Not that it surprised me any, but I’m feeling more than a little down today, that the world is now at war. Something about the expression “Gulf War II” sounds odd to me, but I’m not sure what. Maybe it’s that I actually remember GW I.

Tonight I’m seeing the last of the five movies nominated for Best Picture, namely The Pianist. This is the story of a man who survives the Holocaust by living in the ruins of Warsaw. My ex left the book at my place a few weeks ago and T’s been reading it, pausing from time to time to tell me how rough the story is. I’ve consequently been putting off seeing it. I’m also feeling that way about City of God, a tough movie about life in the streets of Rio. Paul called it the “most violent movie he’d ever seen”.

Most of the time I feel completely justified in avoiding violent movies. They stay with me, they make me feel bad, so why bother? I so could have lived without seeing Reservoir Dogs. But I think some true stories absolutely need to be told and heard. Maybe now more than ever, it’s important that we have the courage to face the horrors of which humankind is capable. One could argue that nowadays you don’t need a movie to show you that, but that’s not my point.

I think The Pianist will be a good movie, but hard to watch. I don’t look forward to it, and frankly, I don’t think I would have seen it had it not been nominated. But the sad truth is, this is a part of humanity.

I do, however, take heart in the fact that enlightened people everywhere are uniting in protest against the stupidity that’s going on right now. I don’t know about you, but I find myself feeling more patient and understanding towards others in this time of war. I had the same reaction after 9/11. Maybe I just need to feel that we’re not all bad. We’re not, right?