Two Great Shows. All the Light We Cannot See and The Darkest Hour.

I recently watched a short series on Netflix called “All the Light We Cannot See.” It’s based on the novel by Anthony Doerr. The setting is WW2 mostly in France, but also some scenes are in Germany. The Germans are losing the war. The Americans are bombing them out in France.

Werner is a young man who is talented with radios. He built his own radio while in an orphanage. He often listed to someone called the "professor" who talked about education subjects. It was illegal to listen to foreign broadcasts, but Werner couldn't stop listening to the professor who talked about other things, and the not war. Werner found this to be an escape. He almost got shot for listening to that frequency, but because of his talent, he was sent to an elite German boarding school. There he learned more skills with radios and frequencies. As the Nazi's are losing the war, they want him to find foreign frequencies in France so they can shut down the French Resistance.

However, he discovers Marie, a blind French girl who is broadcasting on a frequency he used to listen to when he was in the orphanage. The same frequency the Professor used to be on. Instead, Marie is working with the French Resistance. She is sending code to the Americans of where to bomb. He knows this, but he still cannot report her. Werner cares too much about about her. Just like the professor, he becomes obsessed with listening to her. This blind girl is really amazing. Her other senses are so strong, she’s capable of a lot. 

Another good movie is “The Darkest Hour” It’s about Winston Churchill during WW2 when British troops are stuck in France, and the Nazi's are about to invade England. Gary Oldman plays plays Winston Churchill. He is so good in this role that I forgot at times this is not really Winston. 

The main conflict is that others in parliament want to enter into peace talks with Germany. Mainly because they don’t think they can win. Winston (the new prime minister) doesn’t agree. He's steadfastly against it. This causes him a mountain of stress because they pressure him to do the peace talks or step down.

Several in parliament are terrified that if they don't try to talk peace with Hitler, they will be destroyed. At some point, Winston almost agrees with them. He goes to his secretary and tries to write a letter to Hitler, but he finds himself unable to find the words. He can’t finish the letter. Then he feels like the walls are closing in on him. 

Instead, he writes a speech about why they should fight. One thing he said stands out to me. “Do you want to see a swastika over Buckingham palace?” 

And…yeah that was a wake up call. I found it admirable how Winston stood up to so much pressure from those around him.