WCBE 90.5 FM: "Finding Neverland," "Alexander"

WCBE #193-FINAL
IT'S MOVIE TIME with John DeSando & Clay Lowe
Producer/Director: Richelle Antczak, WCBE

Reviews: “Finding Neverland,” “Alexander”
Taped: 4:00 pm, November 24, 2004
Air Time: 3:01 pm and 8:01 pm, November 26, 2004
Streaming live on the web at http://www.wcbe.org.

The Script:

Clay
“Finding Neverland” tries too hard to be magical, imagine that . . .

John
"Alexander" is not as GREAT as it should be . . .

MUSIC UP AGAIN, THEN UNDER FOR:

Richelle Antczak
“It's Movie Time” in Mid-Ohio, with John DeSando and Clay Lowe . . .

MUSIC UP, THEN UNDER AND SLOWLY DOWN AND OUT

John
I'm John DeSando

Clay
And I'm Clay Lowe.

John (“Finding Neverland”)
In 1903 London it is hard to believe any artist besides Oscar Wilde could have energized the West End more than J.M. Barrie with his immortal "Peter Pan."

Clay
I agree with that.

John (Continues)
“Finding Neverland" attempts to tell how Barrie (Johnny Depp) was inspired through his relationship with widower Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Kate Winslet) and her fatherless boys.

Depp underplays Barrie so that I longed for his swashbuckler in "Pirates of the Caribbean." The charges of pedophilia that pursued Barrie for most of his life are only hinted at.

Enough sentimentality is loaded on to the last third of the film to sink the "Titanic" without glacial help. But as always, Depp, the most versatile actor today, is still fun to watch.

Clay
Yes, he is.

John
William Blake has the last word on the joy and inspiration of children: “When the voices of children are heard on the green /
And laughing is heard on the hill, / My heart is at rest within my breast/ And every thing else is still.”

Clay (“Finding Neverland”)
Well, John, everyone is far TOO still in “Finding Neverland.”

Everything that happens is too controlled, too gentle, and too precious. No wonder Johnny Depp’s J. M. Barrie never wanted to grow up. For he lived in a world that was, at least in this film, as hushed as a nursery and as equally capable of inducing the desire to fall fast asleep. In keeping with the film’s lethargic mode, the movie is more often, than not, a series of tableaux vivants, when instead it should have been a glorious adventure into the world of imagination [and cinematic delight.]

“Finding Neverland” is, unfortunately, a rather sexless movie that is only occasionally capable of provoking our more wilder imaginings. But what about the movie’s handsome and charming cast? Well, they are handsome and they are charming, but in this movie, they are all dressed up with nowhere to go, but the theatre.

Which is good, but not great.

John (“Alexander”)
If a leader has been called “great” for over 2000 years, would you dare to film his life?

Clay
Only if my name were Oliver and I found myself stoned.

John
The “great” director Oliver Stone weighs in on “Alexander” starring Colin Farrell in the titular role with Angelina Jolie as his mother.

Clay
Well said.

John
Now that’s casting to get your incest subtext into full gear. Not that Stone is shy about Alexander’s male lovers either.

Alas, Stone fails to create a believably “great” Alexander. Where Alexander could be reputed “great” beyond all others, even “Alexander” Haig, is in his war strategy, but the battle scenes are a blur of rapid pans, ultra quick cuts, and swooping aerial shots too truncated to show an unparalleled strategist.

It’s difficult in art to capture the essence of a great man, just as Orson Welles told us in his “Citizen Kane," which is twice alluded to with Alexander’s ring-dropping death scene.

Clay (“Alexander”)
Well, John, in keeping with tradition, it’s the victors who get to tell the tale, but although Alexander was one of the greatest victors of them all, he wasn’t the who got to tell this tale. Instead, Oliver Stone has an old friend of Alexander narrate his way back to the past where the film finally begins. [A pretty traditional approach for such a non-traditional director.]

