Blockbuster Hollywood Best-Selling Author Anne-Marie O'Connor publicly expresses her support for my story!

Anne-Marie O'Connor (centre) is an award-winning journalist and best-selling author who wrote the book "The Lady in Gold" upon which the film "Woman In Gold" is based.

The book/film is about the incredible true story behind this famous painting by Gustav Klimt - Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (also called The Lady in Gold or The Woman in Gold). Less formally it is also known as "The Mona Lisa of Austria".

Anne-Marie (standing) with Maria Altmann (the woman played by Helen Mirren in the film). Maria is the niece of the woman depicted in the painting (Adele Bloch Bauer) and its rightful owner. Sadly the painting was stolen from her family by the Nazis during the second World War. The book/film tell the story of how she sued the Austrian government for its return and actually won it back against all odds.

Anne-Marie with Randol Schoenberg (the man played by Ryan Reynolds in the film). He is the tenacious young lawyer who agrees to help Ms Altmann in her quest for restitution.

And here he is again on the right as an extra in the final scene of the movie. He oversaw the return of 5 Klimt paintings to Maria Altmann in total. For which she received a grand total of $325 million once they were all sold. His fee was 40% ($120 million). Wow - no wonder he's smiling.

The reviews for the film were only average but having just seen it for myself I have to say I thought it was rather good and Helen Mirren's performance as a proud woman haunted by painful memories from the past was both poignant and affecting. The ending scene in which she finally returns to the apartment where she grew up in Vienna and remembers/imagines scenes from her earlier life there as well as all her long-lost family and friends together and happy again is pure bittersweet movie magic!

Before Anne-Marie took up the story the family had already been trying to get the painting back for over 50 years without success so, journalistically at least, it was perceived to be a lost cause. However something in her gut told her that this story wasn't over with just yet. Her instincts proved to be correct!

And here "The Lady in Gold" hangs today - as the jewel in the crown of the prestigious Neue Galerie in New York City - after it was returned to its rightful owner Maria Altmann and then sold on to the gallery for the record sum of $135 million so that everyone might have a chance to enjoy this wonderful masterpiece for themselves! Anne-Marie still visits the gallery regularly to give talks about it as a guest of honor!

Anne-Marie in El Salvador in 1991 reporting on the civil war that was happening there at the time. 

In addition to being a best-selling author Anne-Marie is also a seasoned war reporter for The 

Washington Post among others. As such she has an eye for a good story and has borne witness to all manner of human calamity and misfortune.

So the fact that she would even deign to acknowledge my sad little story is a real honor for me. I'm sorry I had to live through it too, Anne-Marie.

For those who are not familiar with my nonfiction short story, Family Farm Survivor, it can be found here:  

Family Farm Survivor by David Lynch (cregane1.blogspot.com)

What's great about Anne-Marie is that in spite of being so accomplished and successful she also remains a really down-to-earth, kind and approachable person.

Thank you so much Anne-Marie for taking the time to acknowledge my story and talk to me about it. 

Your empathy and kindness means a lot to me.

Anne-Marie has also remained friends with the film's legendary composer Mr Hans Zimmer.

And if you haven't heard his name before well then I can assure you that you've certainly heard his music. 

By this point he's basically scored every major Hollywood epic for the last 30 years. And if he hasn't then its only because they asked and he either wasn't available or didn't want to do it.

Thanks for helping to bring this important story of historical injustice to light, Anne-Marie - and for encouraging me to keep telling my own little story of injustice too! 

Which is not just my story but also my mother Breda's story.

This poor woman suffered a lot in her life. She didn't deserve any of it. My dad liked to say that she suffered from mental problems but in truth HE was her biggest problem in life. There was nothing wrong with her that a good divorce wouldn't have fixed.

And my Aunt Margaret's story as well.

Margaret was erased from the family history so successfully that even when I went looking for any traces she might have left behind years later there was simply nothing left to find. 

The fight for justice never ends!

A triumph indeed - in the end despite the dark subject matter this is a crowd-pleasing feel-good movie!

In a world in which the cosmic default setting always seems to be stuck on "Injustice", its nice to see a real-life story of a great historical wrong being righted for a change.

Speaking of the movies I had a serendipitous phone call recently from someone who said that they would be interested to see my story adapted into a film........

Wouldn't it just........

Of course there's no guarantees when it comes to these things but he did say that I have 2 things in my favour: 

1. It could be done on a low budget.

2. Because true-life films are only ever "based on" the stories behind them it gives them a good amount of legal distance/protection from abusers crying "DEFAMATION!" just because you dare to speak up and tell the world the truth about what miserable shit-bags they are behind closed doors.

One thing I would love to show is just how much non-stop mental manipulation, degradation and all-round mind-fuckery goes on in abusive families. And how incredibly damaging it is to its victims. I mean why take the risk of killing someone when you can just psychologically abuse them so badly that they will end up doing the job for you?