Normandy On Both Sides of History!

(Thanks to RS and Baba Mail for this contribution)

They called it 'D Day' in America or 'Operation Overlord'.

The rest of the world knows it as the invasion of Normandy. Normandy today is a quiet coastal area, the signs of the worst war ever to visit humanity are hidden between the cracks of history, and the towns and villages of this area continue on.

This amazing series gives us a glance at the same area, during and after the great war.

It was 1944 and World War 2 was finally shifting in favour of the Allied Forces. Hitler was expecting an invasion but he did not think it would be Normandy, he thought the Allied Forces would not attack such a well defended post. But they did. 130-156,000 troops, half American and half from other commonwealth countries, took the beach of Normandy on the 6th of June.

The invasion of Normandy took the Germans by complete surprise, and signified the first foot print of American forces in Nazi held Europe. What occurred next was the invasion and establishment of Allied Forces in Normandy, France, during Operation Overlord in 1944 during World War II. It was the largest amphibious operation ever to take place.

Allied land forces that saw combat in Normandy on 6 June came from Canada, the Free French Forces, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In the weeks following the invasion, Polish forces also participated, as well as contingents from Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, and the Netherlands. Most of the above countries also provided air and naval support, as did the Royal Australian Air Force, the Royal New Zealand Air Force, and the Royal Norwegian Navy.

He did it? He did it not?

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956)
Director:Fritz Lang

Fritz Lang was already an established film-maker in the German movie scene, with his production of the most expensive and successful silent film 'Metropolis' in 1927. When Hitler's Minister of Propaganda, Josef Goebbels tried to rope him to produce anti-Semantic films and the increased hatred towards the Jews, he absconded to France then to the US. Even though his family was a Christian, his mother was born Jewish. This 1956 was Lang's last film.
Yet another is hanged for murder. Tom (Dana Andrews), an author and his future father in law, Spencer, a newspaper publisher both opponents of capital punishment, plan out a scheme to prove to the courts that they are sending too man to the electric chair based on circumstantial evidence.
When a nightclub is reported killed and the killer is at large, the duo seize their chance. They planted some evidence and led the police to arrest Tom. The scheme was a secret between these two men. Even, Tom's fiancée, Susan (Joan Fontaine) was in the dark about this. The plan was to tell the court the truth once the jury had liberated, all set with photos and all to show that it was all a set-up!
On the day when Spencer was bringing the relevant documents and pictures to the court, his car is hit by a on-coming truck. Spencer, the documents, pictures and Tom's release all burn to the ground.
Tom pleads innocence but without any proof, the jury passes a guilty verdict.

Plotting a scheme

No one believes Tom now, except for Susan. Just when all avenues seem to meet a dead-end, the bank safe deposit contents of Spencer showed some written evidence.
In the meantime, newer investigations revealed that the slain victim had a pseudonym.

But I did it for you, my love!

Just when preparations were in progress for Tom's pardon by the Governor of the state, during a cursory conversation with Susan, Tom mentioned the victim's original name when he was not supposed to know!
Put in a corner, Tom confesses that the victim was indeed was killed by him for they had married when they were teenagers and became clingy and refuse to divorce him for Tom to marry Susan!
The pardon is denied and Tom goes to the chair.
A film noir with a convoluted story from a man who essentially invented the genre - film noir. Nothing great but watchable. Some how, one has the feeling of not being drawn into the sorrows and dilemma of the characters.

Blondie - Rifle Range 1977

Honestly, I have never heard this song in my entire life. I decided to add this to the blog obviously because of the title in spite of its lack of melody and its directionless arrangement of chords!

Now, for the real kind of Debbie Harry's Blondie music that was a hit during my coming of age and introduction to western music...

3 gems in 1

Teen Kanya (Bengali, Three Ladies, 1961)
Director: Satyajit Ray

This 1961 offering was in conjunction with Rabindranath Tagore's centenary birth celebration. The stories were penned by Tagore and modified for the screen by Ray. Women was the theme behind the three stories, hence the name. Watching a 'new' Ray's film is like opening a Pandora box, we would be pleasantly surprised how it turns out. Or like how Forrest Gump would put it, "...like a box of chocolate, you never know what you're gonna get!"

Postmaster
Nanda, a Calcutta boy is posted as a postmaster in a tiny village out in nowhere. Living with the bare minimum, he has only a pre-teen orphaned illiterate girl, Ratan, who is the helper to postmasters posted there. Also for company, he has a bevvy of toothless old men who keep looking at him like he was a stuffed animal. To pass time, he writes to his mother, tells stories about Calcutta to Ratan and the old men and he also starts teaching Ratan to read and write. Ratan and Nanda develop a unique sibling kind of bond.

After a late session of traditional musical extravaganza with the oldies in the village, Nanda is bedridden, afflicted with malaria. He had not been taking his prophylactic quinine. Ratan nurses him day and night back to health.
The bone-breaking chills of malaria broke Nanda's spirit to stay any longer in the wilderness. After failing to obtain a transfer, he resigns. A disappointed Ratan refuses to see him and take his tips.
She is now immersed in serving the new officer. Nanda just leaves...
A movie to highlight that something which we think would be uninteresting will grow on us. We will find it difficult to leave it, but then life has to go on.

