Saturday, May 22, 2010

Bonekickers

Bonekickers is a fanciful archaeological drama being shown on ABC2 atm. This weeks episode is focused upon a discovered WWI tank that was buried after it's occupants had been shot and then burned.

One of the surviving crew wrote this in his diary -
"What does one do when hope dies,
Not when it is lost,

But when one actually sees hope burn before ones own eyes?
If hope is lost, it can always be found,
When its destroyed........ What then?"
(Bonekickers - The Lines of War : Tom MacRae)

Instead of sticking to what could have been just as good a story, they then proceeded to involve Jean d'Arc (which ties into the series theme of a lost sword with magical powers). Which turns a nice historical murder series into the "Passions" of it's genre, although without the humor which made Passions such a riot to watch.

Anyway, back to the quote...It started out just being the loss of hope by the soldiers and beseiged French, and was turned into a grasp for the mythological being that Jean is seen as. Which I think detracted from the simple power that the quote had. The message would have been more keenly felt if it had been applied to one or the other story line. Much the same way the message about the power of love was achieved in the episode Bonekickers -The Eternal Fire - Matthew Graham.

Taken as an escapist series, I suppose it does very little harm, although it would have every person in the history, archaeology and anthropological fields dancing up and down saying how unrealistic it is :) But how much of what is seen on the screen is based on reality?

The quote above reminds me of a few life changing moments, where at the time, life seemed to freeze and then fracture into a new reality. The moment that you've realised something that changes the way you've understood something about the world. One such moment for me was on a train between Paris and Calais. The sun was setting over snowy fields, with a pond off in the distance surrounded by silhouetted naked trees and two large birds descending to land...the light was so soft and misty, and the colours so unlike what we have here in Australia that I finally grokked the Expresionist painters. It all just fell into place for me. 

That is of course a positive expression of a life changing moment. I suppose a negative example of this same moment, would have to be something like when Nonna died. It was quite a shock for her to really die, even though I knew she'd been having mini-strokes for a while. Maria had called me to say Nonna was nearly dead and I drove back to Ballarat to say goodbye. Maria had just finished cleaning her body when I arrived, and I was closely followed by the rest of the family...we all sat around Nonna's dead body, saying I don't really remember what, then we decided it was time to go. As I walked out the door and into the hallway, I turned to Richard the Man and said "Well that's that then.". It was in that split second, I knew Nonna was gone, and that I'd never see her again. The shock of my world changing so forcefully was evident in my choice of words...life was never going to be the same again.

"...What then?" 
The only thing that happens then, is that life continues...no matter what, the sun rises in the east, and sets in the west, and in between we do all the things that keep us alive. We find new things to dream of, and new things to inspire us...there will be more life changing moments both big and small. They say time heals all wounds, perhaps that's not quite the case, but that we change enough that the wounds no longer matter to us the way they once did?
Kate 

4 comments:

  1. Hi Kate
    hope you dont mind but used the quote you had posted for bone kickers and thanks for posting it as I was looking for it
    I have added you & this page as a reference in my art here
    http://starlight2infinity.deviantart.com/art/Lost-and-found-165684821
    If you want me to remove you I will, up to you but thank you so much :)

    I like your summary on
    "what then?" too

    Thank you

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks starlight2infinity :)
    I'm disappointed that they axed Bonekickers after just the one season, as much as I've ragged on it I did enjoy it.
    Kate

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Kate :)
    Thank you for the lovely comment and I did a reply when you log in you'll see it
    (or just look at the art)
    but so lovely of you HUGZZZ :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. oh on Bonekickers yes it was actually nicely done show if you let the reality slide and enjoyed it for what it was

    last one I thought could have been better though..anyway yeah pity...but they seem to axe them quick..Sadly

    ReplyDelete