For a long time I have been embarrassed to say that I had not seen Judgement at Nuremberg. Judy of course was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, but as we know, Oscar is political and usually wrong. 1954. Now may I say that even Judy would agree that Oscar was right in awarding Rita Moreno the win that year. 1962 was no 1954. Moreno's WSS role was the standout and Moreno is just one brilliant woman and actress, but I digress.
Shocking.
Anyway...I finally watched JAN and wow.
Wow.
Wow.
Wow.
What a movie.
Yes, Judy is incredible. And the whole film is incredible. I also read the book form of the script written by Abby Mann because, man. This is one powerful story. By the way, Mann grew up in East Pittsburgh!
One review I read of it asks the question, if the Axis powers had one the war, would the United States have been on trial for the bombings of Dresden and Tokyo and for the dropping of the atomic bombs.
Other questions asked by the defense attorney:
Where is the responsibility of the Soviet Union...
who signed in the pact with Hitler...
enabled him to make war?
Are we now to find Russia guilty?
Where is the responsibility of the Vatican...
who signed in the concordat with Hitler...
giving him his first tremendous prestige?
Are we now to find the Vatican guilty?
Where is the responsibility of the world leader Winston Churchill...
who said in an open letter to the London Times in
'Were England to suffer a national disaster,
I should pray to God...
to send a man of the strength of mind
and will of an Adolf Hitler.'
Are we now to find Winston Churchill guilty?
Where is the responsibility of those American industrialists...
who helped Hitler to rebuild his armaments,
and profited by that rebuilding?
Are we now to find the American industrialists guilty?
No, Your Honor.
Germany alone is not guilty.
The whole world is as responsible for Hitler as Germany."
This blew me away because SILENCE IS VIOLENCE as we see today in the murders of so many African Americans. Police remain silent. Politicians remain silent (at best, MANY speak hateful, vile lies). And most embarrassingly to me, pulpits remain silent.
We all have the blood of 8 million Jews on our hands. We all have the neck of George Floyd under our boot.
WE MUST ACT FOR JUSTICE AND LIFE!
WE MUST STAND FOR LOVE AND BE PEACE MAKERS NOT PEACE KEEPERS! Because the "peace" we are protecting when we say "all lives matter" and "stop the looting" and "cant't we just be peaceful and kind" is not a peace. It is signing a pact with evil like the Vatican did in 1933.
We must wake up and remember we were ALL created in the image of God and the only way to grow into God's likeness is to act like Jesus did. Jesus was political.
Jesus was killed by the state because He spoke out for the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed. Following Jesus does not mean "peace keeping" it means PEACE MAKING and that is dangerous, dangerous work.
What's Going On Here?
There are SO MANY wonderful book review blogs out there and I can't compete with them, that is for sure. So this is not a book review blog. This is just a way for me to organize what I have read so that I can be better at matching the right book to the right person. The blog title comes from the brilliant mind of the most talented woman who ever lived, Ms. Judy Garland. The full quote is, "Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of someone else." That is what I hope to do here and in ever aspect of my life.
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