"Far from Afghanistan"
"Operation Enduring
Freedom," otherwise known as the War in Afghanistan, grinds into its tenth year
today. It is now longer than the previous longest-lasting conflict in American
history, the War in Vietnam.
In 1967 that war stirred a group of
filmmakers, including Jean-Luc Godard, Chris Marker, and Joris Ivens, to make a
protest film, "Far from Vietnam."
Inspired by this example, a group of filmmakers, including Jon
Jost and local documentarian Jean Gianvito, have put together their own
compilation of episodes about our current engagement entitled "Far from Afghanistan:
the October Edition." "My Heart Swims in Blood," Gianvito's contribution,
combines instances of the war's horrors and images of a mostly tranquil, sometimes
trivial, and usually unfazed America into an eloquent collage backed by the
keening Bach cantata of the title.
The film can be seen online.
After ten years, maybe it's time to take a look.