'eXistenZ'--David Cronenberg's 1999 cyberpunk classic anal--lized!

ExistenZ is a 1999 action adventure science fiction thriller by director David Cronenberg whose films include The Naked Lunch, The Dead Zone, Dead Ringers, Crash (the ’96 version), Videodrome, The Fly (1986), A History of Violence, and Eastern Promises. 

In eXistenZ, a game designer named Allegra Geller has created the ultimate gaming system made not of plastic but of live flesh complete with umbilical cords that plug directly into the player’s central nervous system. The game’s test launch takes place in a church on a remote countryside where Allegra, though shy and insecure around real people, prepares to upload herself into eXistenZ with a test group. In her game, players can transcend their limitations in real life and this becomes an existential threat to a radical group called the Anti-eXistenZialists. A 5 million dollar fatwa is placed on Allegra’s life and a rebel infiltrates the test group and shoots her but she survives and escapes with a security guard named Ted Pikul who becomes her protector. 

Ted Pikul is in a management training program with Antenna Research, the company Allegra works for. Pikul’s dream is to one day end up in marketing and public relations with the company. But Allegra threatens to sabotage his dream unless he plays her game, to know how it feels for himself. Pikul reluctantly agrees to play Allegra’s game. His initiation begins with him having a bioport socket installed into his spinal cord. Once inside the game, Pikul kills a waiter at a Chinese restaurant; Pikul finds killing difficult at the outset, but, through repetitive conditioning, leaving his emotions out of killing becomes easier. The deeper Allegra takes Pikul into the world of eXistenZ, the more real the game becomes, and the closer they become until, inevitably, they give in to their game-urges and the game’s plotline for them to make love. Pikul comes out of the game raised to a higher level of awareness; where, initially, he could tell the game from real life now he can’t. This awareness has also given Pikul a new game-urge...to kill Allegra Geller!

The film’s cinematography is by Peter Suschitzky and its music is by Howard Shore. The film stars Jude Law as Ted Pikul, Jennifer Jason Leigh as Allegra Geller, Willem Dafoe as Gas, and Ian Holm as Kiri Vinokur. In this presentation, I will cover some of the film’s themes from various perspectives and I will offer my personal feelings about the film at the end.

Themes

Our environment affects our behavior. Sigmund Freud believed that our natural impulses and instincts are in conflict with societal restraints. In eXistenZ, a fanatical group believes that eXistenZ will destroy reality and sends 2 agents--Ted Pikul and Allegra Geller--into the game to kill the game’s creator. Once they are in the game, Allegra and Pikul lose all memory of who they are in the real world including the fact that they are married. Allegra believes that she is the game’s designer but in fact, the game’s real designer is Yevgeny Nourish. Like Nourish, Allegra is aware of the game’s psychotic effect on the brain; Pikul, on the other hand, is a game-virgin and has a hard time coping with game-urges that he can’t control. For instance, when he kills the waiter at the Chinese restaurant, Allegra helps him, rationalize the killing by depersonalizing the waiter as simply a game-character; there is also a scene in which Pikul is unable to resist a game-urge to make love to Allegra; there are also scenes throughout the film in which Pikul’s game-urge forces him to recite scripted lines to certain characters in order to advance the plot

In 1973, psychologist Phillip George Zimbardo conducted an experiment at Stanford University where he organized 2 groups of students in a mock prison setting. One group acted as guards and the other group acted as prisoners in what he described as a social structure or a society based on predictable relationships. Once the guards and prisoners accepted the “definition of their situation”--or the type of behavior expected out of their respective roles--the prisoners and guards acted accordingly, that is, their relationship became depersonalized--the guards became aggressive; the prisoners became passive, resentful and depressed. In the Chinese restaurant scene in the film Pikul redefines the situation by asking the waiter an unscripted question that does not correspond to his role--or character--in the game. As a result, the waiter locks up and goes into what Geller describes as a game-loop. But when Pikul asks the waiter the question the proper way corresponding to the role he is expected to play in the game, the waiter comes out of his game-loop, answers Pikul’s question, and goes back to behaving normally. This brings us to another element of eXistenZ: status.

