The Finest Poetry in Cinema
I mean, you don't go reading poetry expecting tightly written drama with a climax at the end, do you?
Tonight was my fifth viewing of this magnificent film. And just now, I'll make an aside to those have difficulty with it: You might want to pay attention if someone calls a film magnificent, and I don't mean to sound arrogant about my opinion.
I have a young friend to whom I make an effort to give advice sometimes. Well, that can get arrogant, or at least pretentious if I don't watch out.
I told him recently he should try to transcend style. I suppose if I have self-love at all, it is pride in being able to adjust to different styles, nationalities etc. in art, especially in film. Cheap way to travel, I calls it.
If you can just try a different way of experiencing films, and you can let yourself get into this film, and just let it happen to you, and quiet that damn thing inside us that gets in the way of really being alive, then the rewards of this film are truly great.
On repeated watchings of the best films, I have been drawn deeper and deeper into them. This time, I, a non-Catholic, was drawn into the beautiful religious sequences, such as the priest's repeated urgings to his people that love is the only way, and this is really all that God wants. Also, the "honeymoon" at the convent. Was this done with a bit of loving humor? Or was it telling of the spirituality of a marriage? And the adoption. Was there a bit of humor there, a loving con job, and yet given with a sacred reverence? To feel a bit of humor, and to feel the love in these passages as well, was a strange combination of feelings indeed !
Olmi's camera just adores his people. And the lighting, and use of color. Did you notice that there were apparently no night filters used in the twilight shots? He underlit the subjects just enough, and let the dimness speak for itself. Bold, to do that, I'm thinking.
Go through this film, pause in so many places, and you have paintings worthy of the name Renaissance, or whatever art period they resemble.
Well, jeepers Janowitz, I called you a troll in another post. Maybe you're not a troll, but please don't throw mud at this beautiful creation.
You don't have to sit there and let studios cram cinema down your throat. Open your mouth, and your heart, and take a bite yourself. It can be quite delicious.
It's several hours now since I watched it, and the intoxication is still with me.
Ciao!!