No lessons learnt?

Saw a movie yesterday. "Good morning, Vietnam". Had never heard of it, till I saw this blog which made me kind of curious, and so got the movie on NetFlix.

Decent movie. Not an all time great, but decent. I liked the thought provoking passage following Jahnavi's "Good moooooooooooooooooorning Mumbai" (at the start of Lage Raho) more than what follows Robbie William's "Guuuuddddd mooorrnnnning Vieeetttnammm" in this movie. But still, this one was very much watchable.

The movie in short - Robbie Williams goes to Vietnam as a DJ for a military radio station and wins the hearts of the soldiers. In the process, he also makes friends with a Vietnamese guy. He takes that guy to a GI bar, which the guy subsequently blows up. The guy meanwhile saves RW's life once. Ultimately, the guy turns out to be a leader in the Viet Cong. Robbie at the end of the movie, is sent back.

Like I said, the movie itself wasn't an all time great, but some of the dialogs - were so thought provoking, and so jarring...here are some:

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(RW: Robbie Williams PDT: Phan Duc Tho, the viet Cong Leader)

RW:
I fought to get you into that bar, and then you blow the fuckin' place up. Listen. I gave you my friendship and my trust...and now they tell me that my best friend is the goddam enemy!

PDT:
Enemy? What is enemy? You killing my own people so many miles from your home. We not the enemy. You (are) the enemy!
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RW:
You used me to kill two people. Two people died in that fuckin' bar.

PDT:
Big fucking deal!
My mother is dead. And my older brother, he dead.
Shot by Americans.
My neighbour, dead. His wife, dead.
Why?
Because we're not human to them. We're only little Vietnamese.
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RW:
We're here to help this country.
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As I watched it and reflected about the conflicts that the US is currently engaged in, I just couldn't believe these were from a different movie about a different war! It all, the value of an American life vis-a-vis a non-American life, the scenario, the attitude, even the hyperbole, seemed so familiar! I wonder if we ever learn lessons from the past.

I won't list the thoughts and questions that came to my mind. I bet you know what they were.

Been away, be back. Soon

Have been away for long. Way too long.
Got out of the habit, if writing two blogs can be considered a 'habit', around the time I had to move from Beaverton to Detroit. And never really picked up after that. Rather satisfied myself with reading others' blogs! But now the bug has bitten me again, and so hopefully should be posting more again, so keep a look out!