Status

Remember, Geller explains to PIkul that the game architecture of eXistenZ is powered and populated by the player’s mind. In other words, what you are in the game corresponds with what you think of yourself in the real world. For instance, within the game, Allegra Geller’s character--or status--is the game’s creator; however, in reality she is just another member of the test group. Her status within the game corresponds with her ambition outside of the game to be like Yevgeny Nourish, the game’s actual creator. Proverbs 23:7, 

“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” 

Unlike Allegra, the gas station operator named Gas has no ambition and his character--or status--in the game is unchanged from what he thinks of himself in reality. He complains about this at the end of the game, suggesting to the designers that they use a little more fantasy. Case in point is Pikul whose character--or status in the game--as Allegra’s protector and lover corresponds to the fact that he is her husband in reality.

Bleed through

"eXistenZ has direct access to our central nervous systems. Its game architecture will be based on our memories, our anxieties, our preoccupations...”--Allegra Geller

Everything that happens in the real world happens in the game-world and everything that happens in the game-world happens in the real world. For example, there is a game within the game called Viral Ecstasy in which a virus invades a person’s body which is actually Pikul and Allegra infiltrating eXistenZ to assassinate Yevgeny Nourish. And in keeping with the idea of infiltration, Geller’s biopod creates a game designed to let Allegra know that it has been infected.

“Game urge”

Matthew 26:41, “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”

We all fight with ourselves on a daily basis. We resist the urge to eat too much if we are trying to lose weight; we try to be faithful if we are in a monogamous relationship; we try not to oversleep if we have a job or go to school; we try not to retaliate when people are rude to us. Can you imagine what life would be like if we couldn’t control our urges? This is the case within eXistenZ. For instance, there is a scene in a Chinese restaurant in which Pikul’s game-urge forces him to eat a disgusting and slimy meal against his will. Subsequently, he instinctively assembles a gun out of animal bones after which he gets another game-urge that forces him to shoot and kill a waiter (or the messenger). A game-urge also forces Pikul to recite scripted lines to other characters; and he gets a game-urge to make love with Alllegra, an instinct that he is her husband in real life.

Nature

In Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Princess and the Pea, a prince selects his princess on the basis of her sensitivity to a pea that he buries underneath 20 mattresses. Have you ever forgotten something that you couldn’t remember no matter how hard you tried? Then, the answer just--all of a sudden--pops up in your head?

Likewise, though PIkul loses his memory that he is Allegra’s husband; his memory that they are rebels; and his knowledge of how to use a gun, clues as to his true nature come out in the game. For instance, in the game Pikul becomes a security guard, Allegra’s protector, and eventually her lover; and the gun that Pikul smuggles into the test group is the gristle-gun that he assembles at the Chinese restaurant. In both of these examples, Pikul’s game-life gives him clues about his mission and who he is in real life. Geller explains the game to him as being organic to each player’s basic level of existence. This is why Allegra tells Pikul to follow his game-urges and to not think. The game can deceive the eyes but it can’t deceive the heart nor destroy the essence of the player. 

Robots

To live by our urges and instincts; to lack the free will to make decisions; to be constrained to scripted behavior and speech patterns is to take away what makes us human. For instance, there is a scene in the Chinese restaurant where PIkul cannot fight his urge to eat  or a subsequent urge to shoot the waiter. In addition to turning human beings into robots, eXistenZ also frees players from feeling any remorse for their actions: “You won’t be able to stop it so you might as well enjoy it.”--Allegra Geller

Free will

In the book of Genesis, God tells Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of good and evil. But if God wanted man to blindly obey him why did he put the tree in the garden; or, why couldn’t God simply program man not to eat off the tree? It seems obvious that God wants us to have free will. In eXistenZ, Nourish plays the role of God but unlike God, his company wants to turn human beings into robots by taking away the power of choice.

The true purpose of eXistenZ is to deceive humans into accepting a counterfeit version of reality. Existenz caters to players’ deep-seated fantasies, allowing players to be what they are not in the real world. For example, a player named Gas believes that reality--where he works pumping gas--is the most pathetic level of his existence (on a side note, notice that Gas is named after what he does for a living and not as a unique individual with a unique name). Allegra Geller is just another player at Antenna Research’s product seminar but in the game she is the game’s designer. Existenz also frees players from their emotional constraints by conditioning players to kill game characters that are indistinguishable from real people; and also by conditioning players to depersonalize each other such as how Allegra refers to other players as characters.

