The film, Theater Of War is one of the most captivating movies that have brought about rationalization of different people based on the analysis of the movie itself. It employs rehearsal process of a play production in interviewing and investigating the ideas, war, and politics of the German playwright Bertolt Brecht. The film features another unbelievable film, Mother Courage, which was acted or performed in the 1930s. The Mother Courage is about the woman in Iraq during the war that used to sell different types of goods, like liquor, to the soldiers. She becomes childless as the ongoing war claims her three sons. However, the dedicated mother is not easily shaken by the loss. She still holds her wagon like a coffin or a coffer.
1. Please address what type of genre of theatre you feel best describes this body of work and support your thoughts?
The film falls under the genre of tragicomedy. Tragicomedy is a theatrical genre that has a tragic tale but ends in a humorous manner. The film tells more about the story of the Iraq war in the 1930s and its effects such as death of several individuals, among them are the three sons of a mother. The movie is full of war symbols such as bombings, plane crashes, and killing of people as evidenced by the number of skulls shown. Most people are murdered, including the soldiers, in the battlefield using some of the most dangerous weapons. Besides that, buildings are brought down by explosions leaving thousands of Iraqi residents dead and others homeless. War is also evidenced by the interview of the survivors such as novelist John Canter and several other scholars. The war survivors and scholars learn many lessons from the war and they are definitely ready to avoid any further mistakes. They also learned more concerning their government. This is very important to any nation that has future developmental dreams to attain. With the mother in the featured part, The Mother Courage displays a lot of strength that many would definitely lack when they lose their loving relatives. She is strong and shows little emotions concerning her sons’ death in the war. She continues with her business as normal handling and taking care of her customers (soldiers). This makes the mood of the movie a little bit less despondent as one would expect in such a situation.
2. Compare current events, which you feel, are similar to the lives that can be compared to the Mother Courage and Her Children?
Mother Courage and Her Children can be compared to several events today. To begin with, it is important to note that the movie employs allegorical and symbolic devices in its representation of today’s society. Mother Courage represents persistent individuals in the today’s societies. She endures the loss of all her three sons but shows little emotion and continues with her business to earn a living. She can be compared to people in the society who are determined to attain the goals of developing their societies in different aspects including maintenance of peace and political stability. She does not give up even after what she encounters but fights harder, earning herself a living. This represents optimistic minds in the today’s world. They can be compared to the events where most of patriotic individuals lose their loved ones because of their struggle to uplift the society in terms of development. Their lives may be claimed by the evil minded and egocentric individuals whose aim or targets are to benefit themselves not caring of what happens to the third party, neighbor, or society as a whole.
3. Pick a character from the play and compare them to someone you personally know and describe why they are similar.
Mother Courage is one of the characters that I would like to compare with somebody whom I find to possess exactly the same features. At a tender age of seven, I knew of a lady who had a strong Christian belief and helped many people in her neighborhood. Her name was Mrs. Anderson, who despite the difficulties she underwent living in the hurricane stricken region of New Orleans proceeded to bring other victims together to petition the government on the poor response to the disaster. A kindergarten teacher by profession, Mrs. Anderson has been quite categorical in her indirect attack on the government’s laxity towards helping hurricane victims. One of the tools she has employed effectively is drama. She wrote scripts to the plays that were performed within the kindergarten, with the help of which she was exposing all the evils of corrupt leaders, the rich, and other top ranked government officials. Just like Mother Courage, in this context, Mrs. Anderson is portrayed as somebody who informs, in a sarcastic or rather mockery manner, the mistreatments of poor people. Her plays, which she has refused to let go out of her kindergarten, reveal cynicism and idealism of different people within the society. Her message is indirectly addressed to children and concerned with uplifting fairness and justice among all members. To her, people affected by hurricane and any other disaster deserve better attention, not neglect.
4. Would you like or not like to see a production of this play in your local theatre?
Yes, I would like to see this play in my local theatre. The first reason is that the production of Mother Courage can allow many people to watch it thus giving them opportunity to understand and be motivated by the described events. Secondly, it is obvious that when a production is made in the known context, it’s easy to relate to it. Such feeling of attachment created opens up the imagination of people who can work to make the society a better place to live in.
5. Why or why not would this plays message be important for your community?
This play would have a lot of importance to the members of my community due to its relevance to several people within my residential society. First, it will teach them that for a society to proceed in development, people must endure some challenges. The challenges should be to strengthen them like what Mother Courage went through during the war. Secondly, the movie will rebuke the undesirable deeds such as injustices and corruption among different people, most of whom are leaders, within the society. Finally, the movie will be of great importance since it will strengthen the societal members and make them bold enough to denounce any unnecessary unfair practices by their leaders.
Theater of War is therefore one of the few movies that aim at bettering the conditions of various societies by eradicating the evils and encouraging fairness and other positive and developmental deeds. It is a movie worth watching by any right minded citizen of any nation across the globe.