Sunday, April 20, 2025 – It’s BOTH Easter Sunday and the last day of Passover.
It’s for all the people that believe in this!
YAY, says 8-year-old me. Because in those days, only Easter got talked about in pop culture. The best we Jewish kids got was maybe a mention at the end of a local newscast but usually not. Meanwhile, that week in school there was the painting of Easter eggs and sometimes the appearance of a large bunny.
Needless to say, the significance of the eggs, the bunny and the holiday itself was never explained.
Of course, I did know a little about Passover. It was a holiday where you ate matzoh – a bland tasting flatbread – and celebrated (Note: Well, sort of…) because centuries ago the Angel of Death “passed over” the homes of Jews, who were once again fleeing their neighborhoods in terror because bad people were trying to kill us.
Sigh
We were always fleeing somewhere and often we got caught. But not all the time. This day we got away with our lives and whatever it was we were being hunted down for, in this case the imagined crime of simply being ourselves.
Imagine being hunted down for no apparent reason other than something someone else makes up, or assumes, about who you really are. Hard to believe, right?
I simply cannot imagine!
Meanwhile Christ, who was said to be a Jew (Note: I learned this to my great surprise a few years later) was, according to Christianity, literally resurrected on Easter Sunday, after being murdered by… well, let’s not get into that.
We’ll just leave it at that
Anyway, so this year the confluence of both days means t’s a celebration for… both sides?
Oh, who knows because obviously there are more than those raised Jewish and Christian in the world. A lot more. I mean, even atheists count, right?
I’m not an observant Jew and my husband is certainly not an observant Catholic. At all. Yet when you’re raised with religion it somehow becomes a part of you culturally, no matter how much you try to ignore it. An imprint on your early soul that every so often surfaces in quite unexpected ways.
Recently, I realized that for both of us it will sometimes rear its head in…. kindness and understanding.
Just call me Katie!
Isn’t that weird?
Perhaps not.
All those stories of suffering or being chased for no reason other than who you are – when I consider it the best I can say is that what we both took away from all that indoctrinating dogma was… empathy.
Not sure that was the plan.
You need a hug
And maybe being gay at a time when it wasn’t so cool to be, is what really helped with that.
On the other hand, God – or whatever you imagine her/him/they to be, works in mysterious ways, right?
Which is to say, on this rare day when two different religions simultaneously celebrate survival, it might be a good time to consider the value of understanding and empathy for those less fortunate than ourselves.
You got this!
To honor those who live by that mantra.
And to be very, very, very suspect of anyone who does not.
Not from Trump metaphors in art generally or in movie sequels specifically. Even if all you want is a good summer film.
Of course, this also means there is no running from the news of the day, even if you don’t care a whit about the future generally or the human species specifically.
Stay with me… I’m about to get there
You might think you can turn it off by reading a classic novel and transporting yourself into another world. But try it. Chances are there will be some authoritarian figure somewhere bellowing belligerently from the rafters about what’s good for you, your neighborhood or your country in a voice you want to stab to death at any given moment. This being might be the voice of a dictator but, trust me, it can also be your parent, a friend or even your own inner voice.
Sure, I could be talking about just me but, truly, I don’t think so. When one lives in extreme circumstances one unfortunately finds resonance everywhere – and often in the most unlikely of places.
This weekend I went to a Writer’s Guild screening of War for the Planet of The Apes.
GURLLLL
Well, why not?
Sure, it’s the NINTH film of the Apes series, I don’t like sequels and reboots generally and, more specifically, I missed the last two. But I did read some synopses to catch up and there were the stellar written and word of mouth reviews for this new one
I heard it’s fantastic!, related a good friend who spoke to a good friend who knew someone who saw it.
Jeez, did you read this? It’s a rave, yelled my husband across the room over breakfast and our printed newspaper this past Friday morning. An eschewer of movie sequels generally and franchise action films specifically, I got the sense if he wasn’t working on a deadline to finish his new book he might have even joined me and paid the price of admission at a real movie theatre to see it.