The forbidden fruit 

In eXistenZ, PIkul becomes a game character, allows himself to have a bioport installed in his spinal cord, and makes love to Allegra Geller; he does all of this in order to relate to her before he kills her:

Hebrews 4:15, ‘For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are.”

Disconnection

EXistenZ has a numbing effect on those who play it. For example, Allegra sees eXistenZ as a game and therefore, killing other characters in the game is easy; she is unconcerned about danger and threats on her life, and she prefers playing alone. But to Pikul, eXistenZ is real, so real that making love to Allegra feels real to him as does killing off other characters in the game.

Like someone who uses drugs heavily, Allegra’s tolerance to eXistenZ has desensitized her physically and emotionally. Allegra’s dysfunction is what sociologists Paul Lazarsfeld and Robert Merton call the narcotizing effect of too much stimulation.

Overstimulation

EXistenZ is highly addictive and risky. For instance, after playing the game the real world seems so dull and predictable to Allegra and Pikul that they choose to go back into the game despite the risks and dangers they face in it. And like the infection risks associated with heroin addicts sharing needles, Pikul transmits an infection in his bioport to Geller’s biopod. 

Conclusion

Virtual reality; augmented reality; 3D holographic images; realer than real TV sets; followers on Facebook; virtual dating; online shopping; online friends; online doctors; online ministries; online sex, virtual gaming; Siri, Alexa, artificial intelligence, drugs, sex, alcohol, gambling, idolatry, love--like Allegra Geller’s diseased biopod in the film, could all of these avenues of escaping reality be like Pikul’s game-urges in the movie trying to tell us that we need to fix the real world?

Wrap

EXistenZ is not for everybody and it will probably turn off those whose tastes lean towards normal science fiction; eXistenZ is anything but normal, sometimes hardcore science fiction, at other times jerking, spastic and giddy, and at other times just downright gross--but somehow it all works! For example, there’s a scene where Pikul receives his 1st bioport, a scene that Allegra Geller places in a lewd context by wetting her fingertip to give the sphincter-like socket in Pikul’s lower back “some action.” There’s another scene where Allegra is shot with a tooth that has a cavity. Then there’s the biopods which look like bruised tits covered with buttons that look like nipples.

But with this said, eXistenZ is relevant considering that it came out in ’99. The film accurately foretold the existential relationship we have with our smartphones and other devices through Pikul who calls his pink-fone his “lifeline to civilization.” It also accurately foretold the impersonal relationships that have evolved out of social networks like Facebook through Allegra Geller who avoids intimacy and who prefers interacting with others in the game rather than face-to-face. The film also accurately describes the narcissism of online social media culture and its obsession with approval-seeking.

EXistenZ reminds me of The Matrix, Birdman, Battle Angel Alita, and The Bourne Identity. But the film that eXistenZ reminds me of the most is Paul Verhoeven’s 1990 film Total Recall. In that film, Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a construction worker named Douglas Quaid who goes on a virtual vacation to Mars only to find out that everything in his life--including himself and his marriage--has been implanted into his brain. Like, Pikul in eXistenZ, Quaid receives subconscious impulses from his true identity.

EXistenZ was nominated for the Saturn Award in 1999 but lost out to The Matrix which came out the same year. The Matrix went on to become a cult classic and did very well at the box office; eXistenZ flew under the radar and made only 2.9 million at the box office. But don’t let this fool you as to the film’s overall quality and effectiveness.

Cronenberg got the inspiration for eXistenZ from an interview he did with Salmon Rushdie whose anti-Islamic novel, The Satanic Verses, caused Iran’s leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to put a fatwa on the author’s life hence the fatwa on Allegra’s life in the film.

At 97 minutes, eXistenZ is extremely dense and gets better on subsequent viewings. If you like Paul Verhoeven’s style in films like Robocop, Total Recall, and Starship Troopers you’ll love eXistenZ. Great film by David Cronenberg. 

'Birdman' 2014 film--an analysis of Alejandro Iñárritu Gonzales' Masterpiece!

Birdman is a 2014 black comedy film directed by Alejandro Iñárritu Gonzales, co-written by Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr., and Armando Bo. 

