By Bernie Bell

I recently watched the film ‘South Pacific’ having not seen it for decades, and pretty much forgotten its content apart from a memory of some rattling good songs. 

It’s entertaining, colourful, romantic – has all the right ingredients for a Sunday night movie –  but I’d forgotten that the film has more to it than good tunes.

Set during the Second World War, and released in 1958 – there are black faces among the military personnel – as there were in reality, but not often shown on-screen.

The film references colour prejudice, culture prejudice and age prejudice – and all from the angle of these attitudes being mistaken and harmful.

If a young American nurse wants to marry an older Frenchman with two mixed race children,  why shouldn’t she?  Certainly not because her family back in Littlerock wouldn’t understand or approve. 

If a young American soldier and  a young Tonkinese (now Vietnam) who don’t  speak the same language feel strongly enough about each other that they, too, want to marry – why shouldn’t they?  Certainly not because that might interfere with plans for him to join the family firm when he gets home.

How often was that scenario played out during and after the Vietnamese War?

This song stood out among the more lively, jolly tunes…..

I was thinking that the lyrics are very relevant to America today, and the world today.   The prejudices are still there and, in places, getting stronger – and are just as mistaken, harmful and destructive as they’ve always been.