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Voices in Wartime documentary film DVDVoices in Wartime is a feature-length documentary that sharply etches the experience of war through powerful images and the words of poets – unknown and world-famous. Soldiers, journalists, historians and experts on combat interviewed in Voices in Wartime add diverse perspectives on war’s effects on soldiers, civilians and society. In Voices in Wartime, poets around the world, from the United States and Colombia to Britain and Nigeria to Iraq and India, share their views and experiences of war that extend beyond national borders and into the depth of the human soul.
The film also brings to life how poetry and war have been intertwined since the beginning of recorded history --from ancient Babylonia and the fields of troy--to the great conflicts of the 20th century and the current war in Iraq. The stirring words of poets of the past - Homer, Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, Walt Whitman AND Shoda Shinoe from Hiroshima are combined with more recent voices: a Vietnam vet, poets in war-torn Baghdad, a poet whose family experienced the devastating war in Biafra. The poetry moves us to the emotion of war explained to us by soldiers, journalists and a doctor who have experienced the effects of combat firsthand. The poetry illuminates the reality. And the documentary reality helps us to understand the poetry. Together they sear the experience, emotions and sacrifices of war into our hearts and minds. Voices in Wartime gives the gut-wrenching experience of war a fresh perspective. It steps away to look at all wars – not just the conflicts currently in the news. The terrible beauty of the poetry is our guide, distilling the grim realities and diverse emotions of war. History and literature have shown us that in times of war, poets can lead us to greater truths and that the power of poetry can help us understand the trauma, violence and death caused by armed conflict.
Send purchase orders to:Voices in Wartime, 4509 Interlake Ave. N., #263, Seattle, WA 98103 Order products by Mail - Download Printed Form
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Featured Poems
Fragment: A Farewell
Listen to this poem: mp3 / windows media
I saw his round mouth's crimson deepen as it fell,
Like a Sun, in his last deep hour;
Watched the magnificent recession of farewell,
Clouding, half gleam, half glower,
And a last splendour burn the heavens of his cheek.
And in his eyes
The cold stars lighting, very old and bleak,
In different skies.
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The Poem in Time of War
Listen to this poem: mp3 / windows media
should wake the city shouting EXTRA! EXTRA!
then whisper the story behind the story
like a conspirator. It should be short, stirring
as the president's call to arms;
soft enough for a flag at half-mast;
strong enough to stiffen the bereaved;
spacious enough to serve as a body bag.
The poem should carry the news that men
die...
Featured Links
PeaceTags.com
PeaceTags are beautiful sterling silver dog tags that reflect words of peace.
More than a beautiful pendant…
The mission of PeaceTags™ is to ignite peace in our hearts, in our homes and in our world through spreading “the words of the wise” engraved on beautiful sterling silver “dog-tags.”
Throughout the ages, wise men and women from diverse religions, cultures and ideologies have spoken...
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Featured Blogs
I watched the film tonight and was moved by the presentation. It was a very polished film. Perhaps a little too polished. I think the unguarded moments in this movie worked best such as the woman reading the poem of a 4th grader before the assembled audience in New York, in which the boy wished the soldiers...
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Featured Events
| Date: | Saturday, March 24, 2007 |
| End Date: | Saturday, March 24, 2007 |
| Location: | South Boston, MA |
| Time: | 7:00 PM |
| Title: | Voices In Wartime film screening |
| Address: |
207 E Street South Boston, MA 02127-3141 USA |
| Description: | Voices in Wartime is a 74-minute, feature-length documentary that sharply etches the experience of war through powerful images and the words of poets – unknown and world-famous. Soldiers, journalists, historians and experts on combat interviewed in Voices in Wartime add diverse perspectives on war’s effects on soldiers, civilians and society. In Voices in Wartime, poets around the world, from the United States and Colombia to Britain and Nigeria to Iraq and India, share their views and experiences of war that extend beyond national borders and into the depth of the human soul. The film also brings to life how poetry and war have been intertwined since the beginning of recorded history --from ancient Babylonia and the fields of troy--to the great conflicts of the 20th century and the current war in Iraq. The stirring words of poets of the past - Homer, Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, Walt Whitman AND Shoda Shinoe from Hiroshima are combined with more recent voices: a Vietnam vet, poets in war-torn Baghdad, a poet whose family experienced the devastating war in Biafra. The poetry moves us to the emotion of war explained to us by soldiers, journalists and a doctor who have experienced the effects of combat firsthand. The poetry illuminates the reality. And the documentary reality helps us to understand the poetry. Together they sear the experience, emotions and sacrifices of war into our hearts and minds. Voices in Wartime gives the gut-wrenching experience of war a fresh perspective. It steps away to look at all wars – not just the conflicts currently in the news. The terrible beauty of the poetry is our guide, distilling the grim realities and diverse emotions of war. History and literature have shown us that in times of war, poets can lead us to greater truths and that the power of poetry can help us understand the trauma, violence and death caused by armed conflict. |