Monihara (The Lost Jewel)
A teacher Sri Gobinda Chakravarthy who takes a keen interest in ghost and spirits takes a seat by the bank (ghat) of the river of the Saha residence. He complains that after being in the 'business' for so long, he is yet to meet a ghost. He meets a hooded man by the ghat and strikes a conversation and reads his text on the history and grandiosity of the Saha Estate.
30 years previously, Phanibhusan Saha and his wife Monimalika moved in from Calcutta to take over mansion after his father's death.
The childless couple after 10 years of married life is happy with each other, away from the prying and gossipy relatives in Calcutta. She also likes the frequent gifts of jewels from her beloved husband!
One day, Madhusudhan, a guy claiming to be Moni's brother appears at the doorstep looking for a job. He gets a job through Saha's recommendation. Moni is uncomfortable with the mention of Madhusudhan's name but we are not told why.

The peace and happiness of the couple came to nought on one fateful day when Saha's jute business is burnt to the ground. A distraught Saha hints to Moni that he may need to liquidate his belongings (her pricey jewellery included) to keep the business afloat. Moni, who loves her jewels too much is morbidly fearful of losing her priced ornaments that she takes great pride in adorning.
Saha goes to Calcutta to secure loans. Fearing that the husband would eye to sell off her set of jewellery if he failed, Moni absconds from the house with the help of Madhusudhan.
As she leaves the house, she mockingly tells her partner that the only thing that she would miss about her husband would be the necklace that he promised to buy if he were successful in his attempts in getting finances.

Saha returns victoriously to an empty house. Devastated that his wife had gone missing, he pines for her whilst constantly holding the jewellery set that he bought for her. Almost every night, he hears the jingling sounds of his wife's anklet filling the still of the night at the stroke of midnight. One night an apparition resembling the silhouette of Moni manifests in front of him in the dark. The figure tries to snatch the jewellery box. Only then, he realizes that it is the skeletal bone of Moni covered in saree donning all her jewels! Guess, even in spirit, her desire for jewels had not waned.
Back to the ghat, the hooded man insists that there were factual errors in the story. Annoyed, Gobinda demands to know how he knew of the errors. To this, the listener introduced himself as Saha and disappeared into thin air. Govinda scuttled away helter-skelter.
Ray's attempt at horror and managed to hoodwink viewers to show a ghostly ending!

Samapti (The Conclusion)
Amulya returns home after his examinations. His mother, as all Indian movie mothers, put forward the idea that he should get married. The son, however, wants to study law.
On mother's insistence and emotional melodrama, he relents to pay a visit to a prospective bride. The outing did not go well at all. He had to walk through a treacherously muddy road, lost his shoes just to see an uneducated young bride child and a commotion was set by a stray frog in the living room, sending Amulya into a coughing fit.
Here the story pokes fun at the traditional Indian matchmaking.
On the way back, he is fascinated with a boisterous tomboyish girl who is full of foolhardy named Mrinmoyee (a.k.a. Pagli - mad girl as she is known around the village as she is always roaming doing pranks.)
The mother is disappointed with his choice but gives in and promises to 'domesticate' her. Mrimoyee is kept indoors much to her resistance and is advised on how ladies should behave. Mrinmoyee tries to avoid wedding by cutting her hair short but it goes on anyway.
After the ceremony, Amulya realises that she is not ready to let go of her childish ways. On the wedding night, she sneaks out to see her pet squirrel, creating such a commotion in the household.
Feeling disappointed by his own choice and humiliated by relatives, Amulya leaves Mrinmoyee with his mother and leaves for Calcutta to continue his studies. He reiterated that he would only return with Mrinmoyee's letter. 6 months passed without any word and news from Amulya.
Mrinmoyee's and Amu's mother hatch out a plan to bring Amulya back by sending a postcard to announce that his mother is sick. He comes back to see a changed Mrinmoyee and all is well.
A simple story with intense but non-melodramatic human emotions.

It is a jungle out there.

There she was, a mid 50s a disciplined runner who is the envy of ladies of her age in the housing estate who would die to have a physique like hers, waiting outside the emergency room with her right hand all dressed up to see an orthopaedic doctor who would later assess the extend of her injuries and probably stitch up her hand which had been mauled by a stray dog. She, a dog owner herself, of many Rottweilers and Alsatians, as her husband trained guard dogs for a living could not believe her predicament.

Having lived a time just after a time when typhoid and tuberculosis were treated with eggs and fresh air, she believed in the outdoors. Equipped with a earphones and iPod, she would just go for her evening runs without disturbing a soul but with her sole intention to complete her bodily duties.
In fact, a few minutes before the said event, she had patted the stray dog. On her way back, out of the blues, as if like possessed, she went for her hand. A Good Samaritan who came to her rescue was also injured!
The outdoors is becoming more hostile to us as time go by. Forget about fresh air! The moment we step outside the comfort of our homes, we are greeted with fumes of automobiles and the ever deteriorating quality of air. If that is not enough, we have the ever expanding horse power capacity cars manned (and 'woman'ed) by mindless drivers with ever shrinking thoughts for pedestrians to dodge from. Then we have to brace ourselves against the tyranny of knife yielding small time petty thieves.
So it looks the outdoors is only for animals- it is a jungle out there!