A little poem

[Thanh Dang Nguyen <Nguyen.Dang.Thanh@Eng.Auburn.EDU>]

Hi Tien,

> Qua? thu+.c khi to^i ho.c o+? Nga, ddu+o+.c nghe  va` ddo.c tha^'y ngu+o+`i
> ta no'i ra(`ng dda^y la` bo^. phim ddu+o+.c xe^'p ha.ng la` "cu?a mo.i tho+`i
> dda.i va` cu?a mo.i da^n to^.c" ...

Strictly speaking, it is not true, since nobody is entitled to say such
a thing. However, as far as film critics are concerned, they do gather
every ten years to vote for the all-time best 10 movies (I don't
remember exactly how it's carried out, and who participate in it --
anyway, I saw such a chart in an art-movie theater in Budapest a couple
of years ago). If I remember correctly, in '50s and '60s, they still
considered "Battleship Potemkin" among the Top Ten, along with other
classics like "Citizen Kane" or "The Passion of Joan of Arc". I think
these movies are influential mostly for the development of the film-making
art, and not necessarily successful for the public audience. Just
check the Top 250 of the Internet Movie Database, chances are you may not
find them there. BTW, I don't like any kind of Top Ten or similar rankings,
since watching a movie is quite a personal thing. The way they set up the 
list was probably to pay the tribute to all of the truly pioneers of the
cinema. I'm sure that this list will change in time in order to reflect
the new styles and other new ground-breaking works.

> Co' ba'c na`o xem phim cu?a Tarkopxkii kho^ng ?

Glad and surprised a bit to see you mentioning his name. Andrej Tarkovsky
is one of my most-favored directors of all time, although I really
don't want to say big words about him. The reason is that he is virtually
unknown for most people (I mean those who are not into art movies what
ever it means), and from that, I think watching his movies can be
quite a frustrating and even annoying experience for ordinary audience.
They are slow movies and pretty much nothing happens (no violence, no sex,
no spectacular shots, no fun); at least that's the way it looks for
people who want entertainment rather than meditative thinking.

I first saw his movie probably 4 years ago on Hungarian TV, the one
with title "Stalker". Then I went on to watch "The Sacrifice" in
movie theater a few weeks later. And then before I left Budapest,
I also watched "The Mirror". Here in the US, I bought "Solaris";
but I still miss some of his works (I really want to watch "Nostalghia").
His movies are like the poems, full of dream sequences embedded in
a deeply philosophical framework. And even when he is Russian, most of his
works really concern the human race in general: faith, mother, home,
childhood, sacrifice and fate. That's why he was popular in the eyes
of Western critics (although not all of them). It's true that he was
a myth even before his death. Was he popular in SU?

So as not to bore our dear list members, and waste the bandwidth, I close
with a little poem (or prayer) from the movie "Stalker" in '79:

		May everything come true
		May they believe
		And may they laugh at their passions
		For that which they call passion
		Is not really the energy of soul
		But merely the friction between
		  the soul and the outer world.

		But, mostly, may they have hope
		And may they become as hopeless as children
		For weakness is great
		And strength is worthless.

		When a man is born
		He is weak and supple
		When he dies
		He is strong and callous
		When the tree grows
		It's tender and gentle
		And when it's dry and hard
		It dies.

		Callousness and strength
		Are Death's companions
		Suppleness and weakness
		Express freshness of life.

		That which has become hard
		  shall not triumph.

Hope you like it!

Bye for now,

-Thanh