Post by Okwes on Apr 5, 2007 15:10:48 GMT -5
DOUBLETAKE
By Eric F. Mallonga
‘Pathfinder’
PATHFINDER” is the cinematic account of a young Norse boy, son of a cruel warrior, abandoned at a time when marauding Vikings roamed the world to conquer American lands 500 years before Christopher Columbus even discovered the American continent. When the fragile Norse boy is left behind after his warrior clan shipwrecks on North America’s Eastern shores, he is found by the wife of an Indian chieftain, who wishes to raise the child as her own. She submits the decision to the tribal elders, who want to abandon him in the freezing open seas because they fear that the child may grow up to be as brutal and inhumane as his gargantuan Viking forebears. The Indian elders condemn the Norsemen as monsters for genocidal atrocities. But the chieftain’s wife sobers them, “If you leave this child out in the cold to die, who is the monster then?”
Despite his lineage, the boy is raised by the very Indians his kinsmen set out to destroy, and is named “Ghost” for his fair complexion and golden hair.
Haunted by the past
When he grows up, he meets other strong Indian warriors from neighboring villages. One tribe “People of the Dawn” are headed by Chief Pathfinder, who calls a meeting of young warriors to be marked with red paint on their forehead. As Ghost is being marked, Chief Pathfinder tells the circle of Indians, “He has not earned the right to be here.” Then he forewarns Ghost, “You are still haunted by the demons of your past. You should first find out who you are.” Keenly aware of racial differences, Ghost cannot seem to cast his past aside, experiencing a moral dilemma anent his sense of belonging, caught within two realities—his birth origins and his life in this New World.
As the Vikings return to stage another barbaric raid on his unsuspecting village, Ghost brings his young Indian sister to scout forests along the shorelines as he forages alone in the mountains to hunt down animals. His sister is ambushed by the Vikings, and chased back to her home. Then the Vikings plunder, pillage and massacre the Indians, sparing no man, woman or child. Ghost hears the Viking horns announcing the Norsemen’s victory.
Slaughter of infants
As he arrives at his ravaged home, he finds his sister’s doll and the mutilated bodies of his adoptive parents. He cries out in anguish at the cruelty of his Nordic forebears, haunted by the gruesome images of his past as he witnessed his Viking father beheading Indian toddlers when Ghost refuses his father’s order to slaughter the infants.
In this hauntingly beautiful action-adventure movie depicted as part ghost story and part folktale, the ancient mythical legend of the blonde Viking warrior leading Indian tribes against ravaging Norsemen begins. Its graphic violence is blurred in dreamlike cinematic quality, tempered by veiling gruesome, bloody details in gorgeous dark and smoky palette of bluish green hues as the now grown up Norse warrior wages a personal vendetta to stop the trail of death and destruction left by the Vikings. Its horrific scenes are filled with stunningly eerie shots effortlessly balancing just the right levels of shadow and light. Utilizing snow-covered landscapes as a backdrop for the massacres of Indians, the Norsemen, in heavy battle gear and leather-faced masks, are magnified as heartless killers, devoid of humanity on a ravenous quest to kill innocents, without any reason for their heartless actions. In this courageous choice to venture into historical territory not much explored before, the lone Viking warrior forges his own path as his destiny is revealed and his identity reclaimed. Seeking revenge for his people’s massacre, he treasures within his bosom the Indian doll owned by his younger sister. At that moment, he realizes he shares no commonality with the white men, definitely not their brutality even as he remembers speaking their language as a child, and even as he is haunted by the images of his demonic father.
Two battles in the heart
Chief Pathfinder’s daughter, Moon Bloodgood, abandons her tribe to join the man she loves. She feels Ghost’s raging anger at the white men, and tells him, “There are two battles being fought in the hearts of men—one of love and one of hate.”
Baffled, Ghost asks her, “And which one wins?” Moon responds, “That which you feel the most!” The Vikings mercilessly torture and slaughter the Indians they catch. But Chief Pathfinder, whose hands and feet are bound to Scandinavian stallions about to quarter and mutilate him, tells Ghost, “If you cannot win by your strength alone, then use their strength to win.” With tremendous fighting skills combined with detailed knowledge of the surrounding terrain, Ghost becomes the avenging seeker of justice for his chosen people, resolving his internal conflict as he feels profound connection with his tribesmen.
It is so today, that our leaders in business, religion and political governance should appreciate and know the surrounding terrain of this nation and nurture every child born within these lands. How else will they fight for our people against brutal foreign white invaders that seek to dominate, and who massacre and rape our women and children without thought? How else can they muster the courage to trek the correct, if hard, path in the quest for good governance? How else can they make the right choices and discern who the people are that they must serve?