It’s not until you’re nearly a third of the way through the film that you become aware that you’re NOT watching a film you’ve already seen before. This is not Cecil B. DeMille’s “Samson and Delilah,” [although there are some scenes that Victor Mature might have found himself quite at home in]. And it’s not Joseph Mankiewicz’s “Cleopatra,” [although Elizabeth Taylor. in her day, would have battled Rosario Dawson to play the role of Alexander’s Roxanne.

Nope, this movie is all Oliver Stone, with a little help from the Greeks, the Romans, and Sigmund Freud. Driven to succeed by his power loving mother, and living in the fear that he would fail, as did his father, Alexander determinedly marched from Babylon to India and back in order to prove his mettle. Just think of what he might have done if his advisor had been Karl Rove.

But enough of Alexander, Babylon, Baghdad, and Bush, because it’s grading time. It’s grading time.

John
Hooray!

HIT DRUMS

John
"Finding Neverland" earns a "B" because BARRIE's never depicted as the BAD BOY he might have BEEN . . .

Clay
“Finding Neverland” gets a “B” because why would you BE hanging out with a woman and four children, if you had a beautiful wife of your own all alone BACK home . . .

John
"Alexander" earns a "B" because BISEXUALITY is NOT enough to define "GREAT" . . .

Clay
“Alexander” gets a “B” because, surprisingly, there is more to this movie than BLOOD, sweat, and tears . . .

John
Clay, 2 of my significant others chose alternative life styles after leaving me. And I didn't even write a children's play or slay an enemy. I'm John The Great, I approve this message, and I'm outta here.

Clay
Well, John, two of my former wives were bi-pedal, so go fish.

I’m outta here too.

See you at the movies, folks.

HIT MUSIC, ESTABLISH, THEN UNDER FOR

Richelle:
The Award Winning "It's Movie Time" with John DeSando and Clay Lowe is produced by Richelle Antczak in conjunction with 90.5 FM, WCBE in Columbus and 106.7 FM in Newark.

MUSIC UP AND OUT

Copyright 2004 by John DeSando & Clay Lowe

WCBE 90.5 FM: "Being Julia," "The Incredibles," "Bush's Brain"

WCBE #192-FINAL
IT'S MOVIE TIME with John DeSando & Clay Lowe
Producer/Director: Richelle Antczak, WCBE

Reviews: “Being Julia,” “The Incredibles,” “Bush’s Brain’”
Taped: 4:00 pm, November 17, 2004
Air Time: 3:01 pm and 8:01 pm, November 19, 2004
Streaming live on the web at http://www.wcbe.org.

The Script:

Clay
“Being Julia” is of special interest to Brit loving thespians . . .

John
"The Incredibles" is the year's best animation. . .

Clay
“Bush’s Brain” is black and white because there’s nothing gray that matters . . .

MUSIC UP AGAIN, THEN UNDER FOR:

Richelle Antczak
“It's Movie Time” in Mid-Ohio, with John DeSando and Clay Lowe . . .

MUSIC UP, THEN UNDER AND SLOWLY DOWN AND OUT

John
I'm John DeSando

Clay

And I'm Clay Lowe.

John (“Being Julia”)
Clay:

I failed at acting because I thought all I had to do was act like myself. Decades of watching “Method” actors have shown me the necessary conjunction between one’s life experiences and those of the character. Annette Bening’s middle-aged Julia Lambert, in “Being Julia,” is an early twentieth-century London stage star who can act well enough but dangerously carries her acting into her personal life.

Clay
Sounds like someone I know.

John (Continues)
Listen to a ghost of Julia’s past, Jimmy Langton (Michael Gambon), coach her to winning performances on stage and in the bedroom. Jimmy tells her, "Your only reality is the theater," and about bedding a young man half her age, "If that doesn't improve your performance, then nothing will."

Julia's getting revenge by using her craft is the ultimate act of stage terrorism and a coda not to be missed this year in a film too much like “All About Eve” to be ignored.

And by the way, don’t miss Bening’s performance because she will be nominated for an Oscar.

Clay (“Being Julia”)
John, Brit lover that you are, you won’t know on the night of the Oscars, whether to root for Bening’s stage star in “Being Julia” or Im-el-da Staunton’s ill-fated “Vera Drake.” My guess is you’ll go for Staunton, and once again, poor Ms. Bening will go home all alone empty handed.

