Anti-war campaigner makes film revealing poverty which forced her son to join up
Lorna Martin
Sunday December 19, 2004
The Observer
Tears trickle down Rose Gentle's cheeks as she watches Dear Mrs Blair, a short film about one mother's son. It evokes too many memories.
But she forces herself to sit through a rough cut clasping her gold necklace which contains a photograph of her dead teenage son.
The most difficult parts to watch are clips from home videos: there he is, her boy Gordon, aged about eight, a cherubic child, performing in a school play; then as a teenager, fooling around with his sisters during a family holiday in Benidorm. This is more painful, she sobs, than looking at photos, because now she can also hear him.
It's the first time Gentle has heard his voice since he called her mobile from Iraq on Friday 25 June three days before a roadside bomb exploded under him.
Since losing her only son, Gentle has embarked upon a controversial campaign: launching a petition to bring troops home; hand-delivering with her daughter, Maxine, 14, an angry letter to Downing Street and announcing plans to sue the Ministry of Defence.
Now, as she prepares for her first Christmas without him, Gentle has made a short film. 'A mother to mother appeal' is how she describes it, an unusual festive gift for the Prime Minister's wife.
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Read the rest at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/antiwar/story/0,12809,1376966,00.htmlIf this doesn't make you jump right into the rising tide of global activism against the illegal US/UK occupation and pillaging of Iraq, you have a colder heart than Scrooge...or you're just more stupid than Dubya!