REMEMBER, YOU'RE EVERYWHERE
The 1999 film “Brokedown Palace” was wonderfully choreographed with lead actresses Claire Danes and Kate Beckinsale playing two young ladies on a holiday jaunt to Thailand, hit by a drug-runner who stuffed a stash of drugs into Claire’s knapsack at the airport and how she got busted on the other end, was tried in court for drug-running and sent to jail in a Thailand prison.
It’s a beautiful story about innocents abroad and the international drug-running conspiracy’s use of innocents. But the real beauty of the film was its music behind every scene.
There is the song “Silence,” done by a group called Delerium, that starts with the Latin chant:
“Agnus in excélsis Deo, et in terra pax homínibus bonae voluntátis. Laudámus te, benedícimus te, adorámus te, glorificámus te, grátias ágimus tibi propter magnam glóriam tuam.”
The English translation: “Glory, glory in the heights to God, and on earth peace to men of good will. We praise you, we bless you, we adore you, we glorify you. We give you thanks for your great glory.”
And from there, the song takes off: “Agnus in excélsis Deo, Give me release, witness me. I am outside. Give me peace. Heaven holds a sense of wonder, and I wanted to believe that I'd get caught up when the rage in me subsides. Passion chokes the flower ‘til she cries no more, possessing all the beauty, hungry still for more.”
But the movie’s real piece-de-resistance at the end is Sarah Brightman's "Deliver Me,” followed by “Even When I’m Sleeping” performed by a group called Leonardo’s Bride.
Brightman's voice soars as ever: “Deliver me, out of my sadness, deliver me, from all of the madness, deliver me, courage to guide me, deliver me, strength from inside me.
“All of my life I've been in hiding, wishing there was someone just like you. Now that you're here, now that I've found you, I know that you're the one to pull me through.
“Deliver me, loving and caring, deliver me, giving and sharing. Deliver me, the cross that I'm bearing. All of my life I was in hiding. wishing there was someone just like you. Now that you're here, now that I've found you, I know that you're the one to pull me through. Deliver me, deliver me, oh deliver me.”
It’s a metaphor of true love wanted and offered.
Then there’s “Rock the Casbah” by Solar Twins:
“Now the king told the boogie men, you have to let that raga drop, the oil down the desert way has been shakin' to the top. The sheik, he drove his Cadillac, he went a' cruisnin' down the ville, The muezzin was a' standing on the radiator grille.
“The shareef don't like it. Rock the Casbah, rock the Casbah.”
Then a group called Asian Dub Foundation sings “Naxalite”:
“Brothers and sisters of the soul unite, we are one, indivisible and strong.
They may try to break us, but they dare not underestimate us, they know our memories are long.
“A mass of sleeping villages, that's how they're pitching it -- at least that's what they try to pretend. But check out our history, so rich and revolutionary, a prophecy that we will rise again. Like springing tigers, we encircle the cities. To the future, we will take an oath high up in the mountains, deep in the forest. Our home is the undergrowth. And we must never give up until the land is ours. No, never give in 'til we have taken the power, because, I am just a Naxalite warrior, fighting for survival and equality.”
The film’s most poignant song, “Even When I’m, Sleeping,” beautifully performed by Leonardo’s Bride:
“Don't be confused by my apparent lack of ceremony. My mind is clear. I may be low or miles high off in the distance, I want you near. I love you, even when I'm sleeping. When I close my eyes, you're everywhere.
“And if they take me flying on the magic carpet, see me wave. If our communication fails, I'll reconnect it. I want to rave I love you, even when I'm sleeping.
“When I close my eyes, you're everywhere.
“No matter where the road is leading us, remember, don't be afraid. We have a continent that sometimes comes between us. That's okay. I love you, even when I'm sleeping.
“When I close my eyes, you're everywhere.”
