Recommended reading and viewing

In the past 10 days or so, I’ve enjoyed a couple of great reads and watched a movie that will stay with me a while.

Stones into Schools by Greg Mortenson is the follow-up to Three Cups of Tea, the subject of an earlier post.  Stones into Schools is the story of Mortenson and his Central Asia Institute’s efforts to build schools in the remote Wakhan Corridor of northeast Afghanistan.  The account of the devastation caused by the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that hit Pakistan in 2005; the mechanics of getting building materials over treacherous mountain tracks; the courageous locals who assisted the CAI; and the poignant stories of the girls and young women who gained access to education, are among the pearls that make up this remarkable true story.

I read Suddenly by Bonnie Burnard this weekend.  There aren’t many books that manage to draw me in so completely, that when I have to (begrudgingly)pull myself away,  “real life” seems surreal and disconnected. This book was one of them. 

And lastly, I watched Denis Villeneuve’s “Polytechnique”, the English dvd version.  This film was among the Toronto International Film Group’s “Canada’s Top Ten” for 2009.  “Polytechnique” is a dramatization of the Dec. 6, 1989 massacre in Montreal, told from the perspectives of three people: the killer; a female survivor; and a male classmate who witnessed the killings.  Reading reviews of the film is interesting — not surprisingly, the film has garnered both kudos and criticisms.  It is stark, horrifyingly real, deeply disturbing. The male classmate was perhaps the most compelling character — the way the horror and shock of the event was paralysing, and how his lack of action haunted him afterwards.  During the scenes of the massacre, I was struck by the seemingly endless amount of time it took for the authorities to arrive. 1989 was pre-cellphone, and the helplessness and complete vulnerability of the students in this cavernous building was overwhelmingly powerful.

OCL has purchased 2 copies of this film, and I’m on the lookout for dvd releases of all other Top Ten films of 2009.

-LM