My advice? If you’re ever in London and happen to see her perform in a play, best stay off the stage, because she’ll eat you alive, along with the rest of the scenery.

And “eat you alive” is what she does to the rest of the cast in “Being Julia.” Ever charming, always witty, and sometimes even a little bit naughty, Bening turns in a bravura performance.

[A performance that should be taken to heart by, of all people, Reese Witherspoon, who never did quite fully fathom the conniving nature of Becky Sharp. Bening could have played her better.]

She may have been born in Kansas, folks, but you’ll find her quite at home on stage as the grand dame of London’s theatrical royal family.

John (“The Incredibles”)
Talk about “family values,” and no, I have not turned neocon. “The Incredibles” is a superior Pixar Studios adventure about a family of superheroes that stays together by doing what they do best, making life miserable for bad guys.

Writer/director Brad Bird has wittily woven “ The Incredibles” with attacks on modernist notions about socializing children into underachieving to reach a silly equilibrium.

Along the way is the torment of a middle-aged, overweight Mr. Incredible/Bob Parr endangering his marriage by moonlighting his heroics after the family had agreed to retire from the business, and Mrs. Parr (formerly “Plastigirl”) sighing at her ample derriere.

Andre Maurois in “The Art of Living” expressed well the “Incredibles’ ” subtext about uniformity: “The leveling influence of mediocrity and the denial of the supreme importance of the mind’s development account for many revolts against family life.”

Clay (“Bush’s Brain”)
Well, John, the mind of Karl Rove is far from mediocre, but in the realm of ethics his actions have been called, by some, downright revolting. At least that’s the conclusion you might come to after watching “Bush’s Brain,” one of a host of Bush-bashing documentaries that have come out recently on DVD.

Based on a book by the same name, “Bush’s Brain,” features interviews with the journalists, who wrote the book, as well as interviews with many of those who feel they were victims of Karl Rove’s dirty political tricks. But the movie’s most explosive charge seems to imply that Rove might have urged the president to go war simply to increase his political power. Now there’s a mind blowing tought.
But enough of would-be Machivelli’s and would-be dark Princes, John, it’s grading time.

John
Hooray!

HIT DRUMS

John (“Being Julia”)
“Being Julia” . . .

Clay (“Being Julia”)
“Being Julia” gets an “A” because for Julia “ALL the world’s a stage,” and that’s ALL that matters. . .

John (“The Incredibles”)
"The Incredibles" earns an "A" because ADULTS need ADJUSTING AS well . .
Clay (“The Incredibles”)
“The Incredibles” gets a “B” because animation for both kids and adults is getting BORING . . . I’m getti

And “Bush’s Brain” gets a “C” because it also plays on the politics of fear, sneer, and innuendo, even though the facts are CHILLING . . .

John
Do you think Bush's brain could be taught to ACT the part of a president without being wired to Karl Rove's brain?

I’m outta here.

Clay
John, whether or not Bush’s brain is wired to Rove is up for debate, but chances are they’ll continue to bug you . . .

I’m outta here too.

See you at the movies, folks.

HIT MUSIC, ESTABLISH, THEN UNDER FOR
Richelle:

The Award Winning "It's Movie Time" with John DeSando and Clay Lowe is produced by Richelle Antczak in conjunction with 90.5 FM, WCBE in Columbus and 106.7 FM in Newark.

MUSIC UP AND OUT

Copyright 2004 by John DeSando & Clay Lowe

International Red Cross: Urgent Alert Regarding Inhumane Actions In Iraq

19-11-2004  ICRC News 04/138 
Iraq : ICRC calls for greater respect for basic tenets of humanity
"We are deeply concerned by the devastating impact that the fighting in Iraq is having on the people of that country."- Statement by Pierre Krähenbühl, Director of Operations of the ICRC

As hostilities continue in Falluja and elsewhere, every day seems to bring news of yet another act of utter contempt for the most basic tenet of humanity: the obligation to protect human life and dignity. This week it was the killing of a wounded fighter and of yet another hostage – humanitarian worker Margaret Hassan – that shocked the world. Like any other armed conflict, this one is subject to limits, and they must be respected at all times.

