War Horse with Lewis

Went to see the Spielberg movie War Horse with Lewis last Saturday. I guess it was inevitable that it would all end in tears. He knows how to manipulate the emotions does  old Mr Spielberg.

Actually the tears began well before the end, in fact a few minutes into the movie I could feel things welling up and soon enough the tissues had to come out. I wish I could cope a bit better with this kind of manipulation, but I'm afraid that's the way it is so just have to get on with it.

In fact the experience is quite cathartic if not even enjoyable.  I remember being reduced to a sobbing wreck by Toy Story 3, which I saw in Lima, though not too many people noticed, maybe because they were busy hiding their own tears. Hard to believe that a bunch of toys having a hard time could leave one so emotionally exhausted, but quite frankly it was a great movie and fully deserving of tears, of joy as well as loss.

Lewis seemed to enjoy the movie too and he also had a tear or two to hide. It reminded me of going to see ET with Iain and Anna way back in the early 80s. Both of them and their uncle Don were slightly overcome and Anna had to be comforted, quickly followed by Iain who had been putting a brave face on things by hiding under the seat. I think that was the day that Anna began to chant "Maggie Maggie Maggie Out Out Out" as she thought the cinema queue was the start of another anti Tory demo. If you are reading this in Peru you maybe wont get the reference to Maggie. Let me know if you want to know more about her and will maybe post something to explain.

For those of you who have not had the good fortune to have met Lewis he is my nephew Keith's son. I feel very privileged to be able to spend a little time with him. Thanks Keith. Lewis is brilliant company and keeps me entertained with his stories. I picked him up in Irvine last Friday and we drove to his grandparent's house, a journey of about one hour twenty minutes. He spoke non stop all the way there. I just had to make the occasional interjection and he just kept on talking. He even noticed himself that he had rather a lot to say, but he just kept on going. Amazing. He wanders from subject to subject as the mood takes him, one minute football, then school, then family stuff, then films, games, whatever takes his fancy. I just love him to bits.

He is doing a project for his school about the Second World War, so the movie maybe gave him an idea or two for that. I gave him some stuff I had from my father's world war 2 "archive", including one of his medals, to show in his project. Apparently Keith had always wanted one of these medals when he was a wee boy himself,  though I've no recollection of this. But I guess K would agree it's going to good use now. Lewis has promised to look after the medal and pass it on to his son some time in the future.

I have no idea how this posting got here from War Horse. If you are looking for a good movie to see I can recommend it... tears are optional of course.