Thursday, April 10, 2014

'MUSIC AS A WEAPON FOR NON-VIOLENT CHANGE' (Or, 'LAND OF MY FATHERS, LAND THAT I LOVE')

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THE  BLUE,  BLACK,  AND  WHITE  FLAG  OF  'ESTONIA'


All y’all know FarAwayEyes (FAE) of the blog Far Away Series, right? She’s the person who invented the ‘Battle Of The Bands’ (‘BOTB’) concept on July 10, 2013, with her blog bit titled ‘House Guests & Battle Of The Bands’ right HERE.
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Well, FAE is really big on music in general, and on January 16th, half a year before introducing us all to the ‘Battle Of The Bands’ Blogfest idea, she published a blog bit in which she included a link to the trailer of a documentary movie I’d never heard of titled ‘THE SINGING REVOLUTION’.

The movie depicts how the small country of Estonia (only one million citizens in 1939) managed to survive brutal occupation by the Soviet Union, followed by brutal occupation by the Nazis, and followed by long-term brutal occupation a second time by the Soviet Union. I was curious enough to click the link to the film’s trailer provided by FarAwayEyes:
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‘THE SINGING REVOLUTION’ trailer


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I can tell you that this trailer in no way at all indicates the greatness of this film. A week after seeing the trailer via FAE’s blog, I rented the movie from NetFlix. Very shortly afterwards, I purchased a copy of the movie, and last night I watched it for the third time. It is an astounding, heartrending but exceedingly powerful and inspiring film that puts the human heart and the will to survive as a nation on full exhibit like few things I’ve ever seen before.

I am a fan of well-made documentaries in general, but ‘THE SINGING REVOLUTION’ is probably my favorite that I’ve ever seen and is quite possibly one of the 25 best films of ANY genre that I have ever had a chance to view.

Other than the good, happy dog seen romping about in the first few minutes of the movie, the first 22 minutes of this documentary is brutally depressing, but the stage is being set by explaining Estonia’s history of troubles with invading brutes like the Nazis and Communists. But don’t give up too soon! (The Estonian people didn’t!) Hang in there through the awful mistreatment, torture, and murdering of the Estonians until you hit the 22 minute and 12 second mark when the narrator says triumphantly: SINGING!

That’s when the hope and resolve and non-violent protesting begins through the country’s rich musical heritage that binds all the Estonian people together. You are then in for a real treat - one exhilarating ride of human nature, HOPE and DETERMINATION! This is the point where ‘THE SINGING REVOLUTION’ starts becoming the best documentary I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen plenty of them!)
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Film Critic Robert W. Butler said of the film, "If ‘The Singing Revolution’ were a fictional film it would be dismissed as a pie-in-the-sky fantasy. But it's all true."

Estonia’s ‘Hirve Park demonstration’ was somewhat similar to America’s “Boston Tea Party”; the people were gathering to protest and bind themselves together by a common cause.

“Creator, protect Estonia
~ An Estonian song lyric

“Singing would be the fuel for change.”

In 1969, a real, musical revolution began with the collective singing of “this one forbidden song”: ‘LAND OF MY FATHERS, LAND THAT I LOVE’.

“One day, no matter what, we will win!”
~ Heinz Valk

I watched the film last night with my brother Napoleon. At one point the movie was depicting events in Estonia that were occurring in 1988. I turned to Nappy and said, “Damn, that’s around the time we were watching Kirk Gibson hit that famous World Series-winning home run at Dodger Stadium. And we didn’t know anything about these events in Estonia!”

Nappy replied, “Because it was the same media then that we have now. Most of the negative things about Communism, it doesn’t like to tell us about.”

In the end, I thought this was a movie that ought to shame the Americonned Sheeple, who are largely dumbed-down and docile. And brother Nappy seemed to agree, because as the final credits rolled, he said to me, “I wish I had been born Estonian, rather than American”, and I couldn’t have agreed with him more. (Too bad though that “this world” is ultimately going the way that “it is written”, and there is no place a person can go to avoid it... except to God and to the Son He sent to save us.)

If there’s any sort of weakness in this film at all, unfortunately, it’s that the makers of ‘THE SINGING REVOLUTION’ seem to buy into the idea of a newer, more democratic Russia, and accepted at face value the staged coup in the U.S.S.R. and the “arrest” of Mikhail Gorbachev. Sadly, I’m convinced that was all Communist deception, and I don’t believe this story is really quite over yet. (See the Introduction titled ‘Did Communism Really Die?’ in John Stormer’s classic political work ‘None Dare Call It Treason...25 Years Later’.)