And it doesn’t even have Dr. Zaius!
For the NINTH Planet of the Apes movie???? Yes. As I said, we all need our fantasy escapes – unless of course our backs are up against the wall with work and we have discipline. Well, one of us has to.
Besides, if I didn’t go to the new Apes film I would have missed:
Where to begin…
Woody Harrelson ordering droves of shackled apes to BUILD A WALL to keep all the bad guys out.
Metaphorical strong man father figures who stick by their families at all costs and lash out when their first-born sons are threatened, mutilated and/or killed. (Note: So be careful out there on Twitter).
Well… he would if it were Ivanka
Whole tribes of people willing to follow a certifiably CRAZY GUY because times are tough, he talks a good game and seems to have some sort of vague plan that will save them.
Of course, this could just be me reading into the movie but, truly, I don’t think so.
By the way, know you are reading no Apes snob here. The original Planet of The Apes was one of my favorite films as a child because it confirmed all of my worst prepubescent fears about the future of the planet. Even back then I knew we were probably doomed and the best that I could hope for is that some hot guy in a loincloth who looked like a youngish Charlton Heston would take pity on me and “save” me. (Note: This was well before I was aware of his politics, not that this would have mattered to my 12 year old self).
OK well I was looking at his other “guns” #shameless
After the screening of the new Apes film the director/co-screenwriter Matt Reeves spoke to a room full of us writers and related how he wanted to marry a mythic story with the technology of the day in creating the reality of the apes. Well, fair enough, I thought, even if at 142 minutes it all felt a bit overwrought and Woody Harrelson’s nutsy bald-headed villain reminded me too much of Marlon Brando’s Col. Kurtz in Apocalypse Now without the sick wit. Or it all evoked a type of Bridge Over The River Kwai 2 with simians. Or The Ten Commandments without the presence of God or Charlton Heston – at any age.
I’ll keep the leopard clad Edward G. Robinson though #fabulous
But then Mr. Reeves made the mistake too many of us do when referring to our work – he began to explain it. He actually called his film as a “Darwinian biblical epic” and noted he screened the movies Apocalypse Now, The Ten Commandments and Bridge Over the River Kwai for inspiration. Oh, he did also mention The Outlaw Josey Wales, which I never saw, and now I guess probably won’t have to.
Sorry Clinty #stillanemptychair
All of this is to say, the difference between movie and real life auteurs these days is that the real life ones feel no need to truthfully explain themselves. We get codified messages from The Trump Of It All like build a wall and my (39 YEAR OLD) son is a good boy but not a lot of honest reflection about how he (It?) got to the decisions he made or why he made them. In fact, none.
And so far it’s working.
This should be a lesson for every movie director and writer out there. The moment you begin explaining what you do and why you do/did it is the precise time where you can begin to sew the seeds of your own downfall in the eyes of your audience. At least in the world we live in nowadays. Or, well, my world. A world from which there is no escape – even on a 2000 plus square foot movie screen.
or… RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!
Though —
You (I?) might want to hang on to these results just in from a new Washington Post/ABC News poll. The Trump Of It All’s approval rating has just dropped six points to 36% from its previous 42% in April. Its/His disapproval rating has also risen 5 points to 58%. These are levels only reached once before: by George W. Bush near the end of his second term – after the economy crashed.
Yes, this is a slim, slim lifeline but is probably better than what you’ll get anywhere else. Of course, this could be just me but, truly, I don’t think so.
SPECIAL NOTE: We will be taking a brief stay-cation next week and notesfromachair will return in two weeks. During that time, our beloved Holly, the editor, caption writer and image chooser of all things notes will be giving birth to her second child – better known as Sam’s sibling – and we can’t do any of this without her. Or choose not to. Though why explain any further.
notes from a chair 