Operation Homecoming
The documentary "Operation Homecoming" was by far the most moving piece I have encountered so far in this class. The manner in which it was presented effectively and poignantly conveys the emotions and experiences of the authors in the documentary and their writings. This documentary helped me to understand and, at least on a small scale, relate to what the authors had experienced, which in turn makes me better appreciate what they have written. With this appreciation for the author’s story comes an overall general appreciation o those who have gone through similar experiences; our troops.
One aspect of this documentary that I felt truly enhanced my experience of this poetry was to actually see and hear the authors relate the stories that led to the creation of these works of art. This is an opportunity that we have not yet had the experienced with the materials we have read in the class. True, O’Brien did write his book himself, and it is biographical, and so therefore he is telling us his story. However, getting the authors point of view outside of the context of the story; to get the intended perspective of a story, not just the one I, the reader, have extrapolated and interpreted, to get it from the source, that is a unique opportunity. I can read a poem and interpret it however I like. But I have never been to war and will most likely not have the same perspective as the author. The perspective I got on these poems was the author’s perspective, not just what my inexperienced mind thought my perspective should be. Having the author right there to explain his thought process helped put me in his shoes.
The scenes and sounds presented along with the poems also helped to give me more perspective on the author’s intentions with their writing. Actually seeing the horrors the authors are describing while they are describing them further cements the impact of the war on the psyches of the authors. It is one thing to read a poem, it is quite another thing to hear it, see it, and feel it. The dramatic reading of the poems also plays along with this theme. The poems were not read as broken rhyming lines, but instead as moving thoughts, augmented with a natural rhythym and rhyme. The lines flowed off the lips of the readers much as they flowed out of the minds of the authors.
Another aspect of the poetry that struck me was how masculine it was. For some reason, I seem to equate poetry with femininity. Maybe this is because I am a girl, but nonetheless, poems rarely make me think of men. These poems had a raw masculinity that I have never experienced in a poem, and I don’t think it has anything to do with the guns and the bombs and the tanks. I think this masculinity comes more from how the authors are grappling with the juxtaposition of fighting for one’s country and doing what he thinks is expected of him, and having to commit heinous crimes and acts that he feels are innately wrong. Many poems are generally about trying to make peace with humanity, and trying to find good in it. These poems are about these men finding peace their inhumanity, and trying to find good in that.
Thnis leads me to a quote towards the end of the film that really touched me and made me think. Tobias Wolff states, “That’s the sign of a really decadent civilization that sends young people out to do and to suffer the things that soldiers do and suffer in wars and not to care about what those things are, and not to have any cost laid on them, even of knowing what is going on. Even to avoid that cost, that’s a decadence (1:04:08).” This statement is so true, and so eye opening. I am one of those decadent people, and I really have no idea what goes on over there. I can read about it, and write about it, I can watch the news and talk politics with friends, but as with many experiences in life, you just don’t know until you’ve been there. So if this film made me feel this bad, and I’ve only seen a tiny glimpse into their reality, what is it like to live it?
This film touched me in a way than none of the materials I have encountered in this class have touched me. This poem gave me a perspective on the reality of war that I had somehow missed in the texts. This caused me to go back and reevaluate what I have already read and learned in this class. I got new insight into most of the material due to my new appreciation for what was really being written about. I know there isn’t much I can do about the predicament of the war-bound soldier. But I’m not sure that was the purpose of the poems. These soldiers weren’t asking for help, or telling a story, they are trying to be understood. War has changed them in a way that only war can. Until the reader understands this, they can’t understand the true meanings of their stories. I think Tim O’Brien said it best, torwards the end of the film, where he states, “It’s probably what art does, what its function is. It can put you in the shoes of that poor sucker, you know, pinned down in that poor little courtyard in the middle of nowhere, and make you care about him (1:05:22).”