There were a few songs that came to mind right away when I saw the theme of this week's contest.
I even looked around the internet for a bit, looking to find some movies I hadn't thought of maybe, hoping not to forget this one epic one.
But how could I ever forget?
In the end, the songs that came to mind at first, didn't make the cut.
Although most, if not all, of them had some kind of impact on my life.
Some more than others, but an impact nevertheless.

But before I tell you my absolute winner of a song that was used in a movie, I feel that I will also have to let you in on my train of thought of how I came to this particular one (and yes, it's only one this time). So without further ado, let's get into it, and maybe you'll find yourself catching a glimpse of the way my mind works sometimes...

Source Made in LunaPic

My search for the perfect music piece

The first song that came to mind right away came from a movie that I've mentioned a few times already in my short 'career' as a CineTV contest participant.
Stuck in the Middle with you, by Stealers Wheel was quite fitting for the scene it was in, in the movie Reservoir Dogs.
Michael Madsen dancing to the song while... spoiler spoiler in this scene was as funny as it was grueling to watch for me at the time.
And every time thereafter.
But it didn't make the cut.

Then a second song popped up in my head. One that had an impact, and has been my life song, if you can call it that. Not sure how else to call it.
It'd come to me in my darkest days, and it would give me strength somehow.
Funny how these things can go.
Anyway, the song I'm talking about it The Eye of the Tiger by Survivor from Rocky III.
I loved Sylvester Stallone.
I loved Rocky.
And I absolutely adored this song!
It's been popping up in my life during gym classes, was a long time hit on the radio, and these last few years, it'll come on every now and then.
Especially around the New Year, when radio stations play their top 100 or top 1000 of all times...
Did it make the cut?
Nope, sorry to disappoint you.
It didn't.

Ennio Morricone's epic tunes in Western Movies, especially The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, popped up somewhere down the line. Also wasn't it...

My all time favorite movie song

My father used to listen to classical music for as long as I can remember, on a regular basis. My mother wasn't too fond of it, unless it was something a bit on the lighter side, which most pieces really aren't.
This one isn't really either.

However, I never understood my father's love for this genre.
I didn't quite feel it like he did. He could just sit there for hours, with his eyes closed, and take it all in. He always had a slight smile on his face. Sometimes he would whistle with certain melodies. This was something he was very good at.
I remember because...well, who is good at whistling? He was! He could make a tune sound like something truly beautiful with his whistling.
Strange fact about my father.
And at the same time a beautiful memory.

Because of him, I know many pieces of classical music.
Even the horrible ones that made me want to throw the record player out of the window.
But I had never heard of this one, until I watched the movie...
And I didn't understand what my father, and so many others,
felt when they listened to classical pieces.
Until this one.

Adagio for Strings, in the Movie Platoon

Adagio for Strings was conducted by Samuel Barber. He wrote it around 1936, so in that regard it is not a classical piece like most others we know.
Not like Mozart's, or Beethoven's, or Chopin...

This may be the reason why I never heard it in the house I grew up in.
My father was born in 1931, and would have been 5 years old when Barber wrote the piece.
I doubt it would have been played anywhere in Amsterdam back then, just before the war.
However, it was broadcast in the US around that time, Barber being American,
and it became an instant hit there back then.

The original piece isn't so much of a song really, as there's no singing in it.

It's a classical piece, which is quite unusual for me.
The string orchestra version was what was used in the movie.
There is also a choral version, which sounds even more dramatic. My favorite by far.

The Absolute Senselessness of War

Spoiler alert: If you haven't seen the movie, and you don't know the scene, stop here. Although I can't imagine anyone who doesn't know it. Of course, that's also what people thought when they asked me if I liked the Star Wars movies...

The song was played right at the end of the movie. I believe it actually plays throughout the whole movie in some slighter way but it is the ending that made it something that had such an impact on me, and undoubtedly on many others.

The scene where Sgt. Elias, played by the brilliant Willem Dafoe, drops to his knees after unsuccessfully trying to make his way to the helicopter that would fly his fellow soldiers out of enemy territory,
while the song is playing in the background is just heart wrenching.
The very first time I watched it, tears just kept running down my cheeks,
and there was nothing I could do about it!
Just be glad I wasn't in the movie theatre...
And it happened again every time since!

For me it wasn't so much the death of a character in a movie that got to me.
It was more that this particular scene showed in so many ways, the senselessness of war.
The killings.
The hate for people that have never laid eyes on each other before.
Mankind's cruelty that can present itself at any given time,
and without notice.
The absolute senseless deaths.
Women
Children
All those sacred lives lost, for nothing.
Only because some authorities decide to start a war for their own gain, and nothing else.
Politics. Power. Oil. Money.
Whatever it is, it has nothing to do with any of us.
All those human beings used as canon fodder, killed in the name of 'freedom.' Freedom from what?
And for whom?
Let's ask all the victims how free we really are!
Manipulation by the powers that be, to get what they want, is all it ever was.
Nothing more, and nothing less. History is ALWAYS written by the victors.

Conclusion

Oliver Stone did a brilliant job at making a movie that would have people think about the consequences of war. Not that we've learned much from it...
His choice for this masterpiece by a relatively 'new' composer couldn't have been any better.
Every time I hear it, the scene comes back to mind,
and I can feel it to my very core.
Without actual words,
it touches me in ways I never thought a song could ever do.
Especially a classical one.
Even the Tiesto version.😆
I've always responded quite emotionally to some music.
Especially in certain movies.
Some more than others, of course.

But this one?

It
absolutely
Blew
Me
Away!!

With this said, I will leave you with the one movie clip
that did all that!
Enjoy!