The pianist
In September 1939, Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish-Jewish pianist is playing on Polish State radio in warsaw when it is bombed during nazi Germany’s invasión of Poland at the outbreak of World War II . Germany defeats Poland in just over a month. Very quickly life for Jews deteriorate as the nazi authorities prevent them working or owning businesses, and force them to wear star of david armbands.
By November 1940, Szpilman and his family have been forced from their home into the overcrowded warsaw ghetto where conditions only get worse. People starve, the guards are brutal and corpses are left in the streets.. In the summer of 1942, the family are deported to Treblinka extermination camp but Szpilman is saved by a friend in the jewish ghetto police.
Szpilman becomes a slave labourer working on the “Aryan” side, where he survives a random mass execution. Szpilman learns of a coming Jewish revolt and helps by smuggling weapons into the ghetto, narrowly avoiding a suspicious guard. He then manages to escape and goes into hiding with help from non-Jewish friend Andrzej Bogucki and his wife Janina. In April 1943, Szpilman observes the rise and fall of the warsaw ghetto uprising from his window near the ghetto wall. A year goes by and Szpilman is forced to flee after a neighbor discovers him. In a second hiding place provided to him, he is shown into a room with a piano but forced to keep quiet, and suffers jaundice.
In August 1944, the polish resistance attack a German building across the street from Szpilman’s hideout in ochoto district during the warsaw uprising. A tank shells his apartment forcing him to flee and hide elsewhere. Over the course of the next months the city is destroyed and emptied of the population. Szpilman is left to search desperately for shelter and supplies among the ruins. In one house, he is discovered by the Wehrmacht officer Wilm Hosenfeld, who learns that Szpilman is a pianist. Hosenfeld, who was moved by the music, allows Szpilman to hide in the attic of the empty house. Over the coming months, the German officer regularly brings him food.
In January 1945, the Germans are forced to retreat due to the advance of the red army. Hosenfeld meets Szpilman for the last time promising he will listen to him on polish radio after the war.
In Spring 1945, former inmates of a nazi concentration camp pass a Soviet prisoner-of-war camp holding captured German soldiers and verbally abuse them. One ex-prisoner says he used to be a violinist. On hearing this, the captured Hosenfeld asks the violinist if he knows Szpilman, which the violinist confirms. The German asks if Szpilman can return the favor. Later the violinist brings Szpilman back to the site but it is only a grassy field.
Its a very sad movie but also realistic one because the uggly truth is that a lot of jewish people suffered and died because of the hate of the Germans, and this story shows the survival of a man during the period of world war II.
A Beautiful Mind
A Beautiful Mind
In 1947, John Nash ( the principal carácter of the story ) arrives at Princeton University. He is co-recipient, with Martin Hans , of the prestigious Carnegie Scholarship for mathematics.
Nash comes under increasing pressure to publish, both from the mathematics department chairman and in the form of rivalry with Hansen. But he refuses until he finds a truly original idea. His inspiration comes when he and his fellow graduate students discuss how to approach a group of women at a bar , this leads to a new concept of governing dynamics which Nash develops and publishes.
Some years later, Nash is invited to the pentagon to crack encrypted enemy telecommunication. Nash is able to decipher the code mentally, to the astonishment of other codebreakers. He considers his regular duties at MIT uninteresting and beneath his talents, so he is pleased to be given a new assignment by mysterious supervisor William Parcher of the U.S.A department of defense , to look for patterns in magazines and newspapers in order to decipher a Soviet plot.
Meanwhile a student, Alicia Larde, asks him to dinner, and the two fall in love. With Charles’ encouragement he proposes to Alicia and they marry.
Dr. Rosen tells Alicia that Nash has schizophrenia and that Charles, Marcee and Parcher exist only in his imagination. Alicia investigates and finally confronts Nash with the unopened documents he had delivered to the secret mailbox. Nash is given a course of therapy and eventually released. Frustrated with the side-effects of the medication he is taking, he secretly stops taking it. This causes a relapse and he meets Parcher again.
