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On Death and Dying or Why War Movies Teach us a Buddhist Lesson

Without any doubt there will be death and dying in a war movie. As a cultural anthropologist it often struck me how different other cultures handle death. In a society like ours,  in which death is a taboo (there seems to be an even greater taboo when it comes to dying) the war movie is one of the rare places where it is shown with such frequency. When it comes to movies in general  there is only the action and thriller/crime genre where you can count on death with the same certainty only not in such abundance.  Else you are left with rare films about illness, very rarely you’d see an old person dying or, more likely, already dead. A few deal with accidents or rather their consequences  like Atom Egoyan does in The Sweet Hereafter.

I did often wonder where my interest in war movies came from, besides from the urge to understand what happened, why it happened and how it felt for those involved. I think that they teach us a lesson in non-attachment. You see characters that you get to know and like and you know that for sure some of them are going to die. And death seems, for our human eye,  not to choose very carefully in whom he spares and whom not. In the war movie we see death and dying in a magnified overdrawn way. There is everything you could see in daily life: quick death, painful death, slow and agonising dying. Nothing is left out. If you go one step further it makes you contemplate your own perishability. A further lesson in non-attachment.

In the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying Sogyal Rinpoche teaches that it is a good exercise to picture ones own death on a daily basis. It is maybe the most fundamental aim in life to have a good death.

I think it is not arbitrary that the late great American journalist Studs Terkel did as well a book on The Good War: An Oral History of World War II as on Death, Will the Circle be Unbroken: Reflections on Death, Rebirth and Hunger for  a Faith.

For anyone who would like to pursue his/her own reflections on this topic a few more or less random reading suggestions:

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying Sogyal Rinpoche, 1992

The Pagan Book of Living and Dying Starhawk, 1997

On Death and Dying Elisabeth Kuebler Ross, 1997

R.I.P. – The complete book of death and dying Constance Jones, 1997

Dancing on the Grave: Encounters with Death Nigel Barley, 1995

Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life’s Greatest Lesson Mitch Albom, 1997

Will the Circle be Unbroken: Reflections on Death, Rebirth and Hunger for a Faith Studs Terkel, 2001

Swimming in a Sea of Death: A Son’s Memoir David Rieff, 2008

Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death Irvin D. Yalom, 2008

The Year of Magical Thinking Joan Didion, 2005

Noch eine Runde auf dem Karussel: Vom Leben und Sterben Tiziano Terzani, 2007

Das Ende ist mein Anfang: Ein Vater, ein Sohn und die grosse Reise des Lebens Tiziano Terzani, 2006

Der Tod meiner Mutter Georg Diez, 2009

Das westliche Totenbuch Irene Dalichow, 2001

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Gary Freitas’ War Movies (2004)

There are many books and types of books one can consult when interested in the topic of war movies. The first that come too mind are the movie guides. There are some very fine examples of that kind out there (War Movies, Under Fire.…) The next category one would look into are historical books, first hand accounts and the like (A Rumor of War, Band of Brothers, We Were Soldiers Once…). Finally there are a lot of novels that have been the basis for one or the other movie (The Thin Red Line, Catch 22, Regeneration, All Quiet on the Western Front...).

Since I mentioned Gary Freitas before I would like to dedicate this entry to one hell of a fine book, his  War Movies: The Belle & Blade Guide to Classic War Videos. I truly enjoy it every time I take it out and consult it. Freitas did a fine job in reviewing  a big number of movies (347), in rating them and telling you exactly why he thinks they work or why not. He doesn’t shy away from criticising films that are generally well-respected if he disagrees with the overall opinion. His wit and sarcasm are priceless. I laughed quite a few times when reading one or the other entry. The book is organized alphabetically but contains a lot of useful genre lists like Best War Satire, Best War Romances, Best POW Movies, Best Action Adventure to name but a few. Additionally there are lists dedicated to the different wars, Best Korean War Movies, Best WWI, Best Vietnam etc.

I wouldn’t  say I always agree with his views, especially since he doesn’t like the older classics and doesn’t think hardly any Air Combat movie worthy to get a high rating (probably often too propagandist for his taste) but I discovered many a gem through him and, as said before, I really like his sense of humor and the way he makes fun of bad movies (there are many, believe me).

