The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck Impressive work, 8 out of 10

 The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck

Impressive work, 8 out of 10

 

These will be notes about the adaptation of the original novel, for the National Theater.

Mihail Sebastian is the very talented author who took on this novel, certainly interested in the subject.

An army occupies a town somewhere in Northern Europe and we can be pretty sure that the invaders are Germans.

From the very start there is a conflict, as soldiers search for guns in the houses of the mayor and the doctor.

In spite of the usual depiction of the Nazis, Colonel Lanser, the commanding officer of the occupiers comes across as a decent man.

He has been through the First World War and was marked by the experience and the terrible events that he witnessed.

Officers under his command are not as sensible as their superior and start creating trouble in the town.

Captain Loft is a villainous man and provokes Alexander Morden, a local worker in the mine into attacking the invader.

Another officer steps in and is killed by the blow destined for his ruthless colleague.

Alexander Morden must die and the Germans want the mayor to be the one who condemns him to death.

It is a question of credibility which can be gained if they use a local authority and lost if the occupiers appear to abuse their power.

Blackmail is tried, but mayor Orden resists and refuses to be the judge in an incident which is not analyzed in a fair way.

-          Colonel, if you want me to give the death sentence, you must judge over twenty of your men who have been involved in brutalities when you have occupied the city

In the first place, the colonel did not want to use the local spy that had been helping the invaders to win over the town.

Considered a traitor, Corell is pushing to become a mayor and for lack of options he seems to get the job from the Germans.

The workers sabotage the invaders and try to derail and compromise the production of coal that is used by the enemy’s war machine.

The work is very interesting and the enemies are not painted in black, with all in the same despicable mould.

There is at least an officer in the ranks of the occupying army that feels that the war is on for too long and his side is not just anymore, if it ever was.

Tension is increasing and the conflict is exacerbated with more deaths following the initial crime and the consequent execution.

Workers are shot on the spot when they make all they can to obstruct the extraction and transportation of coal.

There is a disaccord growing into a fight among the invading officers, with a few reasonable and decent opposing those that are just cruel and heartless.

One even talks about his dream in which the Commander (Hitler) was crazy, which amounts to blasphemy for an officer corps expected to show absolute devotion.

A very good adaptation of what is clearly an excellent book.