Subtitled as The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance, Birdman follows Riggan Thomson, a washed up, balding, middle-aged actor who gives up being a Hollywood superhero to produce, direct, and star in a Broadway play. The bulk of the film’s plot focuses on the rehearsals leading up to the play contrasted with subplots involving the characters’ real-life relationships.

For Riggan Thomson, his play’s critical success means much more to him than its financial success even though a lot of money wouldn’t hurt as he has everything (and I do mean everything) riding on this play, including his daughter’s house. But to do something where he can be perceived as a relevant actor and to also separate himself from his better known alter ego Birdman makes it all worthwhile. Besides, the play’s success would offset failures in his personal life. 

Where he has no connection with his daughter Sam who is fresh out of drug rehab and runs errands for him around the theater. When she is not smoking weed to escape reality she is zoning out on Twitter and Facebook. His girlfriend Laura? He can relate to the actresses in his play better than he can relate to her. Then there’s Mike Shiner, who is more natural, truthful, and erect as an actor onstage than he is as himself offstage. There’s the all-powerful New York Times art critic Tabitha who is determined to destroy Riggan’s play and the narcissistic generation it stands for.  But despite these personal failures, Birdman is always there with Riggan Thomson, tempting him with the life he gave up in Hollywood, reminding Riggan that he has powers nobody can imagine, that he can move things with his mind, and that he can fly. But, most of all, Birdman reminds Riggan that he’s losing his grip on himself and his ability to separate what’s real from what’s not real. 

Birdman stars Michael Keaton as Riggan Thomson, Ed Norton as Mike, Naomi Watts as Leslie, Emma Stone as Sam, Andrea Riseborough as Laura, Zach Galifianakis as Jake, and Lindsay Duncan as Tabitha. Birdman is produced by Regency Enterprises, New Regency Pictures, M Productions, Le Grisbi Productions, TSG Entertainment, and Worldview Entertainment. The film’s cinematography is by Emanuel Lubezki, is edited by Douglas Cries and Stephen Mirrione, the music is by Antonio Sánchez. Winning 4 Academy Awards, for direction, cinematography, its screenplay, and also Best PIcture, Birdman earned praise from many major critics and solidified Iñárritu as a cut above most--if not all--of today’s film directors. In this presentation, I will examine Birdman’s key themes and wrap it up with my personal thoughts at the end. 

Themes

Truth and dishonesty

Birdman begins in a theater in a kitchen setting with actors sitting around a table rehearsing their lines in a play; this play is based on Raymond Carver’s short story called What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. Riggan Thomson directs and stars in the play and everything--including his daughter’s house--is riding on its success after leaving Hollywood and his superhero character Birdman behind to gain recognition and relevance as a Broadway actor. But with the opening of the play drawing closer, his hope for its success is going down the toilet. Ralph, who plays an important role in the play, is awful but a blessing disguised as a heavy light fixture suspended over the stage falls and hits Ralph on the head and miraculously, Mike Shiner appears out of thin air to save the play. He is the perfect replacement for Ralph.

Truth 

Mike--is a natural actor, so natural that he knows his lines without reading them. While rehearsing a love scene with Leslie, he gets an erection to make the scene look more realistic. In fact, he insists on realism to the point of drinking real gin like his character instead of water. Mike is so thoroughly convinced that the make-believe world on the stage is real that he becomes angry with the audience for whipping out their phones to catch him with a hard on.

dishonesty 

Yes, Mike has issues but at least he comes across as real when he’s onstage. The same can’t be said for Riggan. As he did playing Birdman, Riggan pretends to be someone else by playing Ed. To make matters worse, he draws a gun on Mike but Mike refuses to act scared when he sees the red plug in the barrel of the fake gun. Subsequently, when Ed shoots himself in the head with the fake gun the audience’s reaction corresponds with Mike’s reaction, meaning that they aren’t convinced that the gun nor the suicide are real.

Truth or dare

Riggan goes over the edge as the real world and his imagination start to overlap. He jumps off of a building and flies to the theater and later, when his housecoat gets caught in a door, he rushes to the theater and finishes the scene in his underwear. The stunned audience shows him their appreciation by whipping out their phones. The video of Riggan in his drawers goes viral on Youtube, getting 100,000 views in only 1 hour!

