58,214: Reflections on the Wall. Notes from the director

"Reflections on The Wall"

Notes about the videotape,

James A. Murray

While shooting 58,214, I lived most of a week with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Most of my videotaping took place in the early mornings, before the crowds arrived.

In those quiet hours, just before sunrise, there's a spirituality present. It's when those 140 slabs of cold, polished black granite feel most like a memorial. And it was in those hours of solitude that I found myself most profoundly moved.

Like the memorial, itself, the video makes no political statement.

Primarily, this video is a visual poem which examines The Wall within the landscape for which it was designed.

I wanted to capture some of the beauty inherent in the design of this absolutely stunning piece of architecture.

     I wanted to show it as a bold, black line slashed into the green earth.

     I wanted to convey the stark geometric elegance of those two outstretched wings of black stone.

     I wanted to capture some of the amusing "tricks of the eye" made possible by the polished surfaces, especially at the vertex.

     I wanted the video to be pleasant to watch, yet also meaningful to viewers who may have a personal link to the Vietnam War.

     I wanted to share with the viewer what I found interesting: that so much life is reflected in The Wall; and that so much of that life is completely oblivious to the names on its surface.

     And, as much as is possible, I wanted the video to show the memorial as I experienced it:

Alone:
at dawn;
with the birds;
a breeze in the trees;
the dew on the grass;
and 58,214 names...
Almost all, a life cut short,
with dreams unfulfilled.

                                Jim Murray
                                James A. Murray
                                Athens, Ohio
                                (March, 1999)

The Wall is aligned with The Washington Monument and The Lincoln Memorial.

Reflections on The Wall.

The designer, Maya Lin, wanted the memorial to be a gash cut into the Earth.

There are tricks of the eye, especially at the apex.

The names are arranged chronologically.

In the morning hours, the monument feels most like a memorial.

Each name, a life cut short with dreams unfulfilled.

Watch 58,214 on your computer in RealVideo
(hosted by Ohio University Telecommunications Center)

Watch 58,214 on Access TV in Athens, Ohio.

Check out the 3-minute VHS tape of 58,214 from the Athens Public Library.