Currently I am in a dispute with Military Issue, a mail order outfit that sells real cool military stuff (books, videos). That got me to think about mail order versus in person purchasing.  Yes in person is more time consuming (among other things), but there is no question about what is paid for.  A great example is a DVD I picked up years ago.  I am pretty sure I paid a buck and think I got it at Walmart or a Goffstown Discount Place–by the old Sara restaurant.

I brought it for Zulu, an old, old favorite from when TV was a limited and precious resource and when videos meant renting–not buying.  But I watched the second feature Flame Over India with distinct glee.  Memories of late Saturday nights or lazy Sunday afternoons came back–exotic locales, rousing action, oh to travel far and away.  There are still other movies, lost in the deep recesses of my mind, that only viewing will bring back.  I’m pretty sure the costs will be much more than the $1…and I saw Flame over India (Northwest Frontier) going for $12 recently.

A straightforward biopic about a man, Patrice Lumumba, who worked and died to take his people from a colonial bondage to a bright and beautiful future.  The “bright and beautiful” never materialized.  This movie sets the groundwork for why not. Well done biopics show the human side of history–the lonely nights and long nights, the gnawing doubts and the inescapable uncertainties.  Lumumba shows it, warts and all.  Too often African history is largely faceless (Zulu) or more white than black (Black and White in Color), but Lumumba sets the record more on the straight and narrow.