Feras Werr

*Thoughts and reflections on a series I just saw.

Iria’s (The heroine) final monologue in the final episode of “Gundam : Requiem for Vengeance”
"The deployment of the EFF mobile Suits changed the course of the war. Zeon forces were driven completely out of Europe and Asia. All I wanted was to go home and be with my son. But I have seen firsthand how this war has forced children to become soldiers. How could I leave, knowing that more will suffer this fate? I joined the Zeon remnant in Africa, where the battles against the Federation still raged. What I found there: those with no home to return to. Soldiers consumed by hatred, seeking revenge for the fallen. Those who dreamed of dying with glory on the battlefield. But the desert will not be my grave. For as long as there is a chance to give children a future without war, I will fight."

I beseech Everyone to watch this series. It is available on Netflix. I just finished it and it is a beautiful 3d graphic series. It is the second time I watch a 3d graphic series. In both times I enjoyed what I saw tremendously as they were excellently directed to suit teenagers and adults. Within it is a beautiful message for our humanity. Gundam is totally a science fiction depiction of a vicious bloodcurdling war between humans in the future. Zeon soldiers from space are fighting with the confederate forces on Earth. It is a total dark look into the future of a humanity driven by rivalry, hatred and a war fueled by unstoppable vengeance. We meet in the first episode the heroine Iria, the captain of the red wolves team, which drive powerful giant Zakus (mobile suits). Zakus are powerful giant armed military robots that are called when necessary to protect the military convoys of the Zeon forces as they move on earth from the confederate attacks. As the episodes follow the red wolves meet a terrifying enemy mobile suit called Gundam with weapons that tear their zakus and cut through their strong iron like a knife through a slice of cake. Some of the red wolves die as they try to escape to safety after their squadron gets torn apart by their new enemy. The Gundam throughout the series threatens their every move as they try to escape its lethal weapons. Despite the harshness at hand, and as the scenes follow, we learn that the war isn’t the only calamity that causes Iria severe pain. Within the depths of her heart she does severely mourn the death of her comrades as she was the captain in command of her unit. However a son she left behind to join Zeon’s army renders her in tears from time to time as well. We see her remember him several times as she hurries through our war torn hell earth has become, trying to reach in the first few episodes safety. Despite that fact of being a faithful soldier to her army, we gradually feel that she is fighting another battle within the greater battle she is captivated in. She just fervently tries to stay alive to see her son again.

Soon She reaches a safe base and gets a new mission from a high ranking general she finally meets. Iria is given the mission to infiltrate a confederate enemy base and bring back a Gundam or mobile suite so the Zeon units can study its weak points and turn the tides of the war they are losing. Iria with new recruits accept the challenge and do partially succeed in infiltrating the enemy base disguised in their enemy’s military suits. However their cover gets blown very easily. But what was noteworthy is that she finally discovers that the real pilot of the Gundam is only a young boy. Part of her team gets discovered by the confederates which makes the soliders of the base sound a general alarm. She is forced to hurry towards a mobile suit to accomplish her mission and escape along with her comrades. She bumps into confederate soldiers on her way with a young boy, making her fall down. As she stands up the young boy stops her, returning to her a locket that fell from her, and that has the picture of her son in it. This fact moves her tremendously as she sees her son in him that she left behind. A brief vicious clash erupts with the Gundam before she is forced to escape her mobile suite, and flee to an airport with what is left of her unit, to fly to the safety of their space station. However, faced by confederate fire she asks the general permission to distract them with a Zaku they manage to drag with them. The general in charge consents and we see a powerful clash between her and the Gundam. During the Clash she tries to speak to the boy controlling it, attempting to convince him to stop the fight with her. As he blames them for the war their worlds are in she reminds him that she was the woman he returned the locket to. He stops as she convinces him to stop fighting, and to cooperate with her in saving lives, and stopping the war. However another warrior with a Zaku from the forces of Zeon approaches him and strikes the Gudnam in revenge for his comrade that he lost by the Gundam’s lethal weapon. Iria screams in total refusal to the boy’s death, as we see her compassion as a mother move tremendously within her.

Despite being caught in this hellish war between her forces and the confederates. Despite the boy fighting and butchering her squadron. The fact that he was a boy probably trying to survive the war moved her tremendously. We see a heartbroken heroine who feels that the ongoing war only succeeds in fueling hatred, vengeance and brutality in both sides. Iria feels that these wars turn children into warriors who only learn to fight to survive their cruelty and viciousness. Iria continues in the last episode to fight the battle with Zeon but only with the purpose of reaching space to be re-united with her son. After the incident with the Gundam she pursues another noble goal; to end this war to give children on both sides a future without war and its brutal massacres.

The fact that Iria saw her son in that poor boy that fought with her enemies moved me deeply. I felt there is a message that this six episode series hold. It’s the fact that as much as we harden our hearts as humans and fight, as much as we try to solve our problems with war and bloodshed. We will never overcome the fact that we are all human beings, and that our humanity is stronger than our momentary feelings of vengeance; that our humanity is stronger than the cruel missiles and gun bullets we target each other with and shed our blood with. As much as we recklessly fight, kill, massacre each other with our weapons, there will come a time that we will still see the humanity that guns and weapons will never be able to kill inside us. We are all humans and it is our true responsibility to give our children a future without war and inherited hatred from our present generations.

To all the people that are fighting in Russia and Ukraine. If we take some of the blood-soaked earth from a battle field in your countries, can we distinguish whose blood soaked it…was it from a Russian or Ukrainian soldier? For all the people that fought the vicious wars between Palestine and Israel over the past 75 years can we distinguish which blood soaked those holy grounds…was it Palestinian blood or Jewish blood? Couldn’t the two-state solution have saved the lives of thousands from both sides? For all the people that are about to begin that fascist regime in the White House haven’t you learned from the millions that lost their lives in World War II between the Allies and the fascist powers? Isn’t it true that forgiveness and peace are heavens our children will inheret from us for their future? Is it too much for us to give our children such a beautiful heaven to live in?

“Gundam : Requiem for Vengeance” is available with Arabic subtitles on Netflix.