Reality

Leslie to Mike Shiner: “When you’re up here (on stage) you’re Mr. Truth but out in the real world where it counts you are a fucking fraud!”

Mike and Riggan confuse things that are not real with things that are real. Mike drinks real alcohol on the stage like his character Mel and tries to get Leslie to have real sex in their love scene. Then, there’s Riggan who believes that he can move objects with his mind; he has regular conversations with Birdman; and he imagines himself leaping off the roof of a building and flying like a bird. 

The more the play matches Riggan’s own life, the more he becomes like Mike Shiner whom Leslie accuses of being more real onstage than off. For instance, after Mike humiliates Leslie in a love scene, Riggan takes her in his arms, comforts her, and tells her--in an intimate voice--that she is beautiful and talented and that he is lucky to have her in his play. Offstage, though, he has never spoken this way to his girlfriend Laura.  

Followers

Birdman is about 2 worlds: the fake world and the real world. And in both worlds, being relevant means everything. Riggan goes from being a nobody to somebody when a video of him running through Times Square in his underwear goes viral on Youtube. And likewise, when Mike gets busted on stage with a hard-on during a rehearsal his video gets 50,000 views!

But to Riggan relevance is doing something artistic that the world will remember; this is why he gives up being Birdman--to be recognized as a good actor. He seeks this recognition and validation from a New York Times critic named Tabitha who hates gimmicks and the popularity he gains on Youtube for running through Times Square in his underwear.

Narcissism 

What was the world like before we got here? Man is only 200,000 years old which is like a drop in the bucket compared to Earth which has been around 4.5 billion years. And after we run our course here, Earth will dust itself off, move on, and forget us, like it did the dinosaurs, and all that will remain that we were ever here will be what we leave behind.

Riggan becomes so obsessed with having his own needs met that he ignores the needs of the people in his life. For instance, he busts Sam smoking weed but it is not his fear of her relapsing back to drug addiction but his fear of her creating a distraction for him and his play. In this scene, he tells her “You can’t do this to me” instead of telling her  “you can’t do this to yourself.”

Nor does he has time for his girlfriend Laura’s emotional needs after she misses a couple of periods and tells him that she might be pregnant. All that’s important to Riggan is the success and approval of his play.

Novelty

Here today and gone tomorrow. Everything is temporary: marriages, houses, cars. Cars used to be made of steel; today, they’re made of plastic. Houses used to be made of bricks; today, they are made of vinyl. Love. Love used to be for life; today, not anymore. As Mike Shiner says in the film “There’s a douchebag born every minute.”

Take, for instance, Riggans’ play and the scene where his character named Ed catches his wife--played by Leslie--at a motel with another man named Mel played by Mike. Leslie tells Ed that she doesn’t love him anymore and he tells her that he was only trying to be what she wanted him to be. As Birdman, Riggan also tried to be what the public wanted him to be until the public--like Ed’s lover in the play--dumps him and moves on to other superheroes like Iron Man and The Avengers. 

Leslie’s character in the play is also a metaphor for Tabitha, the critic. After Ed realizes that he means nothing to Leslie’s character in the play, he turns the gun on himself. Before pulling the trigger, though, Ed’s last words are “I don’t exist” and these last words juxtapose with Sam telling Riggan that he doesn’t exist because he does not have accounts on Facebook and Twitter.

Also, the novelty of Mike getting a real hard-on in his love scene with Leslie transforms what should be a serious scene--Ed catching his wife having sex with another man and Ed committing suicide--into a comedy scene. Again, the physical and emotional disconnection of the audience is stressed here.

Love

Why are we afraid to be ourselves? Why do we strive to be what others want us to be? In everything that we do, we are all seeking acceptance and love, like Riggan who confuses love with admiration and throws a butcher knife at his former wife Sylvia for not liking a film he starred in with Goldie Hawn. Riggan’s violent reaction to rejection in real life parallels Ed’s violent reaction to rejection in the play, who shoots himself after his wife tells him that she doesn’t love him anymore. The public loved Birdman and forgot about Riggan who tried to be what he thought the public wanted him to be like Ed who also tried to be what he thought his wife wanted him to be before he caught her cheating with Mel.

