There are so many movies and life is so short

Today I wanted to share my true enjoy after watching the movie American Hustle. It got about 10 nominations to Oscar award, and won many different awards, which is understandable, because the movie is really good.

I usually don't know what happens in Hollywood and all the world of movies, I never look what movies won Oscar and who is the best actor of the year. But this weekend I was so sick that the only thing I could do was watch some movies, so I remembered that my friend told me about American Hustle, its nominations etc. So I watched it -and I loved it!

Although it was suppose to be some kind of criminal story, it happens to be really funny. The caracters are just so well planned, the main protagonist seems to be a young man, but his hair tell us other thing. He and his lover and partner (Amy Adams) are fraudsters, that's what do they in their lives but they both have their individual stories. I think that I liked the most the way the actors were playing their roles: Jennifer Lawrence, as always extrafunny, also Bradley Cooper with his curly hair. 

And I loved the outfits - I used to think that fashion from 1978 cannot be nice, but at the movie (I know it's  a movie, so it's not that realistic) is just perfect. I love the dresses (although women are not used to were bras) and funny looking trousers. 

Whole the plot has that something that makes it interesting, and it's good, because the movie lasts 2 hours...

Anyway, I'm not surprised that it became so famous. I wish I had more time to see films like that.

potriotism

There are some thoughts lately on my mind that bother me quite a lot. It's about a concept of patriotism. I used to be, or consider myself, very patriotic person. I was always singing whole national anthem, I tried to learn a lot about history of Poland, I like polish and I think we are an interesting nation, and I really loved living here. I always defend Poland when somebody is attacking us without good reasons. I was always truly sad when thinking about wars, warsaw uprising, the death of millions of inocent people. And I do think about that stuff today and I didn't change my mind, but why do I like my country and why it is important to me?

Let's start with this short and so interesting thought:

It has a point, doesn't it? I was absolutely amazed when I saw it, it expresses my point of view so well and in so short way. I am trying to say that I don't love my country because I was born in here. I don't love my language because I should, because it is good to respect your language and your country. 

I wouldn't mind living in another place, with another language, another people and mentality. As long as I feel good in a place, I will live there. And I feel good with polish mentality and language, and landscapes, and trains, and roads and sucky government. I have grown here, and I FEEL GREAT HERE. I had an oportunity to live in Basque Country and I just didn't feel very well there. People were so kind, the culture seems to be so rich and different from ours, it's not even about the horrible climate, rain and stuff - it's just I belong to Poland, and other cultures are worth discovering, but I feel the best right here and there is nothing I can do about it, at least now. 

It doesn't mean I don't see disadvantages - there are so many problems to solve, I just am aware of that every country has its issues. So I don't love Poland because I should, I love it because of many reasons, not because I was born here and it is required to be a patriot. 

If I will enjoy being at Mexico or United States, I will love it as well :)

If Poland was named Germany and we would speak german, I would love it as long as I would feel well, feel grateful for some things that happen here and for some people I meet here. We build our countries, we work for its future, and then it is easier to be a patriot, isn't it?

About truth and history

This week I went to the cinema to see that new movie "Kamienie na szaniec", which I promised to describe in my next note. Well, I saw it, I liked it, and now I'm going to join the discussion about that controversial film of Robert Gliński.

When I left the cinema, I was confused. The last 30 minutes I was crying, almost all the time, and it was hard for me to be objective, because I saw a person that I know being tortured (I know, I really know that it was not real!), and I can't watch scenes like that at all, even if it's a murderer being tortured. Now, after few days, I can say that I really enjoyed the movie. According to me, it was a good way to show to the public a piece of history in a little bit different way. I think that music was the best element from the movie - the scenes with fight between boys and of sabotage, they were purely modern and energetic. It was a better choice than it would be a music from those times.

I think that music was the only modern part of the film, I mean, I don't understand why many ex-soldiers and scouts from Szare Szeregi, who have participated in a Second World War, claim that this movie is a lie, that scouts didn't behave or dress this way. Actually I think that their clothes are pretty out of date, nobody would dress like that today and I know them from other war movies. And I truly believe that the moral aspect during war was kind of strict, but I also believe that scouts were human and they might have had girlfriends and KISS THEM.

"Kamienie na szaniec" were made to show some history and the fact, that these young boys were just like us, while they were having fun or saving their country, and fighting for survive. It was a feature film - a director Robert Gliński has to repeat this all the time - based on historical events and a book of Aleksander Kamiński. That's why it was not supposed to be the same thing as a book, it was more modern version, but true. I think that the actors who performed the leading roles, did great jobs, and it was their first big debut. Congrats for them and the director!

PS The only thing that I would change, were some conversations with huigh language. I mean, I know, they were all the time close to death, but were they seriously talking like that?

 

film adaptions

Last week came out a new movie "Kamienie na szaniec" in polish cinemas. I am especially interested in that movie because my friend (or, to be frank, brother of my friend) has a leading role and I'm really interested how this is gonna be, if I'm gonna like it or not.



