"Blue Railroad Train" - 2 Versions

I love comparing different versions of the same song. There’s something very telling about the way an artist covers a song written and performed by someone they admire. They have 3 choices; they can take the song to a whole new level, as Joe Cocker used to do with Beatle songs; or they can stick to the script, which sometimes can be pretty tepid. The third choice is to improve upon the original without taking anything away from it, yet at the same time putting your fingerprints all over it in a way that actually honors the original.

That 3^rd choice is exactly what Jorma Kaukonen did with his cover of Doc Watson’s “Blue Railroad Train.” When Doc wrote and sang this song back in 1991 he was a tired old fellow. He had just lost his son a few years earlier in a farming accident. You can hear it in his voice. Merle was the son who played a “happy” guitar, like Mississippi John Hurt. And Jorma Kaukonen has that  same “happy” sound to his guitar on this track. Of course he can also be really “down” when he wants to be; or it is necessary to convey a song, but here he plays homage to Merle by adding that “happy” sound to the original by Doc Watson.

When you listen to his cover of the song you have to wonder how the recording by Doc Watson would’ve sounded had Merle Watson still been alive. I suspect it would have sounded just like this.

"Beyond the Gates" with John Hurt and Hugh Dancy (2005)

Rwanda; and the Genocide which was allowed to persist there in the 1990’s; was the point at which I stopped believing in the United Nations as the cure for anything. In spite of my own experiences in supplying the so-called “Peacekeeping” forces in Beirut during the early 1980’s I had still held out hope that the UN might be able to do something useful in this world. Rwanda dashed all of that hope for me.

How was it possible for the massacre between Hutu and Tutsi to continue while well-armed UN Peacekeepers were in country facing enemies armed with machetes? The official policy was to observe; and shamefully that is just what they did.

As diplomats spoke over lunch and politicians made speeches, the Peacekeepers were left with no clear directive of what to do when the mass killings began. And, as the killings progressed and the bodies piled up, the officers and men of the Peacekeeping Forces did their job and so did nothing.

In this beautifully made movie which takes place in 1994, just after the Hutu President’s plane has been shot down, the Hutu’s and Tutsi’s come to war over allegations that the plane was shot down by the Tutsi’s. The Hutu’s are more numerous and have every advantage of being the governing tribe in Rwanda. The airplane crash serves as a pretext for the killings to begin.

The film centers around a local school run by a Priest named Father Christopher, played by John Hurt. He is assisted by Joe Connor, played by Hugh Dancy. They have forged a community with the Tutsi’s of the area and introduced them to western style education and Christianity. There are also some Hutu’s living at the school as employees, which makes you think that there is hope for peace between the two tribes; at least in the school itself.

Father Christopher and Joe are able to shelter 2,500 men, women and children at the school as the violence rages just outside the gate and the corpses pile up. The Belgian Peacekeepers assigned to protect them find themselves under siege and a deadly game of cat and mouse ensues; the only question being how long it will take for the Hutu’s to realize that the UN Peacekeepers are under orders not to shoot; under any circumstances.

As the situation spirals way out of control, Father Christopher begins to question whether he has done any good for the students in his charge. They recite the prayers, they eat the wafers of the sacrament; but do they really understand Christianity? But just as he is judging them he and Joe face the larger ethical question of what they should do as individuals. Do they stay and share the fate of their refugees? Or do they flee with the Peacekeepers, leaving them to the fate of the Hutu’s?

Directed brilliantly and performed with intensity, this film will make you look with even more disgust at the United Nations. Having seen the UN in action close hand in Lebanon, I can tell you that this film does nothing to stretch the truth.

"Heaven's Gate" with Kris Kristofferson and Isabelle Huppert (1980)

I remember watching this movie in the theater when it was first released. The film was panned at the time as being too long. And; at 216 minutes; it is lengthier than most movies of that time; or anytime. And this is the director’s cut; which boasts some added footage of the barren, and cold, area where this story took place. So, bring a jacket.

I believe that the director’s intention was to portray the stark and lonely aspect of what is was like to live on the prairie, where there was not much to do. Time would naturally have dragged itself on in an interminable way. To that extent, the director has captured the feel of the times in an excellent fashion.

The movies premise is a good one, and the choice of actors is really diverse; with screen legends such as Joseph Cotten playing alongside of such relative newcomers like Sam Waterson and John Hurt. This movie has a lot to offer if you are willing to devote the time to watching it. And Kris Kristofferson is at his best as the Harvard educated U.S. Marshall who attempts to take on the cattle barons in this epic based upon the real life Johnson County War of 1892. It’s a fascinating piece of our history. You might want to Google it sometime.

Briefly, the whole problem was that there was an influx of new settlers who had been lured to the area of present day Wyoming by cheap government sponsored land. These would be settlers were mainly from Eastern Europe and spoke little English. The land they had bought was also being used by the cattle barons to graze their herds for free. When the settlers moved in, and the crops didn’t grow, these people were hungry. In order to survive they began to steal cattle. In order to protect their own interests, the Cattlemen’s Association offered a $5 per day stipend, plus a $50 bounty for each of the 125 men on the “list” of those to be executed. No trial, no law; just a list of individuals to be killed.

Great acting by all; including a very charming Isabelle Huppert, who plays Ella, a local prostitute who is lover to both Marshall Kris Kristofferson, and the cattle baron played by Christopher Walken; make this film watchable, even if you are watching the clock during some of the second half.

A good film; reminiscent in many ways of “Lawrence of Arabia”, another film which was re-released in a director’s cut. That film took place in the desert rather than the cold winter of Wyoming. For that film, take an extra bottle of water.