Nonetheless, I consider ‘THE SINGING REVOLUTION’ to be one of the most inspiring, most uplifting movies I’ve ever seen. It’s enough to make a grown man cry, and wish he were Estonian so he could claim the patriotic pride that belongs to those people.

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If you’ve never seen this superb documentary, I urge you to make a point of doing so. Would FarAwayEyes lead you astray? I took her movie recommendation to heart and am very grateful for it. ‘THE SINGING REVOLUTION’ is a film that I know I will watch yet again, sometime in the not too distant future. (Thanks, FAE!)

~ Stephen T. McCarthy

YE OLDE COMMENT POLICY: All comments, pro and con, are welcome. However, ad hominem attacks and disrespectful epithets will not be tolerated (read: "posted"). After all, this isn’t Amazon.com, so I don’t have to put up with that kind of bovine excrement.
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10 comments:

  1. Amid all the alphabet soup that occurs in April, I’m delighted to stumble upon this sumptuous feast. (I say stumble, because my dashboard is such a mess, I only get notification of new blog posts from friends by wandering about.)

    You are most welcome, my friend. I am so glad you enjoyed this great little film. I appreciate the ‘shout out’, but trust that with your inquisitive mind and love of music (think music + revolution), you would have eventually found this on your own.

    Civil disobedience through something as beautiful as music from the heart. What could be more moving and yet more terrifying to the enemy, than a people united through their hearts, in song.

    I agree with you that unfortunately the Estonian people looked forward with a little too much hope at the ruse that was the ‘break-up’ of the Soviet Union. Sadly, today they are one of the neighboring countries that look on with horror as Russia, with her Macho Marionette in the lead, march over the Ukraine. Once again ‘the whole world is watching’ as deals are made in the back rooms of the political giants, and nobody seems to really care.

    It does seem as though peace will not reign on earth until we can all sing with our hearts and voices, praise to our Lord and King. The only One who will rule with a just hand through love for all His brothers and sisters. Until that time, it is important to not lose Hope; not in mankind, but in the promises made, that surely will be kept.

    The Spirit of the Estonian people displayed in this ‘peaceful’ uprising of national pride and their love for music and their native land, should be an example to people everywhere, that although we may be ruled by tyrants in the land, our hearts are free. It is my hope and prayer that people everywhere will have a spiritual awakening, filling them with this knowledge. Only then can we all stand strong against the evil that permeates this world, and do our best to prepare for the world to come.

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    1. A truly BEAUTIFUL comment, FAE!

      I haven't much to add, other than to say (stealing this line from Bob Dylan's first Christian album)... "God don't make promises that He don't keep!"

      The Marxists will never quit until they have finally been wiped off the face of the Earth forever. But... that day will come.

      However, it doesn't help matters when the Americonned Sheeple elect one to the White House, not once but TWICE!

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

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  2. I put this on my Netflix queue when you and FAE were discussing it a while back. Maybe I need to move this up my list.

    Lee
    Wrote By Rote
    An A to Z Co-host blog

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    1. LEE, see it while you're still "free" enough to do so.

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

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  3. I read this post last night because I saw that you posted something and it gave me a warm, tingly feeling. So, even though I had a migraine that was arriving with the punch of a heavyweight boxer, I read it. But there was no commenting... then.

    No, I haven't seen this movie, but YES I would really like to.

    I agree with you and FAE that they were premature in thinking that everything was good and glorious and over. Maybe some people didn't think so. Maybe they just thought it was significantly better than it was. Maybe these people remained on the alert for another episode of tyranny and are better prepared than anyone else to stand against it. I think of the Founding Fathers and all of their warnings in tyranny in government. Having lived under its thumb they KNEW it was a possibility, and even a probability, in the government they were creating. Government tends to get out of control (and it has). So, that is why the warnings were so prevalent and they did all they could in The Bill of Rights to give the people the power to fight it.

