April 18, 2007 at 2:07 pm (books)
photo from flickr
Extending the topic of the Second World War, I also read a very interesting book about this topic. It’s called The Diary of Pelly D, from L.J.Adlington. The story takes place in the future, on a planet which name is Home from Home. The colons coming from the Earth founded five city, and decided to recommence a new life, wanting to abandon all the things that they disliked on the Earth: war, racism,… Pelly D. is a young beautiful spoilt and quite arrogant girl who lives in Number V, the fifth city. Her parents are rich and she has everything she wants. She also has her own court of admirers, and she is perfectly happy. She writes her diary on a notebook Moma Peg, a strange woman, gave her. But in Number I, an important clan called the Atsumisi Inheritance Clan, begins to be authoritarian. They pretend that they are three kinds of persons: the Atsumisi, the Mazzini and the Galrezi. The Atsumisi have a gene, the Mazzini too but it’s not active, and the Mazzini don’t have the gene in question. A severe drought affects Number I, and the overproud Atsumisi ask for workers for the irrigation project. Many people are conscripted, and must go to Number I. The Atsumisi make obligatory a genetic marking: everybody must have his DNA tested and receive an indelible stamp on the hand. Red for the Atsumisi, blue for the Mazzini and green for the Galrezi. Pelly D. doesn’t realize what is going on, and pretend to believe that everything is OK. But she discovers she is a Galrezi, and everything gets worse. The Galrezi are obliged to live in a kind of ghetto, and Pelly D. move with her mother and her sister, both Galrezi, to a small apartment. Her brother flees from the conscription, going to Ultramarine, the other continent of the planet Home from Home. Her father, who is Atsumisi, abandons like a coward his family, and continues trading with and the Atsumisi.
Pelly takes a long time to understand what’s going on, and when she realize, it’s too late, the extermination has begun.
Pelly’s diary ends when the police evacuate the ghetto, taking the Galrezi to a certain death.At the beginning, the diary is quite boring, because it tells the story of a pretentious teenager. But, little by little, the events lead us to the sinister end, without any reaction of the people who believed war and extermination could not exist on their planet. In fact, the author, L.J. Adlington, drew her inspiration from diary found in the Warsaw ghetto in the 50’. I recommend this original book that mixes science fiction and fight against the racism.
An article about this book
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April 18, 2007 at 12:32 pm (films)
The film The Pianist is really a masterpiece. The music is marvelous. The story is as follows, and was inspired by a true story. A talented Polish Jewish pianist, Wladyslaw Szpilman, remarkably played by Adrien Brody , lives in Warsaw on the eve of the Second World War, with his family. The explosions devastate the city. Germany threatens
Poland. When the Szpilmans hear on the radio that the English and French go to war against the Nazis, Szpilman’s parents, sisters end brother commemorate. But the viewer knows that is not finished- it’s a long way to finish. German troops invade
Poland. Many things are forbidden for the Jews: enter in the parks or in the restaurants and sit on the benches, for instance, or walk on the sidewalk. They must wear an emblem on the right sleeve, representing a Star of David; and are mistreat. They are evicted from their houses and forced to move to the ghetto. Finally, after weeks of hunger and bad treatment, they are gathered in a court, and wait until the trains arrive. They don’t know it, but theses trains will take them directly to death camps. The pianist, saved by the policeman he knew, is separated from his family. He wanders about the ghetto, desperate, and, thanks to a friend of him that was hidden in the ghetto, manages to get a job as worker on a construction site. Then, he managed to escape from the ghetto and his hidden by one of his friends who is not Jewish. He sees from the room where he is the rebellion of the ghetto of Warsaw, and the revolt of
Warsaw. A woman discovers Wladyslaw and tries to denounce him, but he escape and meet another friend, who offers him shelter. When the building where he is hidden is attacked, he has to run away, and he finally ends up in a destroyed house, where he survives with difficulty, trying desperately to find food. This is where a German officer (Wild Hosenfeld, played by Thomas Kretschmann) discovers him. But, fascinated by Szpilman ability as a pianist, he spares his life and brings him food. When the Russian penetrate in Warsaw, the officer leaves the city. For Szpilman the life becomes normal again, he plays again the piano on the Polish radio. The german officer is captured by the Russian, and dies in a soviet prisoner-of-war camp.There is a scene I found particularly atrocious. Some SS soldiers, wanting to have fun, go to the ghetto and enter in an apartment at the third floor. They ask the occupants to stand up, and as the grandfather can’t (because he is in a wheelchair), they throw him from the window. Then, they go downstairs and, when they arrive in the road they force the poor people to run. They take potshots at them, killing the dozen of persons they entered the flat. After the “entertainment”, they leave, running over the ones that survived.Another film about the Second World War and the holocaust that I liked and that I recommend is Schindler’s List.
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