Music:
see my top 'friends'!
Movies:
"The Pianist" : It's the remarkable (true) story of one man's survival, and chronicles the oppression and destruction of the Jews in Warsaw during the second world war. It's horrifying to be reminded again of what we, as humans, are capable of doing to each other.
"The Lives of Others": the story of a stasi officer in East Berlin, responsible for the surveillance of a writer, and his thawing/transformation.
"Life is Beautiful" :some criticise this film for being too lighthearted in dealing with the Holocaust but they surely miss the point. Humour (says Danny Scheinmann, see "Books" below) is the remarkable way that people have of remaining dignified in the worst of situations. And we can also continue to find and give beauty no matter what else is around us.
Books:
Best book I've ever read was "An Evil Cradling" by Brian Keenan - like the Pianist, in the sense that it's a story of survival - but so much more. The resilience and creativity of Brian Keenan and John McCarthy in captivity - their humour and resourcefulness, are astonishing and say so much about what is possible for us, even under the most appalling of circumstances.
Other favourite books of mine have the same theme - "Wild Swans" by Jung Chang, "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela and the fictional (but based on the true story of the author's grandfather) "Random Acts of Heroic Love" by Danny Scheinmann.
Heroes:
Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Arundhati Roy