For the parties to this conflict, complying with international humanitarian law is an obligation, not an option. There is an absolute prohibition on the killing of persons who are not taking active part in the hostilities, or have ceased to do so. It is also prohibited to torture them or to subject them to any form of inhuman, humiliating or degrading treatment. Furthermore, the parties to the conflict must provide adequate medical care for the wounded – friend or foe – on the battlefield or allow them to be taken elsewhere for treatment. They must do everything possible to help civilians caught up in the fighting obtain the basics of survival such as food, water and health care. The taking of hostages, whether Iraqi or foreign, is forbidden in all circumstances. If these rules or any other applicable rules of international humanitarian law are violated, the persons responsible must be held accountable for their actions.

Regrettably, recent events have again shown just how difficult it has become for neutral, independent and impartial humanitarian organizations to assist and protect the victims of the conflict in Iraq. Once again, the International Committee of the Red Cross appeals for everything possible to be done to allow such organizations to come to the aid of the thousands of Iraqis who are suffering."

For further information, please contact:
Rana Sidani, ICRC Geneva, tel. +41 79 251 93 18
Florian Westphal, ICRC Geneva, tel. +41 22 730 29 30
Antonella Notari, ICRC Geneva, tel. +41 730 22 82

WCBE 90.5 FM - "Sideways," "Vera Drake," "The Polar Express"

WCBE #191-FINAL
IT'S MOVIE TIME with John DeSando & Clay Lowe
Producer/Director: Richelle Antczak, WCBE

Reviews:“Sideways,” “Vera Drake,” “The Polar Express”
Taped: 4:30 pm, November 10, 2004
Air Time: 3:01 pm and 8:01 pm, November 12, 2004
Streaming live on the web at http://www.wcbe.org.

The Script:

Clay
“Sideways” is the story of two buddies cross-ways with love . . .

John
"Vera Drake” is the best abortion debate in years . . .

Clay
“The Polar Express” will break the ice in order to get to Santa . . .

MUSIC UP AGAIN, THEN UNDER FOR:

Richelle Antczak
“It's Movie Time” in Mid-Ohio, with John DeSando and Clay Lowe . . .

MUSIC UP, THEN UNDER AND SLOWLY DOWN AND OUT

DeSando
I'm John DeSando

Clay
And I'm Clay Lowe.

John (“Sideways”)
Clay—Here's a performance topped this year only by Jamie Foxx’s “Ray”:  Paul Giamatti as Miles in “Sideways.”  He’s the essence of everyman with too many “miles” already logged on his middle age.  Miles is lost in his wine, for which he has an impressive palette.  

Miles and his buddy, Jack, embark on a picaresque journey to the wine country in a variation of the ritualistic “bachelor party” for Jack.  He wants this to be a celebration for Miles as well—he says, "My best man gift to you will be to get you laid."

Miles’ explanation of his interest in pinot noir reveals director Alexander Payne’s carefully figurative parallel to Miles’ character. Miles says, "It's a hard grape to grow. It's thin-skinned, temperamental. It's not a survivor like Cabernet that can grow anywhere, and thrive even when neglected. Pinot needs constant care and attention."

That's wine and character in an impressive script.

“Here’s looking at you, Kid,” "In vino veritas," and all that.

Clay (“Sideways”)
And here’s to inebriant truth to you too, John. But I must confess, I share not your taste for fine wine nor fine food. I do, however, share your literary affection for old Dionysus and his Latin cohort, that great drunken god, Lord Bacchus. Oh the passions they have aroused, where would we be without them? [Not here on WCBE, that’s for sure, because we’re in LOVE with what we’re doing.]

And I do share with you, and my grandson, your passion for the films of Alexander Payne, who has now brought us, not one, but two great misanthropic performances. That of Giamatti in “Sideways,” and that of Jack Nicholson, in “About Schmidt.” Has any director ever had the the pleasure of directing two more lovable grouches?

