9/11: Out of the Blue

[tipou]

May 17, 2009 9:15:27 GMT eleanor said:

I watched 'Out of the Blue' last night...superb work by Rufus. How does this man do it? He captivated me for the whole film...the anxiety and torture in his face and voice when the worst of it was described....it made me feel as if I were there.
Sublime work Rufus, yet another deeply affecting performance.

if EH attracted me to the pretty face and the name, this is THE performance that made me become a fan.

[kiwidi]

I have just seen this on YouTube. What a performance! Rufus is so bloody good in this. A fantastic actor and when he looks directly at the camera . . . Oh I wish I could put into words what I think of this so much better than I have. It had me in awe. I found myself falling for him all over again.

[kissmekate]

I watched it too and was truly shaken by his powerful performance, his gorgeous voice and the pictures that still remain shocking nine years later. The piece had me sobbing viciously at the end, not least due to Rufus.

[dippyponge]

I had to come and comment on this because although I have watched this before, my parents had never. I showed them it a couple of days ago and I have never seen them so quite and so thoughtful.
Non of us here, in my family or my friends for that matter were personally involved in this terrible day.
We were shocked of course, it was an awful thing and it shocked the world...but as of all the things we see on the news that have no affect on our lives, we soon forget.

What my parents said to me after seeing this poem by Rufus was exactly how I felt.
Seeing this Poem moved me (and my parents it seems) so much more than I expected. Seeing the events of that tragic day through the eyes of the business man, a father, a son and a friend, made it so much more real. The words became real, it wasn't a film or a story, it happened. The poet responsible for this is a genius and Rufus' performance was out of this world and because of this I understand a bit more of how people felt. And yes I cried. For all who died and for all that lost somebody.

[bearnoevil]

I watched this poem a little while ago. I have watched it about ten times since!! The complexity of the poem, which is beautifully written, but also the simplicity of it. When he tells us about the little things on his desk, it shows how important the little things in life are, and makes the poem all the more poignant and piercing. It is a long poem, which normally makes them boring, but this is so beautifully constructed and read, that it is not boring in the least!! I was only very young when this tragedy happened, so I never realised what the impact was, and how awful it was for the people! My heart now goes out to every one of those people who lost someone in that terrible event, which most likely could have been avoided...

The acting... By GOSH it was incredible... It was beautiful, perfect, complex and simple. He suited the poem just incredibly, and made every word that he said penetrate right through to my heart like a spear. He did the changing of characters highly impressively, and by the middle of the poem I was in floods of tears.. He put so much emotion into that stunning poem that he was not Rufus... He was one of those people in that terrible disaster.. One of them that survived, telling the story of lives lost, lives ruined and showing the bloody mindedness of some people! There are no words enough to describe how well Rufus acted in that... It was one phenomenal piece of acting though...

Alex

[kissmekate]

Totally agree with you, Alex!

The little things on the desk finally broke all floodgates when they were repeated towards the end of the poem. I wasn't just crying but sobbing really hard.

[bearnoevil]

Jan 3, 2011 10:11:26 GMT kissmekate said:

The little things on the desk finally broke all floodgates when they were repeated towards the end of the poem. I wasn't just crying but sobbing really hard.

Oh yes, me too... It was so small, yet such a huge part of the poem..

[francesca]

The wonderful writing too
"What else is a plane but a flying bomb "
The bit that really moved me, heart rendingly so, was when he is talking to his child ,

Call home .It's daddy,ask Mummy to come to the phone . get mummy, tell mummy to come to the phone .Just do as you're told

repeated again and again , as you have to do with a young child

When I first saw it I contacted Channel 5 and the company who made the film
Channel 5 with all the charm of TV channels did not reply. The film company were polite but had no idea if it would be broadcast again Shame that this award winning film is not shown again
Wonderful work by Rufus and Simon Armitage
I

[kissmekate]

This is not available on DVD, is it? (Never actually remembered to look but I guess I'd have stumbled about it when searching for Rufus Sewell films.)

Jan 3, 2011 17:49:11 GMT francesca said:

Call home .It's daddy,ask Mummy to come to the phone . get mummy, tell mummy to come to the phone .Just do as you're told

repeated again and again , as you have to do with a young child

This gave me a big lump in my throat. The urgency in his voice and the tragedy of a young kid unaware that this will be the very last time to hear his father speak (makes me cry just to write that...)

[francesca]

Kissmekate. I don't think it is available on disc . I know it wasn't a little while back because I searched everywhere I could think of.
I have burned the youtube sections to disc but it isn't the same is it?

[kissmekate]

Jan 3, 2011 19:13:38 GMT francesca said:

I have burned the youtube sections to disc but it isn't the same is it?

Hmm, not really ... but better than nothing.

Maybe if Zen makes Rufus really really really famous, they will bring back some older stuff on DVD?!

[bearnoevil]

Jan 3, 2011 19:26:41 GMT kissmekate said:

Jan 3, 2011 19:13:38 GMT francesca said:

I have burned the youtube sections to disc but it isn't the same is it?

Hmm, not really ... but better than nothing.

Maybe if Zen makes Rufus really really really famous, they will bring back some older stuff on DVD?!

Oh let us hope so!!!! I wanted it on dvd too... I've downloaded it from you tube... But I want it in good quality and on dvd more than anything!!!

[megagem]

**originally posted this to a different thread, but felt it would be more at home here**

This film is beyond anything I have ever seen. Definite tear-jerker as it makes you re-live the day; and the way Rufus narrates the poem it makes you believe you're there in either one of the towers going through what we can only guess those poor people went through. I was 12 and at school when it all happened, and was incredibly naive about what was happening until I saw the plane hit tower #2, and then watching both towers fall. Because what you see at that age (if you're like me), are two huge buildings fall and death-count predictions being made. At 12, you don't put yourself in the shoes belonging to the people making up that huge number. You immediately assume that either the towers were empty, or that everyone managed to get out OK. The teachers at my school also wanted to protect us from seeing too much (there were much younger kids watching with us).
I saw Out of the Blue about 3 weeks ago and my eyes were finally fully opened. Over the years, of course, I gained more of an understanding of what all had happened, and all the horrible decisions the people in the towers had to make to save themselves from their fate; but this knocked it out of the park for me. I honestly think it's Rufus' best work, bar none. It's absolutely incredible and how he didn't get any sort of award for this is an absolute atrocity. This took me from fangirl to serious follower. He earned an incredible amount of respect from me the day I watched it, and I'll carry his performance with me the rest of my life. This is truly him at his finest.

[kissmekate]

They couldn't have chosen anyone more apt to do this. That wistful look of regret when he's on the phone to the child he knows he'll never see again is enough to break my heart, and that's just one of many painfully beautiful moments.

[zenina]

In order to be able to at least listen to it, I've downloaded the audio on my MP3 - I also have a hard time to watch it without dissolving into tears. Listening to it is not easy either because the pictures are burned into my brain and the words of the poem and Rufus reading/performing them are even more intense, I think.