I will write about it when I'll see it, but now I have another thing in my mind. I'm very critical if it comes to movies adapted from books. They just NEVER come out good. They might be well done, but it seems to be almost imposible to make a movie that will actually reflect the book, not change antyhing etc. That's the annoying part, why does the director always change the sequence of events? Or the caracteristics of the characters?

I remember when I was watching Harry Potter movies, when I was a girl I loved a book, and at first, I watched few parts of a movie adaptations. Let's face it, they are bad. They change some important issues from the book. I am aware that it's not only fault of the director - it's like you're reading a book, and you imagine things on your own, and then you go to the cinema to see something different from the images from your head. But one thing is change the facts, and other is create presented world in a different way.

About "Kamienie na szaniec", I am not very worried that it might be different from the book, because I read it like many years ago and I don't remember a lot. But it's another polish historic movie, lately we've seen some movies of that kind, and they are not always well done. I think that "Katyń" was a good one, but there is too much right now, I think it became sort of fashion in polish cinematography to create movies like that. It seems to be the easier way to teach about history. But in every movie we see the same faces, is that a ggood choice of directors?

Well I;m not gonna judge before I see it, and I'm hoping to have some fun on that movie - I know it sounds bad, they are people dying etc, but I mean that I'm gonna see at big screen a person that I know from life, and this is gonna be awesome! :)

My impossible future

When we are children, we have our dreams about who we would like to be as a grown up people: actress, singer, writer, runner,policeman...But then we grow up and everything becomes hard.

When I was a little girl, I had few plans for my future. I wanted to be a hairdresser (omg, why?), a professional runner, and a singer. Now none of those professions seems particularly interesting to me, so I'm not disappointed that I won't be a sportswoman or that I won't sing in front of crowds. Because I'm grown up now and mature, at least I hope so, and I decided to be a translator. This is something I love to do, and as much I want to do for a living this way, as much I know how hard it is for all kind of artists, translators, writers etc. Those are not very rich, if they 're not work-a-holics or super talented in what they do.

I realize how great would be doing something enjoyable for us. I would love to travel and write books, like Ryszard Kapuściński for example. But my books would be reeeaally poor and boring, so I 'm just gonna leave this for talented writers. Does it mean that I have to stop dreaming about "who I want to be when I grow up", and just let the life bring some boring profession  so I can do for living somehow?

I'm quite pessimistic in this matter - I guess it's important to do something we love anyway, but we should remember that this might be not enough. I think that we need to know the balance between things and be realistic.

If I were a boyyy

I'm not gonna sing or dance to Beyonce's video clip called "If I were a boy", don't worry. It just made me think about it, what would I do if i were a boy. Of course when I was a child, I used to wonder how would it be, but now it's different.

So I'm not like I COULD BE AN OFFICER OR A SOLDIER. Actually it's a kind of important and very actual topic. I CAN be a soldier and I can be an officer if I want to, I just really should try very hard to be one. And today it's getting more and more common to fight with stereotypes through our life choices. A lot of women feel like they want to do something important, like save lifes. Women in an army are still a minority, and many times their situation is really hard. They have to literally fight to proove that they also can be effective and good soldiers. They have to fight with discrimination and sexual abusement not a single time.

What about other occupations? There is not a lot of female fireman, I guess. It's the best occupation in the world, I'm full of proud and admiration because of those people, they are heros for me, and I'm sure a woman could do that very well too. There is quite a lot of women in police as far as I know.

When I was a little girl, I had a lot of dreams concerning my future: I wanted to be an actress, a singer, a profesional runner, a hairdresser, and a soldier too. Today my dream is to be a translator and in my childhood I never thought about it - but I have to admit that even today I think I could be a runner or a soldier. But I think that I could, not that I want to. I think I am ready to work hard on my body, to be strong and healthy, to do something good, but I feel like it was some kind of ilusion. My pragmatical part of brain is telling me: you could never join the army and kill, and pretend it's something good. And you could never be a profesional runner, because, although you love to run, you would end your profesional life at your late thirties and then have nothing to do, only train other runners or be pathetic celebrity... So I'm just gonna try to be a translator.

Because if I were a boy, I would definitely wanted to be a fireman.

Winter again

So I mentioned in another post that this winter is being kind of weird. Well now it changed, it has nothing the weird - it's sooo cold and freezing, ang you know what? I love it!

I am aware that this opinion is not very common. But I passed 2 semestres studying in Basque Country and I must say, the weather of this region made me love our polish climate. Vitoria is a city where the rain is a daily reality. It rains during winter, autumn and spring. And summer too. I like rain, but there's a limit. And when I came for Christmas, I was shocked how fresh and cold air of Poland makes me happy. And of course I love summer the most and I miss it every day, but those freezing days that we have now are something I appreciate. I'm cold when it's humid weather, I don't know how to dress myslef...and now I just put on some sweater and although my nose is red and frozen, I feel great.

So I guess the experience of living in Basque Country, which is beautiful and mysterious, made me more concious and I really think our climate is more "human friendly". Or "me friendly" :)

I post a photo of my faculty during those humid, terrible days when it was snowing with that kind of wet snow, and all you could have done was take some extra socks with you to classes.

And another photo I love: a tree with a snow on it.