So, folks, if fine wine and the chance for romance is the kind of thing your looking for, then you’re going love taking this droll stroll with grumpy Giamatti, and his delightful friends, as they drink, think, and leisurely make on their way through the vineyards of Santa Barbara.

John (“Vera Drake”)
Clay, Mike Leigh's" Vera Drake" is about an abortionist who is a care giver for young women "in trouble," her neighborhood, and her family. Abortion propels the plot, but family is the heart of the tale.

Imelda Staunton will be nominated more than once for her incomparable performance as a London charwoman in 1950 so honest that when she performs her abortions, in between her regular care giving duties, I felt there was nothing amiss in this perfect world. Only the most discerning and detached audience could consider she is too oblivious to the danger of what she does and the felony she has been committing for almost 20 years.

The arguments for and against abortion are subtly and briefly made; "Roe vs. Wade" is still in danger despite this film.

But Leigh's real genius is in the character of the family, which struggles between generations to understand abortion but must stand behind this loving mother.

HIT CD: “THE POLAR EXPRESS” (CUT 14: “SUITE FROM THE POLAR EXPRESS”), ESTABLISH, THEN UNDER FOR

Clay (“The Polar Express”)
Well, folks, there’s no loving mother in “The Polar Express,” but there is a loving Santa. And if you’re a young boy, who has begun to suspect that that jolly old man simply doesn’t exist, then you might be willing to hop on board when The Polar Express comes rumbling to a stop one cold and snowy night, [right outside of your bedroom window]. “All Aboard,” you hear from the conductor, and all aboard you go. Direction due north, destination, North Pole.

That the young boy, the father, the conductor, and Santa himself all bear a strange resemblance to Tom Hanks, is not the fault of your imagination. For the animation in this movie was based on capturing the facial characteristics of this multi-talented actor. That it doesn’t all work is not the fault of the acting. Something there is about surface reality, no matter how accurate, that is unable to reflect the nuances of human characters.

“The Polar Express” is faithful to the visual surfaces of the book’s original illustrations, but the magic released in children’s minds when they hear the words read aloud, has not been matched by the images they see on screen. The moral: don’t trade in your book for the DVD.

But enough of my CGI bashing, John, it’s grading time.

MUSIC DOWN AND OUT/HIT DRUMS

John
Hooray!

"Sideways" earns an "A" because I "ALWAYS" put my bottles "SIdeways" . . .

.

Clay
“Sideways” gets an “A” because its the CALL of the wild that keeps ALL of us coming AROUND . . .

John
"Vera Drake" earns an "A" because ABORTION is a divisive AMERICAN ARGUMENT . . .

Clay
“Vera Drake” gets an “A,” because her ANGST is long and dark . . .

And “The Polar Express” gets a “B” because one single sleigh--BELL is worth more than a thousand CGI elves . . .

John
If your Polar Express will deliver me to French wine country, get me a ticket. To hell with kids' presents. I'm outta here.

Clay
You are a Big Bad Santa, DeSando, and your Bi-Polar Express is bound to take YOU to hell.

See you at the movies, folks.

HIT CD: “THE POLAR EXPRESS” (CUT 3: “ROCKIN’ ON TOP OF THE WORLD” - STEVE TYLER), ESTABLISH, THEN UNDER FOR

Richelle:
The Award Winning "It's Movie Time" with John DeSando and Clay Lowe is produced by Richelle Antczak in conjunction with 90.5 FM, WCBE in Columbus 106.7 FM in Newark, WYSO, etc.

MUSIC UP AND OUT

Copyright 2004 by John DeSando & Clay Lowe

WCBE 90.5 FM - The Films of Patrice Leconte: "Girl on the Bridge," "Man on the Train"

WCBE #190-FINAL
IT'S MOVIE TIME with John DeSando & Clay Lowe
Producer/Director: Richelle Antczak, WCBE

Reviews: “Girl on the Bridge," "Man on the Train"
Taped: 4:00 pm, November 3, 2004
Air Time: 3:01 pm and 8:01 pm, November 5, 2004
Streaming live on the web at http://www.wcbe.org.

The Script:

Clay
In “Girl on the Bridge” French pop singer, Vanessa Paradis re-defines what it means to be erotic . . . .

