Jensen Certainly Knows His Bible; Interpretation and Spoilers
It is pretty obvious that the writer/director ,Jensen,is a very educated intellectual fellow.Today,I sat down with my philosophy professor husband,to bandy the film about.He is very familiar with the Bible's Book of Job and helped greatly in my interpretation of Jensen's story.
Note* :for all of you purists out there, I am not saying that this film is a literal depiction of the Book of Job, but many many elements from the Book inform the film's story and deepen one's understanding of the film.
Without exploring all the ancillary Job references,I am now interpreting the film basics as:
Ivan is Job, keeping his faith in the goodness of God through all manner of
bad experiences. Like Job, he lives an exemplary life.He never does one physical act of violence; like Jesus, he turns the other cheek and SEES the positive, everywhere the love of god.It's possible that, while the viewer may think he's 'lying'- about his son and his wife; maybe FOR IVAN those WERE his experiences. I.e. Ivan wasn't INSISTING on seeing the good in everything; that's just what he ACTUALLY SAW.
Adam is Satan."I am evil". Ivan tells Adam that god always conquers satan, and sure enough, Adam's framed hitler portrait, Evil incarnate, falls off the wall (= succumbs) every time the power of god (the church bells, Ivan)visits the room! Adam/Satan's purpose , as in the Book of Job, is to take away Job's faith in god.After many attempts, he thinks he has achieved this when ,in the church at night, he penultimately confronts and beats up Ivan and then head-butts him , and Ivan falls to the floor," bleeding from all orifices." Adam is convinced he has won. But when Adam/Satan then walks out into the storm, he is witnessing the wrath and all-consuming power of God who says, "Oh Yeah? You think verbal abuse and head-butting are power? Watch this!!" and proceeds with the electrical storm(during which he takes away the light from Adam's flashlight!)and the destruction of the tree.I'm tempted to say that God implied to Satan ,"You tried worms, You tried your Satanic crows, but they both failed. Now HERE'S how to destroy an apple tree."
Near the end, the ancillary characters go off to finally heal themselves.
And Satan becomes human, i.e. capable of compassion. Satan gave humanness a dry run with the gas station incident, but he is really transformed when he bakes the pie (Altruism = Compassion =Humanity). By 'eating the apple'(pie) Adam/Satan becomes human, gaining compassion and faith in the process.That teensy tiny whisper of a smile on his face when he eats the pie- says it all. And then, of course, there's the final scene. Jensen could have ended the film with the pie eating but he wanted to show you the evidence of 'god conquering satan' with Adam being the proof.
Now, I'm not saying Jensen's actual beliefs have any part in this film. I'm just explaining the parable as I think he presented it.
What a fascinating and multilayered piece of work.Anything to add?
Ad hoc, Ad loc, Quid pro queeee,
So little time and so much to see