The Great War still resonates sharply nine decades and change later. In some ways, it has a more powerful hold on my imagination than the Second World War. If it had not been botched so badly and on such an epic scale, there wouldn't have even been a WWII, certainly not as we know it today.
In any case, everything being connected and all, I wonder what makes a 95-year old man plunge to his death of his own volition? Such as did Mario Monicelli, director of La grande guerra / The Great War (1959), just a couple of days ago. Born during the actual Great War (in 1915), he chose to die in 2010. Why? I wonder if there's any connection between his self-defenestration and the recent death of fellow Italian Dino De Laurentiis, a man four years his junior and also -- it so happens -- the producer of La grande guerra / The Great War? It's worth noting, too, that Monicelli's father (Tomaso Monicelli) also committed suicide, not long after the Second World War.
Maybe Monicelli just wanted more people to watch his movies. Whatever the case, having recently finished watching Richard Attenborough's Oh What A Lovely War! (1969) for the first time since seeing it (as a kid) at the theater about forty years ago, I'm aiming now to locate a copy of La grande guerra / The Great War.
Today's Rune: Partnership.
1 comment:
At 95 years of age i simply have no answer as to why but then i wouldn't ask the question either. Like Hunter Thompson I would simply speculate that his eyes were tired and he wanted some sleep.
Post a Comment