Seeking relevance

Riggan is not alone in feeling disconnected from reality. Sam is invisible to her father who videotapes her birth for future reference instead of experiencing her birth in the moment. Sam is also invisible to others as she overhears Leslie talking about her to Mike in the dressing room. Sam--like her father and Mike--gives up on being a non-person in the real world to be somebody on Twitter and Facebook, the fake world. Leslie also feels disconnected from reality, not knowing whether or not she’s made it as an actress until Laura tells her that she’s “made it.”

Disconnection

And when Riggan shows up at the play in his underwear, the audience is just as disconnected from reality themselves, choosing to see Riggan filtered through their cell phones instead of experiencing him in the moment as he is live and in front of them on the stage; the audience also chooses to see Mike Shiner’s hard on filtered through their phones; and the audience also chooses to see Riggan--as Mel--filtered through their phones after he shoots off his nose!

Conclusion 

When I think about this movie overall, I believe that escapism--in its extreme--is a kind of pornography that’s at war with the real world and real human connectivity. Hard to argue when you think of how normal it is to see people standing side by side and yet disengaged and lost in our own portable worlds that we carry around with us, that we prefer using to text rather than to talk, and that we even take to bed with us. A lot of us spend more time trying to impress--and be accepted by--thousands of people on Twitter and Facebook instead of spending real time with the real people in our lives, in the real world, people we can touch and see for ourselves and not artificially through the lens of a camera or phone, instead of allowing these real friendships with real people to wither and die. And is this growing obsession to recreate digital versions of ourselves and the world through social media a sign that we are giving up on the real world? Are we becoming little deformed versions of Riggan Thomson? I’ll leave you to answer these questions for yourself.

Wrap

This is a great movie on a lot of levels starting with the photography made to look like a continuous shot reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1948 film Rope. This aesthetic comes from the director’s philosophy that "We live our lives with no editing." Shooting Birdman required precise timing as Riggan moved through the theater and blended with other actors with whom he had to be in perfect sync; 1 misstep would disrupt the entire sequence which actually happened, according to actress Emma Stone who said that she came around a corner too quickly and ruined a six-minute take. 

Casting the film’s lead was easy for the director who believed that Michael Keaton’s experiences in comedy, stage, and film invested him with the “emotional range” and everyman charm to flesh out the personality of Riggan Thomson.” Keaton initially thought that the film was making fun of his own career but signed on after he met with the director and discussed it. Ed Norton is perfect as the sarcastic and narcissistic Mike Shiner. Naomi Watts is perfect as Mike Shiner’s flawed, insecure girlfriend Leslie who seeks relevance on and offstage. Actress Emma Stone is perfect as Riggan’s jaded daughter Sam who defines value as having Facebook and Twitter accounts and going viral on Youtube. Andrea Riseborough, Zach Galifianakis, and Lindsay Duncan are also great as Laura, Jake, and Tabitha, respectively.

Birdman costed $17 million to make and made $103.2 million worldwide; Gonzales’ 1st film--Amores Perros--costed $2.4 million to make and made $20.4 million worldwide, proving that you can make high quality, profitable films without breaking the bank if you start with a great script, a great crew, a great director, and a great cast. 

Akira Kurosawa's 1950 film 'Rashomon' film analysis and review

Rashomon is a 1950 film directed by Akira Kurosawa, written by Kurosawa and Shinobu Hashimoto, and based on the 1922 short story “In a Grove” by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa.

Rashomon is set during a period in Japanese history marked by the collapse of feudalism, social, economic, and political upheavals and widespread looting. The film begins in a partly demolished temple called Rashomon occupied by a priest and a villager named Kikori. They are joined by another villager seeking shelter from the rain. The priest and Kikori are depressed about the recent murder of a samurai. Men are killed everyday but the murder of this samurai is extraordinary. The villager rips some planks of wood off the temple, uses these planks to start a fire, and Kikori and the priest take turns describing the samurai’s murder. Only 4 people witness the crime--a bandit, the samurai, the samurai’s wife, and Kikori. 4 witnesses, 4 versions of the samurai’s death. Who killed him? And what happened to the dagger? As it turns out, the key to solving the crime comes from the most unlikely witness when they discover a baby abandoned by its parents inside the temple. Rashomon stars Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Machiko Kyo, and Minoru Chiaki. The cinematography is by Kazuo Miyagawa, the music is by Fumio Hiyasaka, and the film is edited by Akira Kurosawa. Among Kurosawa’s shortest films at only 88 minutes, Rashomon is among the director’s most important works, a film that pioneered the use of multiple perspectives. In this presentation, I will examine the film’s themes and I will offer my personal opinion of the film at the end.

