The Writer's Life 9/2 - Wow

One of the best aspects of watching a foreign film is not being familiar with the actors, the lack of pre-conceived notions about them. I'm sure I must have seen a Danish production somewhere along the line, but it's been lost among the hundreds of movies rattling around in my 67-year-old brain. I doubt I will forget Land of Mine (2015), a harrowing post-WWII story. The Nazis planted thousands of mines along the coast of Denmark. The task of diffusing and clearing them was assigned to German POWs, although it violated the Geneva Convention. According to an article at exulaten.com, 250 were killed doing this work in Denmark alone. I have no objection to the task having been given to Gerry, as the British called the enemy. It seems fitting, as its army put them there. Why shouldn't their soldiers have been responsible for the cleanup? Still, while viewing the film I rooted for them to survive. In this instance, almost all 14 of the captives are teenagers, probably forced into service in the latter days of the conflict. Is it historically accurate? I have no idea. Does the use of, essentially, boys indicate a liberal bias designed to tug at heart strings and deflect from what the Nazis perpetrated, and serve as an anti-war statement 70 years after the fact? Perhaps, but I was still riveted. Is the hatred of the Germans in the scenario over the top? I don't see how, given that the ambitions of the Axis powers instigated unbelievable carnage on humanity. While the anger in the narrative toward the prisoners may not be justifiable, it is certainly understandable. The young actors are terrific, but the film is stolen by Roland Moller, a Dane, as the hardcore Sergeant in charge of the group. He was a natural for the role. According to his bio, he had ten convictions for assault by age 30 and spent a total of four years, six months in jail. He broke into acting in 2007 and has worked steadily since. Land of Mine was written and directed by Martin Zandvliet, his third effort at a full length feature. I look forward to his future work. The picture was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Film. I haven't seen the winner, an Iranian effort titled The Salesman. It must really be good to have beaten out Land of Mine. 16,000+ users at IMDb have rated it, forging to a consensus of 7.8 on a scale of ten, too low in my estimation. Anyone squeamish about cruelty and inhumanity should pass, although it is less bloody than many modern works. All these years later - another great film about the second world war - who'da thunk it? Kudos to everyone involved.

This was a wow day. I hadn't had a web sale of any of my works since May. This morning I found that someone downloaded eight of them to Kindle on the 27th, passing on only the most expensive, A Hitch in Twilight, which sells for six bucks. And business on the street was lively. I sold 25 CD's, 14 to a gentleman who also bought Positive Thinking Every Day: An Inspiration for Each Day of the Year by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale; and ten to Bad News Billy; and a Julio Iglesias disk to a middle aged Latina. Another bought The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, and Mr. Conspiracy laughed out loud when I showed him a book I knew he would snap up - Fart Proudly: Writings of Benjamin Franklin You Never Read in School. I sold the second and third volumes of the Hunger Games trilogy to a teenage girl. I also had a visit from Bill Brown, author of Words and Guitar, A History of Lou Reed's Music, and discovered why I hadn't seen him in months. He's been teaching an ESL class on Saturday. He bought Bob Dylan: The Essential Interviews by Jonathan Cott, The First Third by Neal Cassady, and another book by a beat generation writer with whom I was completely unfamiliar and whose name I've forgotten. Ellen also stopped by. She has an ebook on toenails listed at Amazon. As we were schmoozing, she related her long ago success in baking cheesecakes and selling them to restaurants while she was living in L.A.. I mentioned that the Kindle version of six of my eight books are less than a dollar apiece, and she said she would take a look at them. Finally, what would a Saturday session be without a visit from Mayor Mike, local super, who, laughing, related how bad he was as a kid, how his mom had to frequently go to his 600 school when he got in trouble and how she made him kneel on uncooked rice in a corner as punishment. He got as far as ninth grade. When I mentioned the CD sales, he said he had a bunch of vinyl records in excellent condition, including several by Elvis. He doesn't have the heart to throw them away. Since he doesn't use a computer, I jotted down a phrase, "Buy & sell vinyl records in Brooklyn," for him to give to someone in his building to run a search. A store will probably give him peanuts, even if the merchandise is as stellar as he says, but at least he would get something out of it. Here's a picture of such an establishment situated near where I set up shop in Park Slope:

Vic's Sixth novel: http://tinyurl.com/zpuhucj 

Vic's Short Works: http://tinyurl.com/jy55pzc

Vic's 5th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/okxkwh5Vic's 4th novel: tinyurl.com/bszwlxh

Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3

Vic's Short Story Collection:http:// tinyurl.com/lh2tepa 
Vic's 2nd Novel Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kx3d3uf
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tinyurl.com/l84h63j

Website: http://vicfortezzaauthor.my-free.website/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/Vic-Fortezza-Author-118397641564801/?fref=ts

Read Vic's Stories, free: http://fictionaut.com/users/vic-fortezza