John
"Man on the Train" is about French love between 2 heterosexual men . . .

MUSIC UP AGAIN, THEN UNDER FOR:

Richelle Antczak
“It's Movie Time” in Mid-Ohio, with John DeSando and Clay Lowe, featuring today, a post-election salute to French film director Patrice Leconte . . .

MUSIC UP, THEN UNDER AND SLOWLY DOWN AND OUT

DeSando
I'm John DeSando

Clay
And I'm Clay Lowe.

John (Lead In/Leconte Background)

Clay, let's celebrate a film winner this election week--Director Patrice Leconte, whose 1989 "Monsieur Hire" about a strange middle-aged voyeur first sparked my interest (This was before I met you and then understood "strange").

Clay

And that was before Dick Cheney.

John
In the 4 years of "It's Movie Time," he remains my favorite director next to Britain's Mike Leigh.

Clay (Lead in/Leconte Background)
Four years, and still counting, John, and of course, Leconte is high on my list too. From his recent release, “Intimate Strangers,” to his “Widow of St. Pierre,” “Man on the Train,” and “Girl on the Bridge,” you’ll not find many other directors who will so assuredly immerse you in the emotional realms of intimate pleasures.

John
Clay, the 1999 "Girl on the Bridge" is the most romantic film of our 4 years on this show. Starring Daniel Auteuil and pop-singer Vanessa Paradis, the film emphasizes that love is like lucky gambling, beginning with the good fortune of a middle aged Auteuil rescuing the beautiful but troubled Paradis from jumping off a Parisian bridge and luckily ending up saving himself.

Paradis is an unfortunate wanderer for love and Auteuil is a knife thrower who needs a model, and he doesn't know it, a lucky love. Luck is the dominant motif--it's lucky to be together in love like 2 halves of a $50 bill, and luckier still never having to say you're sorry about that love.

"Girl on the Bridge" is as romantic and symbolically sexual as any film I
have seen for our show.

Clay
Not bad, considering we’ve been on the air for 190 shows.

This is a stunningly beautiful black and white film, John, but of course, it was Italian filmmakers--like Fellini and Antonioni--who inspired director Leconte . The circus themes, the music, the pouty, elegant female stars are right out of “La Dolce Vita” and “La Notte.” That said, “Girl on the Bridge” holds its own right up there with these classics. The deep sighing sensuality of Paradis as she awaits each throw of the knife by Autueil couldn’t be more powerful. Here are two characters who need each other more than they know, and when they connect, it’s deeper than flesh will allow, for their connection is in their hearts and in their minds. This is a must see.

HIT CD: “MAN ON THE TRAIN,” ESTABLISH, THEN UNDER JOHN AND CLAY’S REVIEWS

John (“Man on the Train”)
Patrice Laconte’s “Man on the Train” was my favorite film at the 2002 Toronto film festival. It has characteristic French sensibility (friendship of 2 middle-aged men) and ironic world-weariness (a bank robbery is just a job)

Clay
We even got to hear him intro the film.

John
When Johnny Hallyday’s craggy-faced tough guy comes to a small French town, he is hospitably housed by Jean Rochefort’s eccentric retired teacher in his cluttered but warm family estate. Each man faces a defining Saturday: Rochefort a triple bypass operation and Hallyday a heist. Before the day is over, the two become friends, each longing to be like the other: teacher wants to be a cowboy gunslinger and outlaw wants to be a pipe-smoking professor.

Both men exit still dreaming the other’s life but content to accept the fate already decreed. If you like character studies in essentially a two-handed narrative, you’ll not get better than this.

MUSIC UP BRIEFLY, THEN UNDER AGAIN

Clay ("The Man on the Train")
DeSando, like the men in “Man on the Train,” I sometimes envy you your life of wine, women and song but I have come to accept the quiet fate my good fortune has decreed. Poetry and quiet reflection are quite enough for me.

And that’s why I’m drawn to the melancholy mood of Patrice Leconte’s “The Man on the Train.”

