Lessons for the Living
Within 3 weeks of each other, two movies came out about the 90 year old Bernie Jordan who escaped his nursing home to go to a D-Day remembrance. One told the true story, the other fabricating plot points, but both telling the same story of guilt and responsibility.
Within 3 weeks of each other, two movies came out about the 90 year old Bernie Jordan who escaped his nursing home to go to a D-Day remembrance. One told the true story, the other fabricated some plot points, but both tell the same story of guilt and responsibility.
Synopsis for The Great Escaper
The real story of Bernard "Bernie" Jordan who leaves his nursing home to visit Normandy before he dies.
Synopsis for The Last Rifleman
Based on the True Story of British D-Day veteran Bernard Jordan, that decides to meet up with his regiment at their old D-Day landing location, only to find out he is the last surrounded by his ghosts.
Commentary
I found the trailer for one of these movies and then learned that there was the other. Not sure how, but I did. To give you also a little bit more context, it is currently Feb 2, 2024. As I hate getting pummeled by emails, I spread out my movie/tv show reviews out and these will come much later. Now back to the commentary.
There are a couple themes in these two movies that are important to pay attention to and they are guilt and brotherhood. I am not talking about the guilt of doing something wrong, but the guilt of surviving. In both movies, the main character had something happen to them while on the battlefield of D-Day and their wife in one shape or form is the reason they decide to go to the D-Day remembrance. This event in both movies is something that isn't their fault.
The guilt of a survivor is something that takes effort to get to terms with. As in this story about a survivor weighed down by the guilt of things out of his control and what ifs, it is never something you get over. It is something you survive, which makes it stupid and ironic that the guilt you are surviving is just adding more guilt to your survival for learning to continue to survive. This lesson is that survivors guilt is something that has taken my friends and I years to come to terms with and even then, some days it rears its ugly head to tell you that you aren't shit and that you deserve to be in the ground not those that are in there on our behalf.
The second lesson and the one that helps you to process the first one is brotherhood. There are great representations of this in both movies. In "The Last Rifleman," is the friend trying to get him to move so he wouldn't die. He saw that he was in trouble and worked to help him to move forward. In "The Great Escaper" there is a bit of commentary about how military individuals come back from the war drinking to forget or in some cases drinking to remember. There is a younger veteran in this movie that shows up to where Michael Caine's character is having some drinks with other veterans and he is plastered yelling about being cut off. Caine then helps him to calm down and go home for the night. The next day, when the young man is attempting to apologize and idolize Caine, Caine interrupts him to tell him "You are a fucking mess. Get help." Sometimes that is what it takes to help our brothers see the state they are in. The last example of brotherhood here from both movies is how these old veterans dealt with meeting veterans from Germany. "The Great Escaper" does a brilliant job of showing understanding and empathy of how someone coerced or forced to fight for the Third Reich can only feel 70 years later knowing "The hard lesson of losing a war and then learning you were fighting for the bad guys." The lesson here is that no matter the generation, vets always should lookout for each other. I think what it really means is that sometimes the battlefield just changes and we can't take on those demons ourselves. Fortunately, alcoholism has never been something I have struggled with, but I have seen it bring my friends to their knees and some to their graves.
Both these lessons speak to one thing; that we have a responsibility to look out for those around us and protect them from the enemies in front and within. These are hard lessons to learn and work through, but they are some of the most important lessons we can have tattooed on us.
I have been more honest in this commentary than I typically am in my typical reviews, as when I was watching, I was pressed with emotions that I felt needed to be talked through and this is a great way to do that. These movies will never win awards. They are too personal and not designed to do anything other than tell the story above. Guilt in war comes in many forms and can tear people asunder. It doesn't always manifest in ways we expect and can consume individuals in a variety of ways that include depression and PTSD. If you know someone who fought in Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, Korea, or any other place your country has seen warriors to fight, show them brotherhood and give them a hug. Don't let them fight alone.
Want to support some veterans? There are some great organizations that help with that and I personally ask that you avoid The Wounded Warrior Project as the money provided does not stretch that far as they continually overpay their executive staff and their administrative costs are substantial.
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