30 years in the jungle

It’s all about resilience. Sometimes things don’t go exactly to plan and you have to change your behaviour. You just have to stay firm in your beliefs, make a decision and then just wait for the storm to pass. Let’s use Hiroo Onoda as an example. Holed up in the Philippine Jungle, refusing to believe the Second World War had ended, he finally gave up in 1974, wearing his Japanese imperial uniform, cap and sword, all in impeccable condition. The world had known about his existence since 1950, when a fellow runaway had enough of the jungle life and returned home to Japan. But Onoda stuck to his beliefs, to the detriment of about 30 people, who sadly died as Onoda assumed they were the enemy. But after 30 years in hiding, a former Japanese general managed to convince the man to give up, whereupon he was pardoned by President Marcos for his crimes in the jungle.

If you go into hiding this winter, waiting for the storm to pass, a pretty decent location to do so could be the new Cane Rum Society in Hagastaden. Their Caribbean food and 1,200 different rums would keep you occupied for quite a while, and by the time you come out the sunshine will have returned and the world will be full of roses.

Someone who took a leaf out of the resilient Hiroo Onoda’s book is Festival Director Git Scheynius at Stockholm Film Festival. Despite a never-ending barrage of hurdles thrown at them they kept at it, and while it might look a bit different this time out, Stockholm’s film lovers still have a very exciting film festival to look forward to. Without even needing a pardon from President Marcos.