The click-clack sounds of the steel wheels on the tracks. The rumble and roar of the train passing through pitch-dark tunnels. The old weathered trench coat and black leather jacket worn by the third-rate hood who was heading for a showdown in a small out-of-the way French town.

No four-letter words used by the heist guy in this film. No laser warning systems to foil the intentions of a thief. Just a two-bit loner who falls in love with pianos. pipes, and & poetry.

MUSIC UP, THEN DOWN AND OUT

John
Clay, despite the current Francophobia I remain a lifetime Francophile partly because of the French genius for elevating love to Platonic heights. Patrice Leconte is one of my reasons for loving their love, their eternal compulsion to seek mates while Germans and American presidents have been bent on reducing their romance to rubble.

Perhaps that American blundering has unknowingly moved me to Russia with love.

I’m outta here

Clay

Well, John, you bond on with your Russian in love, and I’ll bond on with my family and friends. Even our friends in France, who right now, are listening our show as it streams on the web.

I’m outta here too.

See you at the movies, folks.

HIT CD: "HITS OF THE 70'S" (CUT 8: "CHANSON D'AMOUR")
Richelle:

The Award Winning "It's Movie Time" with John DeSando and Clay Lowe is produced by Richelle Antczak in conjunction with 90.5 FM, WCBE in Columbus 106.7 FM in Newark, WYSO, etc.

MUSIC UP AND OUT

Copyright 2004 by John DeSando & Clay Lowe

CHIEF SEATTLE'S 1854 ORATION: A Beautifully Articulated Response To The Forced Loss Of Native America's Cultural Heritage

"CHIEF SEATTLE'S 1854 ORATION"

AUTHENTIC TEXT OF CHIEF SEATTLE'S TREATY ORATION 1854
Seattle Sunday Star on Oct. 29, 1887, in a column by Dr. Henry A. Smith.

"Yonder sky that has wept tears of compassion upon my people for centuries untold, and which to us appears changeless and eternal, may change. Today is fair. Tomorrow it may be overcast with clouds. My words are like the stars that never change. Whatever Seattle says, the great chief at Washington can rely upon with as much certainty as he can upon the return of the sun or the seasons. The white chief says that Big Chief at Washington sends us greetings of friendship and goodwill. This is kind of him for we know he has little need of our friendship in return. His people are many. They are like the grass that covers vast prairies. My people are few. They resemble the scattering trees of a storm-swept plain. The great, and I presume -- good, White Chief sends us word that he wishes to buy our land but is willing to allow us enough to live comfortably. This indeed appears just, even generous, for the Red Man no longer has rights that he need respect, and the offer may be wise, also, as we are no longer in need of an extensive country.

There was a time when our people covered the land as the waves of a wind-ruffled sea cover its shell-paved floor, but that time long since passed away with the greatness of tribes that are now but a mournful memory. I will not dwell on, nor mourn over, our untimely decay, nor reproach my paleface brothers with hastening it, as we too may have been somewhat to blame.

Youth is impulsive. When our young men grow angry at some real or imaginary wrong, and disfigure their faces with black paint, it denotes that their hearts are black, and that they are often cruel and relentless, and our old men and old women are unable to restrain them. Thus it has ever been. Thus it was when the white man began to push our forefathers ever westward. But let us hope that the hostilities between us may never return. We would have everything to lose and nothing to gain. Revenge by young men is considered gain, even at the cost of their own lives, but old men who stay at home in times of war, and mothers who have sons to lose, know better.

Our good father in Washington--for I presume he is now our father as well as yours, since King George has moved his boundaries further north--our great and good father, I say, sends us word that if we do as he desires he will protect us. His brave warriors will be to us a bristling wall of strength, and his wonderful ships of war will fill our harbors, so that our ancient enemies far to the northward -- the Haidas and Tsimshians -- will cease to frighten our women, children, and old men. Then in reality he will be our father and we his children. But can that ever be? Your God is not our God! Your God loves your people and hates mine! He folds his strong protecting arms lovingly about the paleface and leads him by the hand as a father leads an infant son. But, He has forsaken His Red children, if they really are His. Our God, the Great Spirit, seems also to have forsaken us. Your God makes your people wax stronger every day. Soon they will fill all the land. Our people are ebbing away like a rapidly receding tide that will never return. The white man's God cannot love our people or He would protect them. They seem to be orphans who can look nowhere for help. How then can we be brothers? How can your God become our God and renew our prosperity and awaken in us dreams of returning greatness? If we have a common Heavenly Father He must be partial, for He came to His paleface children. We never saw Him. He gave you laws but had no word for His red children whose teeming multitudes once filled this vast continent as stars fill the firmament. No; we are two distinct races with separate origins and separate destinies. There is little in common between us.

