“Am I unstuck in time?” Is the line that begins my memoir about the silver Age of comics, which will be published this year. I took it, or stole it, from Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse-Five” an influential book for me and made into movie in 1972. It was released on Blu-ray this week. I saw it last night.
The book was not without huge controversy, with many school districts and libraries banning it for discussing sexuality, violence in war and being (no-joke) “anti-Christian” because of the way the main character, who becomes a pastor in the army during WW2, sees God and Christianity. And life and death. The movie, which is an hour and forty five minutes, cannot possibly get into every issue the book does, nor can it do as deeply.
You see, Billy Pilgrim (Michael Sacks) is unstuck in time. He lives his life not linear in time as we all think we do, but random moment by random moment. He is “transported” from his time in the service, captured by the Nazis and being in Dresden when it was bombed, from being a business man in the 1950s, to his death. Most important is that he is transported to the planet of Tralfamador where he lives and loves with the very sexy Valerie Perrine. The narrator (who in the book was Kurt Vonnegut) keeps us posted, but the events do not unfold in sequence, after all Billy is unstuck in time.
This concept captures an important point. That is, while our lives are linear, each event each moment is special and should be lived to the fullest. And, in some ways, maybe the events in our lives are not as connected as we think. I loved the book and I like the movie. But if you haven’t, I recommend reading the book first! I give the movie a grade of B.
The blu-ray movie (not 4k) was given a 4k restoration, but it looks good, not great, and often has a great deal of grain. The subdued colors and focus is perhaps to give the movie a surreal look. I did find it distracting at times. The sound is mono and is not impressive but works well.
The book ends this way, and it was the first time I heard it. But not the last: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.
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