Against Dr. Rosen’s advice, Nash decides not to restart his medication, believing that he can deal with his symptoms in another way. Alicia decides to stay and support him in this.
Nash approaches his old friend and rival, Martin Hansen, now head of the Princeton mathematics department, who grants him permission to work out of the library and audit classes. Years pass and as Nash grows older he learns to ignore his hallucinations. Eventually he earns the privilege of teaching again.
In 1994, Nash is honored by his fellow professors for his achievement in mathematics, and goes on to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his revolutionary work on game theory.
Its a wonderful story iin which with his impressive intelligence he could battle his own sickness of schizophrenia , making this a shocking and amazing story.
Gone with the Wind
“After all , tomorrow is another day “- gone with the wind
Gone With The Wind
Part 1
On the eve of the American Civil War in 1861, Scarlett O’Hara (the principal carácter ), who lives at Tara , with her parents and two sisters. Scarlett learns that Ashley Wilkes (whom she secretly loves)is to be married to her cousin , Melanie Hamilton, and that the engagement is to be announced the next day at a barbecue at Ashley’s home.
At the barbecue Scarlett notices that she is being admired by Rhett Butler, who has been disowned by his family. Rhett finds himself in further disfavor among the male guests when, during a discussion of the probability of war, he states that the South has no chance against the superior numbers and industrial might of the North. Scarlett secretly confesses to Ashley that she loves him, but he rejects her by responding that he loves Melanie. The barbecue is disrupted by the declaration of war and the men rush to enlist. As Scarlett watches Ashley kiss Melanie as a goodbye ,Melanie’s shy younger brother Charles asks for her hand in marriage before he goes. Though she does not love him, Scarlett consents, and they are married before he leaves to fight.
Scarlett is quickly widowed when Charles dies from a bout of pneumonia and measles while serving in the Confederate Army. Scarlett’s mother sends her to the Hamilton home in Atlanta to cheer her up, although the O’Haras’ outspoken housemaid Mammy tells Scarlett she knows she is going there only to wait for Ashley’s return. Rhett, now a blockade runner for the Confederacy , makes a surprise appearance. To raise money for the Confederate war effort, gentlemen are invited to offer bids for ladies to dance with them. Rhett makes an inordinately large bid for Scarlett and, to the disapproval of the guests, Scarlett agrees to dance with him. As they dance, Rhett tells her he intends to win her, which she says will never happen.
The tide of war turns against the Confederacy after the Battle of Gettysburg in which many of the men of Scarlett’s town are killed.
When Scarlett turns back to Tara , she is relieved to find Tara still standing but deserted by all except her parents, her sisters, and two servantsç. Scarlett receceives the notice that her mother has just died of typhoid fever and her father’s mind has begun to fail under the strain. With Tara pillaged by Union troops and the fields untended, Scarlett vows she will do anything for the survival of her family and herself.
British History “EMPIRE”
Clapham Sect leading group of Anglican ( church of England ) from about 1790 to 1830, who campaigned for the abolition of slavery and promoted missionary work at home and abroad. Many members were of the Parliament including Zachary Macaulay and William Wilberfoce , where, in addition to their abolitionism, they worked for prison reform, prevention of cruel sports, and the suspension of the game laws and the lottery.
David livingstone :Missionary and explorer in 1813-1873 was a key figure of the new attitude. He began as a poor child laborer but worked hard to get the education necessary to become a medical doctor. He began his major missionary work at the kuruman mission in South Africa , became frustrated and began to shift his focus to exploring the African interior , were he get shocked to discover that the slave trade was still active in East Africa. He wanted to create an active economic exchange between the British and the resident of the African interior that could help replace the slave trade as a source of profit. His motto was “ CHRISTIANITY , COMMERCE AND CIVILIZATION “
The differences between the British experiences in Africa and India .For the British it was more easier to anglicize the African interior , the opposite of India in which they wanted to make money out of it , no chage them into christians but Indian to prevent made a rebellion to keep away from be conquered by the British .
