I’ve taken a long break from this personal blog. It is, after all, a pleasure and not a job. But I find myself meandering this way again.
Due to my wife’s Covid-induced isolation (thankfully, she’s doing well), I’ve been keeping busy with Netflix documentaries. Here are three that caught my attention.
The four-episode series “Encounters” (2023) explores accounts of UFO sightings. It examines more of who WE are rather than who THEY are. Thought-provoking and a little spooky, it raises the issue of society facing an inflection point about what’s happening in our skies and oceans.
Next was director Peter Jackson’s excellent “They Will Not Grow Old” (2018). It uses archival footage and eyewitness accounts to put you in the trenches of World War 1. The moment when Jackson transitions from the fast, jerky, black-and-white footage we’ve all seen before to the modernized, wide-screen version made me gasp.
Finally, there’s “Ordinary Men: The Forgotten Holocaust” (2023), based on the book by Christopher Browning. It examines the background and psyche of the members of the police squads who pulled the triggers day after day during the Nazi extermination of Jews and others. The story asserts that under certain circumstances, we can each become killers. Beautifully narrated by Scottish actor Brian Cox, recently of “Succession” and McDonald’s fame.
Thought in Memory Of Thomas Brown
All eternity is in the moment.
Mary Oliver
Art: “Clamdigger” 1935, by Edward Hopper