    The biggest difference between here (now) and Estonia (then) is that they recognized they were living under tyranny. They knew that their liberty was at stake. Most people don't seem to see it as a real threat here. The govt slowly chips away at it in such a way that the masses are okay with it. "Well, if is for our safety I guess it's okay if they listen in on my phone calls and monitor my emails." And they just give it up. Not everyone, of course. Folks like Ron Paul shout long and loud about the dangers of what the government is doing, but most people don't listen. Don't want to hear. And they won't until their liberty is gone. And then they will wake up and ask, "How did this happen????" And they will realize that they gave it away for cheap or free phones or some other handout or just apathy.

    I woke up this morning with a song in my head. For the record, this is not unusual. I often wake up singing. And sometimes sing in my dreams. The only strange thing there is that sometimes I have an awareness that I am singing the wrong words but cannot remember the correct ones. It's all very strange, because I know the song when I completely wake up. Short story long, the song on my brain this morning when I woke up was this:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZi4k29FbO4

    And I know it was because I read this post and then went to bed last night. The sub-conscious is a powerful thing. And so is music. I like to think that people - right now- are experiencing doubts about our government in their sub-conscious minds and are on the verge of that awakening that FAE referred to above. A singing revolution. I love it.

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    1. GIRL WONDER ~

      >>... I woke up this morning with a song in my head. For the record, this is not unusual.

      "For the record..."? Pun intended?

      So, somehow my blog bit made you think of...
      Coca-Cola?

      >>... most people don't listen. Don't want to hear. And they won't until their liberty is gone. And then they will wake up and ask, "How did this happen????" And they will realize that they gave it away for cheap or free phones or some other handout or just apathy.

      Yep! Our frog is fu-- er, ...boiled.

      I don't know if you ever saw this old one before (composed in 2007)...

      http://xtremelyun-pcandunrepentant.blogspot.com/2008/06/stop-being-useful-idiot.html

      ...but toward the bottom I included the following:

      In 1750, Alexander Tyler noted the Life Cycle of Nations. Most of the great societies have expired after approximately 200 years, and they have all followed a similar pattern. (America is now 231 years old, but Her breathing has become noticeably labored.) The great ones went . . .

      From bondage to spiritual faith;
      From spiritual faith to great courage;
      From courage to liberty;
      From liberty to abundance;
      From abundance to complacency;
      From complacency to apathy;
      From apathy to dependency;
      From dependency back into bondage.

      Where would you put America 2007 in that cycle? I’ve got us DEEP into apathy and on the cusp of dependency … and that’s my “The Glass Is Half Full” point-of-view.


      Well, we've reached 2014, and there's no question that I would now place us in the 'Dependency' category.

      "Next stop, ladies and gentlemen: Bondage."
      (And I don't mean the "fun" kind.)

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

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    2. Sorry to butt in here on this comment and reply, but…well… you know me.

      I will say to Robin I disagree that ‘most people don’t see it as a real threat here’. If you look at ALL of the indicators, I think it’s fairly obvious that MOST people do think something is terribly wrong and are quite worried. But, MOST people won’t take a stand. Everybody likes to talk revolution, but when it comes to serious civil disobedience, MOST people are far too comfortable in front of their gazillion inch flat screen TV’s. What is going on is exactly what STMc is yakking about. (I think.)

      America is so far into the dependency part of the cycle that they can’t bring themselves to voice a vote in complaint. And that my friends, is an example of everything going perfectly according to the plans.

      There is only one person who is going to ‘teach the world to sing in perfect harmony’, but before that happens ‘a hard rain’s gonna fall’. ( And, yes I intended all of those puns/references or whatever.)

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    3. Loved the Dylan reference!

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

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  4. Having wandered through the press of the Baltics and Poland in search of Martin World News tidbits, I can attest that the Crimean occupation has scared EVERYBODY over there with just what you've been talking about. I don't know that it's communism reborn, but if it's the same people doing the same thing, it really doesn't matter what you call them, I guess.

    Kinda makes you think about the seven headed beast with the fatal wound that healed, huh?

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    1. BROTHER MARTIN ~
      I wouldn't actually call it "Communism reborn" because I don't believe Communism ever died to begin with.

      The false "Democratic" face of the "New Communism" (including the possible dismantling of The Berlin Wall for appearances sake) was predicted long ago by a high-level Communist insider who defected from the U.S.S.R. to the U.S.

      I think the re-emerging of the fierce face of Communism was inevitable, according to Moscow's timeline. So... the Estonians had better keep practicing that song, as they'll probably NEED it again later.

      And, yes, the verse from 'Revelation' IS intriguing and I always have my eyes open, looking for its application in our times.

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

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