| Seating Capacity: | 35-40 |
| Contact Phone: | 6172697090 |
| Date: | Friday, November 10, 2006 |
| End Date: | Thursday, November 09, 2006 |
| Location: | Hollywood, CA |
| Time: | 4:00 PM |
| Title: | Artivist Film Festival - Voices in Wartime film screening |
| Address: |
Egyptian Theater (Rigler Theater) 6712 Hollywood Blvd. Hollywood, CA 90028u USA |
| Description: | Voices in Wartime sharply etches the experience of war through powerful images and the words of poets - unknown and world-famous. Soldiers, journalists, historians and experts on combat add diverse perspectives on war's effects on soldiers, civilians and society. Poets around the world, from the United States and Colombia to Britain and Nigeria to Iraq and India, share their views and experiences of war that extend beyond national borders and into the depth of the human soul. |
| Seating Capacity: | 200 |
| Contact Phone: | 310-712-1222 |
Customer Reviews
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726 out of 1412 people found the following review helpful:
- A whole extra dimension - posted Thursday, February 23, 2006
Reviewer: Demetria Martinez (Albuquerque,NM)
I taught a three and a half week class (three hours a day) at Colorado College called "Poet as Witness to War." Miraculously, the Voices anthology had just come out, along with the DVD. The readings were fantastic and formed the basis for daily discussions and provided a framework for writing poetry about war. The DVD added a whole extra dimension. All this was crucial, for many of my students are removed from the current war, or imagine that they are. But soon they began to recall family stories, (and silences) about Vietnam, World War II and the Korean War. They wrote of these experiences and then waded into the waters, so to speak, of Iraq. The anthology and film were profoundly meaningful to a student who is a soldier, due to be deployed to Iraq this summer. He opposes the war and the writings of soldiers and veterans made him feel less alone. He took the class because he wants to "bear witness" as a soldier in Iraq and plans to continue writing while there. Too, he fears that he will come back with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in some form and he believes that writing will be a part of his healing. The beauty of the anthology is that it is not "anti-soldier." Instead, it stresses that wars harm all people, soldiers, civilians of course, and societies. It asks the question, how do we heal through the arts? These are perfect points of departure for classes that invariably include young people vaguely in favor of the current war. We all came away with deep convictions about the true costs of war. This anthology will, I believe, go down in history as one of the most important books to emerge in the wake of the Iraq war. Educators cannot go wrong using it in their classes.
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937 out of 1814 people found the following review helpful:
- What a Surprise - posted Thursday, November 03, 2005
Reviewer: Marty Preston (Wisconsin Dells,WI)
When I first sat down to watch this film, I expected to see a bunch of people reading poetry about war. And I had no further expectations about the presentation of the material or that it would include any other scenes of visual interest.
What a surprise.
So much extraordinary war footage was collected and shown. The story of Laura Bush inviting the poets to read at the White House and the response of Sam Hamill and his fellow poets was presented in detail.
I loved that the poetry was read in various locations: Walking on the street, in a bedroom, on a stage. For that, and many other reasons, I was riveted to the screen for the entire documentary, which zipped by without my noticing the time. To me, that is the real test of the success of a "movie maker." Did the film drag, did I want to skip parts, was it hard to follow, etc. Not for a second in this case.
The only question I found myself with at the end of two viewings was: why was there a sequence of wars, starting with WWI, moving to WWII and then no Vietnam? I know we had some scenes from Vietnam in there, but they were unidentified. So that felt a bit odd.
But beyond that, waaaay beyond that, was the feeling I had at the end of the movie. I felt I had heard many different voices, from the head of West Point to the young girl who was surprised to find her poem included. I learned something about the poets themselves, the intensity of the politics they express in their poems, their ability to stand together and refuse to be made mock of by attending the White House function. That was a revelation to me because usually one thinks of poets as being rather isolated souls who have no real reason to relate to each other. It was heartwarming to know they can be and do both.
Support this film in any way you can. Order it, give it for Christmas, watch it with friends and neighbors. You will not regret that you became a part of this cadre of people, The Opening of the Heart Education Network, who care enough about the prevention of the horrible tactic of war that they want to provide as many resources as possible to help people learn that there is another way to deal with conflict.
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