Journal Entries
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Bon Journal
Pearl Harbor
In preparation to see this movie, I read various reviews. Unfortunately,
they were all negative. It seems that the world has become unforgiving.
My friend Yasmin booked the tickets. Hungry from our workouts, we managed
to stuff ourselves with Lebanese sharwarma (not as good as the one I had
in Alkmaar, Netherlands after dancing) and freshly squeezed mango and
melon juices before going up the escalators to the Marble Arch Odeon cinema.
We were two single women amid a sea of romantic couples in this theatre.
The Pearl Harbor incident is well-known but not the prelude or the postlude:
the Eagles of the Royal Air Force and the B52 bombers - the Doolittle
top secret campaign to bring back hope to defeated US. The love story,
not one, but at least two, around this event was undoubtedly fictional
and crafted to lure a greater audience (two heads, especially, lovebirds,
are better than one - in the bush).
So it was no surprise that the music was sweeping and heart-wrenching
against the tropical paradise scenes of waves splashing against the cliffs.
The women were all beautifully made-up, with the kind of red lipstick
that remained unblemished, even after kissing. And the men? The pilots
were the best looking, followed by their assistants and sailors. They
were the kind of men that any decent girl would fall for. But I don't
recall as good-looking men on the air bases where I grew up (in Okinawa).
Perhaps time has blurred my memory.
Anyhow, I was very touched by the romantic scenes: the initial blunders
and hesitations, the fondness that develops, the declarations of true
love, and the longing and long sighs. Ah! This is all too familiar.
A man would probably comment on the planes, ships, and the bombing.
But I saw this movie as a story of unrequited love of which there were
several: first love, brotherly love, romantic love, and everlasting love.
In this busy and cynical world we live today, it helps to remember that
such love does exist..... if only we have the time to cherish it.
1 June 2001
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