayed him.
The dislocation found its place in Erin's story, too. It was sad to see Eliza, the girl who once asked people not to be a racist, and to 'see the other point of view', infused Erin the idea the family of terrorists were exactly the people who tried to kill them The beautiful big house Mohammad once lived was flattened in one second. Standing in the rubbles, trying desperately to grab something for Jawda, Erin suffered an Epileptic fit and fainted, indicating the fragility of one individual's effort, and how everything is still very wrong.
Before helplessly falling back on the floor of the ambulance, Erin did her utmost to do something. Her strong intention to make a change did not stop after being a big sister guiding the girl students against the spiteful stone-throwers. The thought of helping was so heavy on her mind that it took the expression of the body of Len on hers in her dream. She wanted to be the saver, not only of those unarmed Arabian girls, but of her old grandpa who past his almost entire life mourning over the broken promise. In one way, she triumphed. In another, she was just a British girl coming from afar standing forlornly in the ruins of a demolished house, the last house belonged to her grandfather's friend.
Same as what happened in 'Homeland', it was the death of a child that made a change in people's heart (or less severer, the powerlessness of a child do stir something deep down the heart of Paul). As a specimen of the younger generation, in the end, Erin was not so sure that she could make an actual change. She waved goodbye to Paul, seeing no point of coming back, and gave a very weary look after he said 'There's a lot to be done.' Young as she was, the summer break planted the root of doubt down her heart and reminded callously her of the feeling of helplessness and powerlessness over and over. While I see on the screen Erin as a peer of mine, I wonder what did she saw before her eyes on the flight back home? The Arabian girl with a bleeding forehead? The young woman smiling in the photo frame who was in the meantime a suicide bomber? The wretched, horrified, injured Isreali women shambling out of the attacked cafe? The Isreali girls swearing 'whore' to the Palestinian woman? Or the Eliza, who sat beside her on her way to that faraway land, who defined the enemies to her on the roof of the house which was about to be pulled down before long?
Children change it all. But judging from the conditions of the young people in the two countries, as people like Paul and Omar who shake hands are a rarity, the future still looks very grim.
The key was carried home. But was there any home for it? A world without map, murmuring the English woman in the winds and sands. In the winds and sands, there is a world, with blocked wall, occupied territory, war zone, with a map of tears and blood.
