Thoughts on the waiter

I have been thinking about the waiter. He does not understand Swedish (it looks like he only speaks Estonian) but he is there to try to help Ester. So we have a hotel, which is often used as a symbol for the world (we are the guests, who come when we are born and leave when we die) and we have this one guy who runs this hotel, the waiter (well we never see anyone else). Am I reading too much into it when I say that he might be a stand in for God? Maybe God is not totally absent from the film as most critics have hammered on? Maybe he just does not speak our language?

If I'm onto something here then the letter Ester writes to Johan becomes even more interesting. She says it is very important to learn the language. The language stands for meaning, which is why it is important (there is a reason why we are never told in what country we are in or what language this is, because it stands for the gap between God and man and not for one particular language at all).

Viewed like this, the film is not as downbeat as I first thought when I saw it many years ago. There is hope with the young boy. His mother is however lost. She opens the window and does not hear what the boy is reading. As to Ester. It looks like she is checking out of this cosmic hotel, with the servant by her side.

- No animal was hurt during the making of this burger -