I won't go through the trouble of writing a proper review, except to say how much I enjoyed this piece. Words like "evocative", "textured", and "fascinating" come to mind.
For those weaned on wars where personal sacrifice has been neither a prerequisite nor an option, the stuff Marjorie describes might seem strange, archaic. But in this wonderful concoction, she reminds us that radio is always about people -- not just the jewel-like traditionbearers who "put you there," but all the people who chat along the lines of parade routes, among the ghosts of former battlefields.
For those who think 9/11 changed everything, they clearly weren't there for Paschendale during the Great War, but 245,000 men were lost here.
I don't know how PDs should make a piece like this relevent, but listeners seem sensitive to numbers, don't they?
A curious mix of heart-breaking and inspirational. An obvious thing for 11.11, but post-war tape informing the story would be fabulous on any date.
As the "Thin Red Line", by Terrence Malik evokes in film, a deep reflection about life, death and war, so does "Unquiet Graves", offer a high quality radio reflection of the same caliber. Helen and Marjorie hit a little felt nerve by our citizens at home in the U.S, when exploring what wars do to a people, on home turf. No one can escape the effects of war today. A sobering thought.
In an intimately gentle voice, the listener, is directed to join a tour with an Englishman, who relives the horror of gas clouds in WW I, learn of survival techniques (such as how to use your bodily functions in a specific formulation), and how the Northern Europeans honor one another in memorials.
Honoring the dead, and clutching to the neighbor; these people were kin, now. They all lived to tell the tale. There is a depth here. You're kin to Terence Malik, I think. Great story. Very evocative.
I thoroughly enjoyed the production value: writing into tape, use of an English tour guide, the sounds of a radio broadcast, woven into the tape, with various interviews with the local peoples in Flanders. Nice use of echos for past recall.
And a fitting visual, the use of the poppy flower, to open and close the piece.
I remember many years ago hitching a ride with a German truck driver across northern France. As we drove through seemingly endless fields of crimson poppies and bone white gravestones, iconic, almost dreamlike, I asked him, in my limited German, "Was ist das?". "Krieg", he answered, "War". We drove on in silence for a long long way, amidst the remains of our separate yet desperately linked histories. "Unquiet Graves" took me back to that time and place with its haunting juxtapositions of everyday life - food, flowers, conversations - and horror - bodies unearthed regularly to this day, one of them perhaps my own great-uncle, a pilot lost over France in 1917. The rich soundscape - music, a visit from a neighbour, a guided tour, the news from Iraq - and thoughtful narration make us realize how very much "over there" was with us then and is with us still.
Comments for Unquiet Graves
Produced by Marjorie Van Halteren and Helen Englehardt
Other pieces by Marjorie Van Halteren
Rating Summary
4 comments
Rob Shinnick
Posted on December 07, 2009 at 01:30 AM | Permalink
Excellent
I won't go through the trouble of writing a proper review, except to say how much I enjoyed this piece. Words like "evocative", "textured", and "fascinating" come to mind.
Jackson Braider
Posted on August 07, 2006 at 08:25 PM | Permalink
Review of Unquiet Graves
A lovely piece.
For those weaned on wars where personal sacrifice has been neither a prerequisite nor an option, the stuff Marjorie describes might seem strange, archaic. But in this wonderful concoction, she reminds us that radio is always about people -- not just the jewel-like traditionbearers who "put you there," but all the people who chat along the lines of parade routes, among the ghosts of former battlefields.
For those who think 9/11 changed everything, they clearly weren't there for Paschendale during the Great War, but 245,000 men were lost here.
I don't know how PDs should make a piece like this relevent, but listeners seem sensitive to numbers, don't they?
A curious mix of heart-breaking and inspirational. An obvious thing for 11.11, but post-war tape informing the story would be fabulous on any date.
Barbara AnnKaarina Turning-McCord
Posted on August 06, 2006 at 10:05 PM | Permalink
Review of Unquiet Graves
As the "Thin Red Line", by Terrence Malik evokes in film, a deep reflection about life, death and war, so does "Unquiet Graves", offer a high quality radio reflection of the same caliber. Helen and Marjorie hit a little felt nerve by our citizens at home in the U.S, when exploring what wars do to a people, on home turf. No one can escape the effects of war today. A sobering thought.
In an intimately gentle voice, the listener, is directed to join a tour with an Englishman, who relives the horror of gas clouds in WW I, learn of survival techniques (such as how to use your bodily functions in a specific formulation), and how the Northern Europeans honor one another in memorials.
Honoring the dead, and clutching to the neighbor; these people were kin, now. They all lived to tell the tale. There is a depth here. You're kin to Terence Malik, I think. Great story. Very evocative.
I thoroughly enjoyed the production value: writing into tape, use of an English tour guide, the sounds of a radio broadcast, woven into the tape, with various interviews with the local peoples in Flanders. Nice use of echos for past recall.
And a fitting visual, the use of the poppy flower, to open and close the piece.
Elizabeth Yeoman
Posted on October 23, 2005 at 09:53 AM | Permalink
Review of Unquiet Graves Memorial Day Special
I remember many years ago hitching a ride with a German truck driver across northern France. As we drove through seemingly endless fields of crimson poppies and bone white gravestones, iconic, almost dreamlike, I asked him, in my limited German, "Was ist das?". "Krieg", he answered, "War". We drove on in silence for a long long way, amidst the remains of our separate yet desperately linked histories. "Unquiet Graves" took me back to that time and place with its haunting juxtapositions of everyday life - food, flowers, conversations - and horror - bodies unearthed regularly to this day, one of them perhaps my own great-uncle, a pilot lost over France in 1917. The rich soundscape - music, a visit from a neighbour, a guided tour, the news from Iraq - and thoughtful narration make us realize how very much "over there" was with us then and is with us still.