To us the ashes of our ancestors are sacred and their resting place is hallowed ground. You wander far from the graves of your ancestors and seemingly without regret. Your religion was written upon tablets of stone by the iron finger of your God so that you could not forget. The Red Man could never comprehend or remember it. Our religion is the traditions of our ancestors -- the dreams of our old men, given them in solemn hours of the night by the Great Spirit; and the visions of our sachems, and is written in the hearts of our people.

Your dead cease to love you and the land of their nativity as soon as they pass the portals of the tomb and wander away beyond the stars. They are soon forgotten and never return. Our dead never forget this beautiful world that gave them being. They still love its verdant valleys, its murmuring rivers, its magnificent mountains, sequestered vales and verdant lined lakes and bays, and ever yearn in tender fond affection over the lonely hearted living, and often return from the happy hunting ground to visit, guide, console, and comfort them.

Day and night cannot dwell together. The Red Man has ever fled the approach of the White Man, as the morning mist flees before the morning sun. However, your proposition seems fair and I think that my people will accept it and will retire to the reservation you offer them. Then we will dwell apart in peace, for the words of the Great White Chief seem to be the words of nature speaking to my people out of dense darkness.

It matters little where we pass the remnant of our days. They will not be many. The Indian's night promises to be dark. Not a single star of hope hovers above his horizon. Sad-voiced winds moan in the distance. Grim fate seems to be on the Red Man's trail, and wherever he will hear the approaching footsteps of his fell destroyer and prepare stolidly to meet his doom, as does the wounded doe that hears the approaching footsteps of the hunter.

A few more moons, a few more winters, and not one of the descendants of the mighty hosts that once moved over this broad land or lived in happy homes, protected by the Great Spirit, will remain to mourn over the graves of a people once more powerful and hopeful than yours. But why should I mourn at the untimely fate of my people? Tribe follows tribe, and nation follows nation, like the waves of the sea. It is the order of nature, and regret is useless. Your time of decay may be distant, but it will surely come, for even the White Man whose God walked and talked with him as friend to friend, cannot be exempt from the common destiny. We may be brothers after all. We will see.

We will ponder your proposition and when we decide we will let you know. But should we accept it, I here and now make this condition that we will not be denied the privilege without molestation of visiting at any time the tombs of our ancestors, friends, and children. Every part of this soil is sacred in the estimation of my people. Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove, has been hallowed by some sad or happy event in days long vanished. Even the rocks, which seem to be dumb and dead as the swelter in the sun along the silent shore, thrill with memories of stirring events connected with the lives of my people, and the very dust upon which you now stand responds more lovingly to their footsteps than yours, because it is rich with the blood of our ancestors, and our bare feet are conscious of the sympathetic touch. Our departed braves, fond mothers, glad, happy hearted maidens, and even the little children who lived here and rejoiced here for a brief season, will love these somber solitudes and at eventide they greet shadowy returning spirits. And when the last Red Man shall have perished, and the memory of my tribe shall have become a myth among the White Men, these shores will swarm with the invisible dead of my tribe, and when your children's children think themselves alone in the field, the store, the shop, upon the highway, or in the silence of the pathless woods, they will not be alone. In all the earth there is no place dedicated to solitude. At night when the streets of your cities and villages are silent and you think them deserted, they will throng with the returning hosts that once filled them and still love this beautiful land. The White Man will never be alone.

Let him be just and deal kindly with my people, for the dead are not powerless. Dead, did I say? There is no death, only a change of worlds." - Chief Seattle, 1854