Each ANZAC Day, I usually indulge my total abhorrence of war by watching the most anti of all anti-war movies, "All Quiet On The Western Front"; however, this year I've moved on to World War II with the even more anti-war movie "Stalingrad".
Perhaps you would like to join me instead of joining that annual "costume parade" called ANZAC Day which seems to glorify rather than condemn all those many wars in which far too many people died needlessly had they but known that there's no such thing as a heroic death on the battlefield. It's too late to ask any of them but it's not too late to watch the movies and read the books and learn from them.
Or you may want to visit the War Memorial in Canberra, although that may be too late as well. It used to be a solemn shrine of remembrance before it was Disneyfied under the seven-year directorship of Brendan Nelson, who had a paid role with a French arms dealer while serving as director of the Australian War Memorial.
However, on a more hopeful note, why not read the book "Ghost Riders", a non-fiction book by author and historian Mark Felton which tells of one of the strangest episodes of the entire conflict when a tiny US Army task force was sent twenty miles behind German lines by General Patton to save the world's most precious horses - the white Lipizzaners of the Spanish Riding School. It was also made into a movie, "Miracle of the White Stallions". That's right: two movies for the price of none!
Which one will you watch first? The choice is yours!
