Gran Torino, strong dynamics

Walt Kowalski has just lost his wife, he has two sons that struggle to get along and communicate with him, and his neighborhood has become dominated by Hmongs. Walt is a veteran of war, and will never forget the terrible things he has done during the Vietnam War. Needless to say he is not happy, but refuses to make a change in his living.

I would describe Walt´s relationship with his sons as shallow. The level of communication and mutual understanding between Walt and his closest is poor. There is, however, a gradual improvement throughout the movie, particularly when Walt has just been to the doctor and tests positive for something I assume was fatal. My grandfather is 89 years old, and there is no doubt he was born many decades before me. He does not struggle to communicate with our family like Walt does with his, but I can see myself as one of the youngster in some of the scenarios from Gran Torino.

We never get to see the wife of Walt, but he describes her as the best thing that ever happened to him. The local priest insists that Walt must relief his sins in confession, but Walt refuses. Much like his relationship to his family, his relationship to his priest improves. The priest and Walt learn from each other, and both seem to benefit from their relationship in the end. I think there is clear resemblance between Walt´s attitude towards the priest and the Hmongs, his ignorance prevents him of seeing how they really are. Walt believes the priest is an overeducated youngster with no real experience with life and death. I think the turning point for their relationship is when they discover they have something in common; Thao and his family. It is at this point Walt corrects the priest when calling Walt “Mr. Kowalski”, and encourages him to address him by his first name. In Norway we have less of a tradition of using titles, and it has never been something I have considered utilizing. Nevertheless I have experienced the same growth of a relationship that Walt and the priest did.

When Walt called his son after having been to the doctor, something was different. I think Walt reckoned how nice it was to just have a casual conversation with his son, without there being a higher agenda to it all, like when his son called seemingly for the bare reason of getting his hands on tickets for a football game. At the point when Walt had been to the doctor, I think he had decided to make the Hmong gang shoot him in front of witnesses already, so he did not really care much for his sickness, as it would not affect him for much longer. In other words, he probably knew this would be his last conversation with his son, and did not want it to be a sad one. Walt´s situation is not unfamiliar to me, I lost my dad a couple of years back, and there are definitely some situations where I prefer keeping that to myself.

Invictus

The Clint Eastwood-directed movie Invictus, starring familiar faces like Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon, revolves around the build-up to and thrills of the 1995 Rugby World Cup, hosted by South Africa. Through a great film we can learn a great deal about both the situation of South Africa in the early years post its “redemption” from the Apartheid, as well as important topics such as unity, equality and forgiveness. Morgan Freeman plays the main role as Nelson Mandela, and with charisma makes it impossible not to admire the man he in this scenario portrays with a striking resemblance.
Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) states about the white people of South Africa in the film; “They are our fellow South Africans, our partners in democracy. And they treasure Springbok rugby. If we take that away, we lose them. We prove that we are what they feared we would be. We have to be better than that. We have to surprise them with compassion, with restraint, and generosity. I know. All of the things they denied us." Further on in movie he adds that the mutual racism between the white and black people of South Africa is an evil cycle that he by any means will put an end to.

The peak of excitement in Invictus is at the very end, where South Africa arises to beat their seemingly unbeatable opponent, the New Zealand All Blacks, in the Rugby World Cup final. A unique illustration of unity follows as the people of South Africa cheer and celebrate together, ignoring each other’s ethnicity and background. I believe this ending is to emphasize the words of Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman); unless we don´t prove to be better than what those who oppressed us feared us to be, we will never become united. I think this movie states a clear message that I completely agree with, and there is a reason Nelson Mandela will be in the history books for centuries. 

Why would I study or work abroad?

It has become a common thing to study abroad, regardless of financial situation, nationality and culture. My mom worked in Canada for a year, my sister has studied for three years in Copenhagen and some of my closest friends are intending to go to college in America. Needless to say, studying or working abroad sounds fun! However, I realize that have a slim basis to conclude whether or not this is something for me, so I´ve talked to a part-time teacher at my school for more information on the topic.

Annicken, the daughter of my English teacher, states that her year abroad in France studying political science and courses about the EU, was a great year. She also had an internship in San Francisco as part of her master’s degree, and the experiences were good. Whether or not you have a good experience or not whilst studying or working abroad will depend on where you are and what you are doing, but some things are mutual. You will most likely improve in another language, whether that would be English or any other language for that matter, you will gain lingual skills that are well worth the trouble in our international society.

Annicken does point out that studying some places can be expensive, so it might not be possible for just about anyone. Nevertheless, this is not such a decisive factor in Norway, since education is free. I would encourage foreign(non-Norwegian) students to come to Norway to study. It might be expensive to live here while studying, but jobs are a lot better paid here as well, so hopefully it wont be a problem.

