I used to have a grandpa who served as a scout during the WW2 here in the Philippines. He fought alongside the Americans against the feisty Japanese Imperial Army. He was 18 when he was drafted. I am not aware of any formal training he had since his part was mainly to construct airfields and trenches which were necessary during the war. He was one of those mighty individuals who constructed the Lipa Airbase based in Lipa, Batangas. According to my papa, while grandpa was busy flattening the ground along with his other co-workers, their names were taken by an American private. Their names were recorded and little did they know that they would become one of the war veterans once the war in the Pacific was over. I can't say if mamay did see some action but I know his contributions in the war was also notable. They were more involved in the strategics, laying out the plans, and preparations for the war. And I am proud of mamay for that.
What really peaked my interest was when I was 15 and busy skimming TV channels at home while on a school lunch break, I came across a certain movie at HBO. The scene was quite intense. A young male soldier was trapped behind a small steel cabinet in an abandoned factory because an unseen sniper patiently awaits to shoot him. The trapped soldier was covered with filth all over his face yet you can still see how incredibly defined his features were. He has the bluest eyes, beautiful lips, and incredulously most handsome face I have ever seen. He tried to retrieve his sniper gun by throwing a Swiss knife tied to a string so he can pull his gun to his hiding spot but to no avail. Before his gun could reach any further, the thin string was shot by his unseen death dealer. When all hope seemed lost for Mr. Handsome, my favorite actress from The Mummy & The Mummy Returns' Rachel Weisz came to help him. I think they were a couple. In the next scene, the two outsmarted their opponent by using shards of broken glasses to blind the sniper with the glasses' bright reflection buying the handsome soldier some time to shoot him back and escape. Just when the scenes get more and more interesting, I had to hurry back to school. I just took the title of the film so I can check when it will be played again in HBO. It's "Enemy at the Gates."
Imagine how ecstatic I was when I saw it's next airing schedule and I was able to watch the movie from start to finish! I know nothing about Stalingrad or how ruthless the Soviets were to their own soldiers, "No retreat. No surrender or you will die in your own fellow Soviet soldier's hands." Their insufficient arms and supplies didn't also go unnoticed. The movie was loosely based on the Russian hero Vassili Zaitsev. In the film, he was a young shepherd from the Yural mountains who was trained by his grandfather to shoot as a boy. I had been head over heels with Tanya (Rachel Weisz) and Vassili (Jude Law) love story. From the first day he had met her on board a train en route to Stalingrad, he has already fallen in love with her. With that impeccable beauty, who won't be? I loved how the film was able to balance the battle scenes, cat and mouse chase hunt and romance all at the same time. Tanya and Vassili's steamy love scene (albeit cut when shown in HBO) had been really unforgettable. The thrill of getting caught by their comrades while these 2 lovebirds were at it undeniably stirred the audience emotions as well. I saw the uncut version in 2010, 6 years after watching this movie first in 2004.
From then on, I realized how much I enjoy watching war movies either historically accurate or loosely based with a little or passionate romance added to it. This is just my favorite plot! I started reading books with subjects about World War 1 or World War 2 stories as well. I keep hoping too that someday they will turn one of my favorite book, The Man from St. Petersburg by Ken Follet into a motion picture as well. Of course no other person could portray its protagonist Feliks better than Jude Law as well. :)
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