The Cranes Are Flying and the Reality of My Generation

World War II was a mess: a big, terrible, mess. According to the storyline of The Cranes Are Flying, it didn't matter where in the world you were, because it affected everyone no matter the country. 

A happy, vibrant Veronica. Before the war that is...

Veronica, the main character of the film, was a young Russian, girl and carefree at the start of the war. Plus, she was head-over-heels for Borris, her boyfriend. They both fully intended to marry each other. However, once the war started, Borris signed up to join the Russian army, as he thought it was his duty to do so. Sooner that he had originally thought, he was called for and sent to the front lines. Through a sorrowful turn of events, Veronica was unable to see him off. Perhaps this was, in a way, a foreshadowing that in the future, not everything was going to work out. 

Veronica and Borris

As time passed, Veronica waited for any word to come from Boris, a letter, someone with a message, anything. Nothing ever did. She began to lose hope, but she would never allow herself to believe he had died. One day, during an air raid, she grabbed her things from her house and went down to the underground subway. Her parents told her they would follow shortly. However, upon returning to her house, she found that it was destroyed, and her parents with it. Shocked, she is taken in by Borris' family. Borris' cousin, Mark, had always fancied Veronica, but the feelings were never returned. One night, Mark and Veronica are alone in the house. The sirens signaled that an airaid was coming and they should head to safety. Depressed, Veronica made no movements to leave. Mark stayed with her, and during the raid was overcome and abuses her. He and Veronica then get married, but she still does not love him. Bitter and losing hope, Veronica, along with her new family, were evacuated from Moscow. She started helping injured soldiers in the local hospital. Meanwhile, Borris' father found out that Mark, his nephew and Veronica's husband, illegally bought himself an "exemption" from the draft, using his uncle's name and money to get it. Betrayed, he returned home and found a struggling Veronica getting ready to leave for good. He then confronted Mark, sent him away, and told Veronica he understood why she married Mark, and asked her to stay with the family. She does, and still hoped that Borris would return. He didn't. A soldier came to tell the family, and accidentally told Veronica, not realizing that she was Borris' "girl" of whom he deeply loved. Stunned, she grieved the loss, but never really believed it. The movie ends at the end of the war, when all the soldiers were coming back. Veronica went to try to find Borris, and then had to face the reality that he was indeed dead, and would not be returning. 

The Cranes Are Flying is an excellent movie, and has an intriguing story line. However, more importantly, it shows that the soldiers are not the only ones affected by war. Rather, everyone in the country, from the children whose fathers go away, to the loved ones left behind, all suffer the consequences of war. Veronica did not just lose Borris, she lost her family, her house, her pride, and for a while lost all hope and no longer wanted to live. War doesn't just cause a loss of material things, but also turns people emotionally numb. If they cannot move past a war, they will never recover emotionally. In order for people, like the characters in The Cranes Are Flying, to rebuild their lives after a war, they need to move on. Never should they forget, but likewise, never should they remain in the past. 

Analyzing The Cranes Are Flying, I believe it is more of a descriptive film, as opposed to prescriptive. The film doesn't tell you what to think, but it shows and describes the struggles of an innocent bystander of war through a story. It doesn't focus on a General or a soldier, as it could, but rather, just a person who lives in the country that is at war. Veronica's experience was not every Russians' experience of World War II, but it was not unique. She was not the only one who lost a lover due to the war. Many mothers would never again see their sons. Babies would not know their fathers and wives would become widows. This is the reality of war. Even if the country wins, in a way it will also lose. It will lose cities to bombs, and young men to bullets. But, one of the greatest losses in a war is that a countries people will lose their vibrancy of emotion. They will become numb. I believe this is what The Cranes Are Flying says about war. I believe this is the reality of war. 

So What? 

So, how does this apply to today? What difference does this make? Should it make a difference? Can we learn anything from The Cranes Are Flying? I believe we can. I realized a couple things about war, and about my generation. There has always been a war somewhere, as long as I can remember. I was two years old when 9/11 happened. I have grown up knowing about it. I don't remember a world with the Twin Towers. Likewise, I don't remember not having a war in the Middle East. I can recall a Minnesota without a Chick-fil-a, but I cannot remember a world without the Iraq war. It officially began in 2003. I was 4. I couldn't even read, much less understand that our country was going to war. To be completely honest, I don't think the majority of teenagers my age actually realize that WE (America) ARE AT WAR, A REAL WAR. Teenagers have grown up with this. Thus, I believe, unbeknownst to many, we are numbed, hardened, no, we have gotten used to the reality of the pain in the world, but have not known it for ourselves. And as such, we as teenagers, have become hardened against the cries of our fellow humanity. For example, 200+ Nigerian girls my very own age were kidnapped, raped, and being killed by a terrorist group in back in May, a lot of my friends didn't really care, or pay attention. Why? It is not because we aren't the same age, and not entirely because we cannot relate. But, because it is all the same to us. We have stopped caring about it because it is a given. The majority of my peers don't realize that the Iraq war isn't the reason that it happened. They don't even realize how far away they Nigeria and Iraq are geographically. And, quite honestly, it is because we DON'T CARE. Again, why? Because we have grown up with it. Because it is normal, and nothing new. We think we already know everything about it, but we don't. All the terrible things that happen in the world, they have been going on our whole life. So, why should this thing matter? Or this one? Really, truly, it should matter. But, unfortunately, it doesn't to a lot of kids my age (and people older than me, but we aren't talking about them and thats a different issue entirely). This is the reality of growing up with war. This is the reality of my generation. 

Photos of war are normal. They are everywhere, and teenagers have learned
to  just see past them.