In a hurry to collect a crankshaft from the garage, Johan parks his pick-up 100 yards from the garage, and the mechanics have to carry it all that way then throw it over the tailgate which he hasn’t bothered to drop down. What?
shareI, too, found that somewhat odd.
shareMaybe I'm off the mark, but I have worked with many Mexican Mennonites before on my uncles farm and this just seems like a quirky thing that they'd do. Don't get me wrong, they are smart, handy and terribly hard working. So I think it's the hard working thing that comes into play here. There's so much down time with their life, hence the slow pace of the movie, they live their lives that way. So to carry that all the way to the truck is almost a form of entertainment. They sit and stare at it once it's in as if to look upon their achievement.
shareThere's a joke about Mennonites always having to find a harder way to do everything. Carrying the crankshaft seems to fit in with this. I used to have some Mennonoites as friends and neighbours when I lived in a remote place in northern Alberta, Canada. They were great people and so hard working. In many ways they are just like the rest of us, especially when they live in mainstream society. I found them to be plain living and straightforward people, very practical, too; their core religious beliefs are similar to most Protestants.
shareIt suits the tone of the film. Johan was all too focused on the turmoil he'd been going through, but had hardly thought of the feelings of all those involved regarding what he'd been doing.
share