Boston Bombing & Casino Royale
CmdrAtticus
United StatesPosts: 1,102MI6 Agent
First, my prayers go out to the vicitims of this attack. Second, after hearing the descriptions and seeing the images of it, my mind eventually settled upon this part of Casino Royale (the novel):
Red-man seemed to give a short nod to Blue-man. With a quick movement Blue-manunslung his blue camera-case. Blue-man, and Bond could not see exactly as thetrunk of a plane-tree beside him just then intervened to obscure his vision,
bent forward and seemed to fiddle with the case. Then with a blinding flash of
white light there was the ear-splitting crack of a monstrous explosion and
Bond, despite the protection of the tree-trunk, was slammed down to the
pavement by a bolt of hot air which dented his cheeks and stomach as if they
had been made of paper. He lay, gazing up at the sun, while the air (or so it
seemed to him) went on twanging with the explosion as if someone had hit the
bass register of a piano with a sledgehammer. When, dazed and half-conscious, he raised himself on one knee, a ghastly rain of pieces of flesh and shreds of blood-soaked clothing fell on him and around him, mingled with branches and gravel. Then a shower of small twigs and leaves. From all sides came the sharp tinkle of falling glass. Above in the sky hung a mushroom of black smoke which rose and dissolved as he drunkenly watched it. There was an obscene smell of high explosive, of burning wood, and of, yes, that was it - roast mutton. For fifty yards down the boulevard the trees were leafless and charred. Opposite, two of them had snapped off near the base and lay drunkenly across the road. Between them there was a still smoking crater. Of the two men in straw hats, there remained absolutely
nothing. But there were red traces on the road, and on the pavements and
against the trunks of the trees, and there were glittering shreds high up in
the branches.
Bond felt himself starting to vomit.
This is eerie beyond words. Even after the first time I ever read this, I was amazed at how accurate Fleming's description was. Either he was near a German bomb when it went off during the blitz, or one of the many commandoes he talked to saw a similar event take place and gave him the graphic details.
Of course we know that he got the plot idea from when Franz von Papen was serving the German government as Ambassador to Turkey from 1939 to 1944 when he survived a Soviet assassination attempt on 24 February 1942 by agents from the NKVD where the bomb prematurely exploded, killing the bomber and no one else, although Papen was slightly injured.
I know they would never show this in the films except in a carefully crafted way, such as when Craig sees the bomber at the airport blow up...we only see Craigs face..not the actual explosion. Even when they show scenes such as Mr. Big being inflated and blow up, it's done with an almost cartoon like effect. However, this scene in CR is really gruesome, but it just underscores the dirty, dangerous work Bond does, and as in real life, it shows how devastating this violence can be when it comes at you on a bright, sunny day on a cheerful street full of smiling pedestrians........chilling.
Red-man seemed to give a short nod to Blue-man. With a quick movement Blue-manunslung his blue camera-case. Blue-man, and Bond could not see exactly as thetrunk of a plane-tree beside him just then intervened to obscure his vision,
bent forward and seemed to fiddle with the case. Then with a blinding flash of
white light there was the ear-splitting crack of a monstrous explosion and
Bond, despite the protection of the tree-trunk, was slammed down to the
pavement by a bolt of hot air which dented his cheeks and stomach as if they
had been made of paper. He lay, gazing up at the sun, while the air (or so it
seemed to him) went on twanging with the explosion as if someone had hit the
bass register of a piano with a sledgehammer. When, dazed and half-conscious, he raised himself on one knee, a ghastly rain of pieces of flesh and shreds of blood-soaked clothing fell on him and around him, mingled with branches and gravel. Then a shower of small twigs and leaves. From all sides came the sharp tinkle of falling glass. Above in the sky hung a mushroom of black smoke which rose and dissolved as he drunkenly watched it. There was an obscene smell of high explosive, of burning wood, and of, yes, that was it - roast mutton. For fifty yards down the boulevard the trees were leafless and charred. Opposite, two of them had snapped off near the base and lay drunkenly across the road. Between them there was a still smoking crater. Of the two men in straw hats, there remained absolutely
nothing. But there were red traces on the road, and on the pavements and
against the trunks of the trees, and there were glittering shreds high up in
the branches.
Bond felt himself starting to vomit.
This is eerie beyond words. Even after the first time I ever read this, I was amazed at how accurate Fleming's description was. Either he was near a German bomb when it went off during the blitz, or one of the many commandoes he talked to saw a similar event take place and gave him the graphic details.
Of course we know that he got the plot idea from when Franz von Papen was serving the German government as Ambassador to Turkey from 1939 to 1944 when he survived a Soviet assassination attempt on 24 February 1942 by agents from the NKVD where the bomb prematurely exploded, killing the bomber and no one else, although Papen was slightly injured.
I know they would never show this in the films except in a carefully crafted way, such as when Craig sees the bomber at the airport blow up...we only see Craigs face..not the actual explosion. Even when they show scenes such as Mr. Big being inflated and blow up, it's done with an almost cartoon like effect. However, this scene in CR is really gruesome, but it just underscores the dirty, dangerous work Bond does, and as in real life, it shows how devastating this violence can be when it comes at you on a bright, sunny day on a cheerful street full of smiling pedestrians........chilling.
Comments
Thank you for this very thoughtful piece, CmdrAtticus. It just goes to show how relevant Ian Fleming's James Bond oeuvre is to this very day. Fleming was very much ahead of his time. My thoughts and prayers are with all of those caught up in the Boston atrocity. As you say, chilling...