By Eric F. Mallonga
‘Pathfinder’
PATHFINDER” is the cinematic account of a young Norse boy, son of a cruel warrior, abandoned at a time when marauding Vikings roamed the world to conquer American lands 500 years before Christopher Columbus even discovered the American continent. When the fragile Norse boy is left behind after his warrior clan shipwrecks on North America’s Eastern shores, he is found by the wife of an Indian chieftain, who wishes to raise the child as her own. She submits the decision to the tribal elders, who want to abandon him in the freezing open seas because they fear that the child may grow up to be as brutal and inhumane as his gargantuan Viking forebears. The Indian elders condemn the Norsemen as monsters for genocidal atrocities. But the chieftain’s wife sobers them, “If you leave this child out in the cold to die, who is the monster then?”
Despite his lineage, the boy is raised by the very Indians his kinsmen set out to destroy, and is named “Ghost” for his fair complexion and golden hair.
Haunted by the past
When he grows up, he meets other strong Indian warriors from neighboring villages. One tribe “People of the Dawn” are headed by Chief Pathfinder, who calls a meeting of young warriors to be marked with red paint on their forehead. As Ghost is being marked, Chief Pathfinder tells the circle of Indians, “He has not earned the right to be here.” Then he forewarns Ghost, “You are still haunted by the demons of your past. You should first find out who you are.” Keenly aware of racial differences, Ghost cannot seem to cast his past aside, experiencing a moral dilemma anent his sense of belonging, caught within two realities—his birth origins and his life in this New World.
As the Vikings return to stage another barbaric raid on his unsuspecting village, Ghost brings his young Indian sister to scout forests along the shorelines as he forages alone in the mountains to hunt down animals. His sister is ambushed by the Vikings, and chased back to her home. Then the Vikings plunder, pillage and massacre the Indians, sparing no man, woman or child. Ghost hears the Viking horns announcing the Norsemen’s victory.
Slaughter of infants
As he arrives at his ravaged home, he finds his sister’s doll and the mutilated bodies of his adoptive parents. He cries out in anguish at the cruelty of his Nordic forebears, haunted by the gruesome images of his past as he witnessed his Viking father beheading Indian toddlers when Ghost refuses his father’s order to slaughter the infants.
In this hauntingly beautiful action-adventure movie depicted as part ghost story and part folktale, the ancient mythical legend of the blonde Viking warrior leading Indian tribes against ravaging Norsemen begins. Its graphic violence is blurred in dreamlike cinematic quality, tempered by veiling gruesome, bloody details in gorgeous dark and smoky palette of bluish green hues as the now grown up Norse warrior wages a personal vendetta to stop the trail of death and destruction left by the Vikings. Its horrific scenes are filled with stunningly eerie shots effortlessly balancing just the right levels of shadow and light. Utilizing snow-covered landscapes as a backdrop for the massacres of Indians, the Norsemen, in heavy battle gear and leather-faced masks, are magnified as heartless killers, devoid of humanity on a ravenous quest to kill innocents, without any reason for their heartless actions. In this courageous choice to venture into historical territory not much explored before, the lone Viking warrior forges his own path as his destiny is revealed and his identity reclaimed. Seeking revenge for his people’s massacre, he treasures within his bosom the Indian doll owned by his younger sister. At that moment, he realizes he shares no commonality with the white men, definitely not their brutality even as he remembers speaking their language as a child, and even as he is haunted by the images of his demonic father.
Two battles in the heart
Chief Pathfinder’s daughter, Moon Bloodgood, abandons her tribe to join the man she loves. She feels Ghost’s raging anger at the white men, and tells him, “There are two battles being fought in the hearts of men—one of love and one of hate.”
Baffled, Ghost asks her, “And which one wins?” Moon responds, “That which you feel the most!” The Vikings mercilessly torture and slaughter the Indians they catch. But Chief Pathfinder, whose hands and feet are bound to Scandinavian stallions about to quarter and mutilate him, tells Ghost, “If you cannot win by your strength alone, then use their strength to win.” With tremendous fighting skills combined with detailed knowledge of the surrounding terrain, Ghost becomes the avenging seeker of justice for his chosen people, resolving his internal conflict as he feels profound connection with his tribesmen.
It is so today, that our leaders in business, religion and political governance should appreciate and know the surrounding terrain of this nation and nurture every child born within these lands. How else will they fight for our people against brutal foreign white invaders that seek to dominate, and who massacre and rape our women and children without thought? How else can they muster the courage to trek the correct, if hard, path in the quest for good governance? How else can they make the right choices and discern who the people are that they must serve?