The sepy mutinity Indian soldiers of the British Indian Army, know as sepoys (Hindus , Muslims , and Silkhs , have a discontent with British administration in India that led to numerous mutinies in 1857 and 1858; the revolt was put down after several battles. The British sent troops to India who struck back with great force and killed many Indians in revenge “ tampering with native customs had been a recipe for nothing but trouble”.
Henry Morton Stanley was a Welsh American journalist and explorer famous for his exploration of central Africa and his search for Scottish missionary and explorer David Livingstone. Upon finding Livingstone, Stanley allegedly uttered the now-famous greeting, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”
VAD: voluntary aid detachment
Wartime Letter
September 12, 1914
Dear boyfriend of mine:
Ohh how to start? These times are difficult! I don’t know how I been managing myself to keep strong with all our losses. My strength is my hope that in a not very distant future I will see you again and that things may get as it used to be, Ohh I miss you so much!
I have to tell you that lots of things had changed around here, since you volunteer in the army and with all our men fighting for our country, we woman are desolated. Some of them just stay in their homes hoping that someday they will see their husbands coming back; but I can’t do that! I can’t stay in my home just watching the clock move as time passes, I can’t wait for a miracle. I needed to something, just to feel once that I can do something for you and for my country. So I volunteered to the VAD (voluntary aid detachment) like many other women did. Since you’re gone every time that see an airplane passing I can’t stop thinking that you’re in danger and that something bad can happen to you, I’m worried all the time; so I decided to volunteer hoping I don’t see you coming to our moving hospitals , hoping that you are okay and safe. I have to tell that I never imagine that I would like nursing; it makes me feel so good helping all these men that came back almost dead! We are busy all day it’s really exhausting, we travel very often helping from hospital to hospital healing their wounds and giving them a bit of faith and hope that they lost in war.
These times give a lot of sadness and hopelessness but don’t lose it! Always keep in mind that bad times can’t last forever and that things will get better, stay strong and fight for your country and for your keeping you safe because I need you to come back with me!
Hope that I see you again, love you so much
Anna Sofia
Modernism in The Arts
Music :
I listened a few songs the symphony , moondrunk , the fourth of July , prelude to the afternoon of a faun and symphony 1:2nd movement. Well , the first three songs transmitted to me like an air of suspense , like a drama scene , like if something awful was happing or was about to happen or maybe if something its coming soon , it’s like very deep but not transmitting peace or to relax ; I felt it that way. But in the other hand with the last two , the prelude to the afternoon of a faun and symphony 1:2nd movement , transmitted to me a different feelings ; they were my favorites.The song of the faun was like very relaxing , it was like hypnotizing , like mysterious and dramatic , love the instruments ! and to finish the last one was totally different the symphony 1:2nd movement was like an inspiration to do something , like if you were prepared and ready to go for your goal , transmitted to me happiness and confidence ; I loved how the instruments give to the songs the essence they want to transmit and obviously how they sounded.
Paintings :
In general I really love all of the paintings, because all of them were very impressive, beautiful and also shocking by the time they were painted. All of them have a point of express something; thoughts and emotions. I literally love them all, they all have the perfect mix of color, and all of them are very famous. They were impressive at their time and now because they change the style in the form of painting, creating a new art by new techniques, more abstract and simple but easily to catch what they transmit, more liberal and more inspired.
Poems :
The poems well they were very metaphoric and difficult to understand ; but some words help me to understand some of them. They were very expressive of their feelings showing how beautiful things are and about the nature and beauty that the earth have, some of them I catch a feeling of sadness and melancholy tone. I think that they were difficult to read because, not every person get the same things of them , they are metaphoric so the reader can understand it as they imagine or feel about it.
annasmv 