OpenF2F Class Notes 9th December (Celeste)***

Writing exercise

Original

I watched a movie named Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk last Sunday. The director of this movie is Ang Lee. He is one of the famous directors in China. He has won the Oscar’s awards two times. This movie is his new work and just got released one week ago.
The movie adapted from a novel with the same name. The whole story was about a soldier named Billy. He joined military when he was 18 years old. Because of the war in Iraq, he had to go to Iraq. Once in a fight, he was very brave to save his brother’s life despite all the life danger. After a fierce fight, finally He killed the Iraqi soldier. But his brother still died. By coincidence, his valiant act was recorded and got aired on TV. So he became a hero in US.
Because one of their brothers sacrificed in the battle, they needed to go back to America to hold funeral. the whole team got one week holiday.
It got so complicated when Billy and other brothers went back to their hometown. The different people had different opinions about these soldiers. Some people thought they were heroes and they were proud of them. Some people were curious about the war in Iraq and they wanted to know what actually happened there. Some people considered that these soldiers wasted their money to have a meaninglesswar.
Billy’s sister wanted him to stay at home. She talked to Billy that she could find a doctor for him who was able to prove that he got PTSD, so that Billy didn’t need go back to Iraq again. Actually Billy also didn’t want to go back, the heroic act was a nightmare to him. From other people’s perspective, he was a hero to save other’s life. But he didn’t think so. He just had to do that in that situation. He was so eager to have a normal life. He wanted to stay at home with his family. He wanted to fall in love with some gorgeous girl. But he was a soldier, he couldn’t do that.
He met a beautiful cheerleader when he and his brothers were invited to participate in a American football match as heroes. Once he saw her, he couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. She was pretty beautiful. When she smiled to him, he felt like the flowers were blooming. That’s wonderful moment. He had a crush on her. The girl was also fascinated by him. In her eyes, he was a super hero. He wanted to escape from the war and could get together with her. So this made him to consider his sister’s advice.
Eventually when he had last chance to make his decision if he should accept the doctor’s help or not. So, he asked this girl if she wanted him to stay in Texas or not. The girl was so shocked to hear him to say that, she answered  him, “you are a hero. How could you have that thought. You are a soldier, you should go back to Iraq.” So, Billy was so disappointed about what the girl said. He felt lonely, he thought the girl just loved the hero. It wasn’t him. So, Billy finally decided to go back to Iraq, he was a soldier so he had to go back. This was the end of the movie.

 

Edited

Last Sunday, I watched a movie named Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk. The director of this movie is Ang Lee. He is one of the famous directors in China. He has won two Oscars. This movie is his new work and just got released one week ago.
The movie was adapted from the novel (The novel was adapted into a movie.) The whole story was about a soldier named Billy. He joined the military when he was 18 years old. Because of the war in Iraq, he was deployed to Iraq. Once in a battle, he was very braveand risked his own life to save his comrade’s/brother’s life despite all the danger. After a fierce combat with an Iraqi soldier, hefinally killed the enemy. But his brother still died. By coincidence, his valiant act was filmed/recorded and got aired on TV. So he became a hero in US.

Because one of the soldiers sacrificed his life in battle, the other soldiers needed to go back to America to hold a/his funeral. The whole team got a one week holiday.
It got so complicated when Billy and the other brothers went back to their hometown. Different people had different opinions about these soldiers. Some people thought they were heroes and they were proud of them. Some people were curious about the war in Iraq and they wanted to know what actually happened there. Some people considered that these soldiers wasted taxpayers’ money to have a meaningless war.
Billy’s sister wanted him to stay home. She told Billy that she could find a doctor for him who was able to prove that he developed PTSD, so that Billy didn’t need to go back to Iraq again.

Actually Billy also didn’t want to go back, the heroic act was a nightmare for him. From others’ perspectives, he was a hero because he risked his life for some else. But he didn’t think so, he thought he was just doing his job. He was so eager to have a normal life. He wanted to stay home with his family. He wanted to fall in love with a gorgeous girl. But he was a soldier, he couldn’t do that.
He and his brothers were invited to an American football match where Billy met a beautiful cheerleader. Once he saw her, he couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. She was pretty beautiful. When she smiled at him, he felt like the flowers were blooming. That was a wonderful moment. He had a crush on her. The girl was also fascinated by him. In her eyes, he was a super hero. He wanted to escape from the war and be with her. So this made him to consider his sister’s advice.

 

TBC

 

Eventually when he had last chance to make his decision if he should have ‘escaped’ from the military or not, he asked that beautiful girl if she would like to be together with him. If she would, he was willing to go everywhere together with her. But the fact was so cruel, she was shocked by his proposal. She thought he should go back to Iraq and fight for honor. She was willing to wait for him. She would pray for him. Her answer was so crucial to Billy. At that moment, Billy realized that she totally couldn’t understand what he wanted deep inside in his heart. He wasn’t a hero and he longed for a normal life. He wanted to enjoy romances instead of killing the enemies. He wanted to stay with his family instead of facing the war. The war was so cruel and ice-cold, you had to face life and death everyday. The girl’s response got Billy back to the reality. He was a soldier and  a hero, he wasn’t a normal person. The one that girl loved was the hero, not him, not a normal person. Actually he didn’t have a choice for his life. The only thing he could do  was go back to Iraq to fight for honor. So he finally rejected her sister’s advice. He decided to go back to his team. That was the only place he belonged to. That was his destiny. Such a  long halftime walk! The walk was in Billy’s mind.