As he would say: Go buy this book immediately. Now!  There aren’t many better ones out there.

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When Trumpets Fade (1998)

Eerily beautiful is what comes to mind when speaking about this overlooked war movie gem. I discovered it thanks to Gary Freitas’ book on war movies.

The movie starts with black and white original footage and a voice telling us that it is 1944, just after Paris has been liberated.

After this introduction we are thrown into action and see one soldier, private Manning (Ron Eldard),  carrying his mortally wounded comrade whom he finally must abandon. All through watching this movie I was reminded of Goethe’s ballad the Erlkoenig in which a father rides with his son through the woods at night. The child keeps on saying it sees the Erlkoenig in the darkness who tries to tempt him and take him away. A very spooky ballad. When the father finally arrives at his destination he finds out that his little son has died in his arms.

Maybe John Irvin, the director, did think of this ballad when he shot this movie. The woods always had a special place in German mythology and references to this can be found in many a movie or book about WWII.

The soldiers in this movie are fighting a senseless battle, one that cost a horribly high amount of lives. The battle of Hurtgen forest is only not spoken about so often since it was shortly followed by the more famous Battle of the Bulge.

When Trumpets Fade tells the story of private Manning the only survivor of his company who is – due to his ability to survive under such circumstances – promoted to sergeant and gets to lead a group of replacements. In a bloody battle where they are to secure a bridge he is again one of the only survivors and gets promoted to lieutenant. Both times he protests. All he wants is to survive and  get out. He’s not the only unhappy soldier. The battle seems sense- and fruitless, casualties are high, soldiers and officers complain and rebel.

Manning is a very interesting character and his development makes this movie one of the rare psychologically interesting of its kind. This and the eerie scenes in the woods where the fog is thick, Germans lurking everywhere and naked, burning trees stand lonely and dark against the background,  makes this a haunting experience to watch.

The final credits are shown over endless rows of dragon’s teeth that are slowly covered in snow to  Bing Crosby singing White Christmas.

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Band of Brothers

“The men of Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, U.S. Army, came from different backgrounds, different parts of the country. They were farmers and coal miners, mountain men and son of the Deep South. Some were desperately poor, others from the middle class. One came from Harvard, one from Yale, a couple from UCLA. Only one was from the Old Army, only few came from the National Guard of Reserves. They were citizen soldiers.
They came together in the summer of 1942, by which time the Europeans had been at war for three years. By the late spring of 1944, they had become an elite company of  airborne light infantry. Early on the morning of D-Day, in its first combat action, Easy captured and put out of action a German battery of 105 mm cannon that were looking down on Utah Beach. The company led the way to Carentan, fought in Holland, held the perimeter at Bastogne, held the counteroffensive in the Battle of the Bulge, fought in the Rhineland campaign, and took Hitlers`s Eagle`s Nest at Berchtesgaden. It had taken almost 150 percent casualties. At the peak of its effectiveness, in Holland in October 1944 and in the Ardennes in January 1945, it was a good a rifle company as there was in the world.
The job completed, the company disbanded, the men went home.”

Stephen. E Ambrose Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler’s Eagle Nest, 1992: p. 15, 16

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A Bridge Too Far, Bridges in General or the First War Movie I Ever Saw

Black and white. Yes, my memory of A Bridge Too Far is a black and white one. We didn’t have a color TV at the time we watched it. I remember watching with my mother but that might not even be accurate since what she really liked were war romances. But those old ones. She made me watch one with a bridge in it as well. It was about a woman who later tried to cover up that she had to sell her body as a means to survive during the war. Very dramatic. I did absolutely not get the point. If he loved her, so what? Anyhow, since  A Bridge Too Far was very probably the very first war movie I ever saw, I’ve been imprinted with the love for these guarding-a-bridge-or-blow -it-up-so-the-enemy-won’t-get-it and similar bridge moments. There is one like that in many movies. Of course there is one in Saving Private Ryan. Everything else regarding A Bridge Too Far is pretty blurred by now. That’s why I’m going to watch it again soon.