The movie is a lucid and comprehensive picture of a rotten system, but it's a relief to know that some people in the midst of disaster were doing their jobs.
I didn't turn into Vladek, with his innate sense of practicality in the midst of disaster -- though his admonition to "always keep your bags packed" came to mind.
But in the midst of disaster, and with other regional politicians desperate to appear in charge and on camera, Bloomberg's deliberate, unprepossessing governance has been a massive relief.
Today, as it became clear that Mr. Hu and fellow leaders faced public unease and a severe test of their ability to govern well, the front pages of the official People's Daily and other papers all carried a huge, hortatory article with the headline "In the Midst of Disaster, the Unity of the Masses Is an Impregnable Fortress".
I think that, like a lot of other people, he hit his high spot emotionally during the war — specifically, in his case, during the Battle of Britain, when he was living in the midst of disaster, and that sepulchral 'This is London' of his was the voice of England telling America about it.
Massive, bearded, and profane, the most persistent and humane hero to be seen in any recent movie, Strada rushes around the front with two companions, an implacable British nurse, Kate Rowlands, and a veteran Italian journalist, Ettore Mo, a chipper old man who prospers in the midst of disaster — Mo's gaiety is a kind of tinkling obbligato running through the first part of the movie.
Time and again I've met amazing people, who while in the midst of disaster themselves, give of the little they have.
In the midst of disaster, his eyes soften and with an open heart he says, "I can't help it, I'm a wild animal.
The coverage -- striking for its juxtaposition of a reporter wearing a wedding dress in the midst of disaster -- is the latest example of an off-duty professional jumping into action.
From a political perspective, elected officials clearly did not want to be in the position of having ignored the warnings of danger to their constituents -- better to be prepared than to be caught short in the midst of disaster.