The Raft, Peter Orner

The short story «The Raft» is narrated by the 13-year-old boy that is told the story of his grandfather. The grandfather is described as thoroughly as the grandson, but we see things through the eyes of the grandson. The son is retelling the story of his grandfather, by describing him telling it to himself in present, even though he is talking about something that happened in the past. The fact that the story is in present time, gives the reader a better impression of how it actually felt like being told that your grandfather killed a bunch of helpless Japanese.

"Don't smile," he says. "Just because I'm smiling, don't assume I couldn't kill you right now. Know that about a man." This is really the only thing I find ironic in the story. Of course his grandpa wouldn’t kill him, and the grandpa knows too.

In my opinion there is a distinct climax in the story when the grandfather admits he blew up the boat with naked Japanese. We now from the start of the story that he is telling a story from WWII, and we expect something violent and drastic, and our questions are answered by this revelation.

The topic is quite obviously war. Another interpretation could be that the author think we live in “peace” today, but we are ignorant to the fact that our ancestors fought a horrific war to get us here. 

www.thinkb4u.com

The name is quite descriptive of its content, think before you act. There are numerous examples, illustrated through short videos, shown on the site, and even though I barely browsed through about 10 per cent of these, I got an idea of what the purpose is. I don’t think this site is directed towards a specific age group, but there are a lot of people exposed to the dilemmas on www.thinkb4u.com. As a youngster and daily participant of the global internet, I should take this into a count the next time I face a decision like the ones on the site.

From an esthetic point of view the site is a masterpiece. Not only is it easily maneuverable, but the transitions and graphics are all very smooth. There is a lot of work behind this, but it makes the site so much more attractive and comfortable.

Thinking before you act should apply to every choice you makes during a day, but as an avid user of sites and services on the internet that demand personal information, I’d like to focus on this particular part of the topic. Every time you ignore and agree to “Terms of use” you expose yourself. Apple, Google and Facebook have been criticized for their alleged abuse of this, making their users agree to have their activity on the services registered. The group of people that are most vulnerable, to arguably this is youth.

Down below is an earlier post regarding the same topic:
http://kamelose.blogspot.no/2013/02/i-agree-to-these-terms.html

Espen Barth Eide- a visit from the Minister of Foreign Affairs

Today the Minister of Foreign Affairs came to visit our school, Sandvika. Two hundred students and teachers gathered in the gymnasium to hear what he had to say. He spoke about many different subjects concerning foreign affairs, all of which were very interesting.  A subject he really elaborated on was the conflict in Syria. At the end of the lecture there were many questions regarding the use of chemical weapons in Syria, as well as his personal opinion on the conflict. He was a good speaker and engaged his audience, making it easier for you as a listener to approach the situation. He was well opinionated, but you could see clear ties to his labour party background, and to his post as Minister of Defence.          

Espen specifically emphasized the importance of foreign politics, and how it affects us in the long run. Politics on a domestic level are not nearly as decisive for our place in the international society as foreign politics. A relevant point of view presented by Espen Barth Eide, was the alleged fact that; foreign politics lay the premises and foundation for domestic politics. Without strong relations and alliances between Norway and the world around us, we would in no way be able to uphold and improve our already prosperous living, economy and democracy. According to Espen Barth Eide; a change in government would mean less foreign politics overall. Is this what Norway needs?

Redemtion Day

In the suburbs of Los Angeles lives a lonely mum to three kids. She is unemployed, struggles to pay her bills and pickings are very slim on the job front. Through a law suit that backfires on her, she manages to get a job at the small firm of her lawyer. She has no suitable résumé, and is therefore given a simple pro-bono case, regarding a family in Hinkley. In Hinkley, a desert town in California, lies a compressor station for cold water owned by the Pacific Gas and Electric Company(PG&E), and Erin finds out they have polluted the local groundwater heavily. The polluted water is highly toxic, but the local community lives in ignorance of the connection of the pollution and their health issues. Erin spends late nights digging for evidence to make PG&E pay for their crime, and after many months of hard work, she reaches her goal. This is how the movie goes, a movie based on a true story. In reality it didn´t go down exactly like this, but the most important part stays the same. Erin Brockowich made an immense effort and performance taking down PG&E, and forcing them to pay 330 million dollars to the affected of their pollution.

More than 600 people were given a considerable compensation for their health issues, much due to the initiative of Erin Brockowich. It is not easy describing how much of a difference she made to the people of Hinkley, but the movie can make anyone shed a tear of joy when seeing Erin tell her clients about the money they will receive. The movie may obviously be a bit more dramatic than the reality, but the result remains the same.

Redemption day is the day of Erin Brockowich starting her work for Edward Masry. All the people whom´s everyday she helped redeem to a hopefully healthy living.