Themes

Truth is in the eye of the teller

Remember the good ol’ days when families ate dinner together? When there were family values? When kids respected their parents? When boys wore belts? When you could leave your doors unlocked? When men earned enough to support their families? When it was safe to walk the streets at night? When gas was 25 cents a gallon? When everybody got along?

Or do you remember the bad ol’ days? When skin color determined where you sat on the bus? When women couldn’t vote? When banks redlined? When the U.S. government exposed Americans to atomic explosions? Or Jim Crow? Or lynchings? Or back-alley abortions? The bottom line is that when it comes to life, we “remember the good stuff and forget the bad stuff.”

In Rashomon, 4 eyewitnesses give conflicting accounts of the death of a samurai. Tajomaru the bandit admits to killing the samurai but doing so honorably by first, cutting the samurai free and then killing him in a duel. Tajomaru also admits to taking the horse of the samurai’s wife and selling the samurai’s sword; the samurai’s wife’s account of her husband’s murder is basically the same as the bandit’s account, but in her version she begged her husband to kill her before passing out. By the time she came to, her husband had already taken his life with her dagger; the samurai’s own account of his death is a bit different. After being raped, his wife begged Tajomaru to kill him--her husband--to hide her shame. She even begged Tajomaru to take her with him. Instead, according to the samurai’s story, Tajoramu untied him and left him with his wife. The samurai, then, killed himself with his wife’s dagger. The samurai claims that someone had later pulled the dagger out of his chest. A villager named Kikori tells the police that he only saw the dead samurai. But later his story changes and he claims he saw Tajomaru begging the woman to be his wife. The woman then cut the ropes off of her husband and told him and Tajomaru to fight to decide whom she would belong to. For this, the samurai called her a whore. Both men spurned her but she was cunning and manipulated their egos to make them fight each other. Tajomaru defeated the samurai who died begging for his life, according to Kikori’s story.

Why lie?

There’s no question about the dead samurai; the question now becomes motive. There seems to be no reason to doubt any of the witnesses as their stories fit not only who they are but what they are.

For instance, Take Tajomaru, a savage and a bandit who admits to tying up the samurai, raping his wife in front of him, and killing the samurai honorably in a duel. Tajomaru also admits to being a thief, stealing the woman’s horse, the samurai’s bow and arrows, and trading the samurai’s sword for liquor. Tajomaru is also famous for womanizing, raping a woman and her maid.

Now, let’s look at the samurai’s wife, the weaker sex and obvious victim. She cries during the interview and this makes her version of the story believable to the men listening to her. She claims that she ran to her husband’s side after Tajomaru raped her. She freed her husband and begged him to kill her with her own dagger. What could a poor helpless woman do to prevent her husband from killing himself?

Then, there’s the samurai who held his wife on a pedestal. The samurai admits that he tried to console his wife and that she never looked more beautiful than she did after Tajomaru raped her. But she betrayed him by asking Tajomaru to kill him to hide her shame. He was even ready to pardon Tajomaru who asked him whether to kill the woman. After Tajomaru left, the samurai says that he killed himself with his wife’s dagger.

Then there’s the wood-cutter Kikori who happened to be in the forest. He admits to lying to the police about not seeing the actual crime and only finding evidence of the crime--the samurai’s cap, the woman’s hat, and the rope. Kikori’s 2nd story is similar to Tajomaru’s story except for the fact that Kikori saw the woman manipulate Tajomaru and the samurai to fight each other; and he also saw the samurai begging for his life.

Why not lie?

Proverbs 18:17,
“The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.”

Matthew 6:21,
“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

As we see so far, the testimony of each witness fits their character. Tajomaru’s testimony fits his reputation as a womanizer; the woman’s testimony fits her position as the weaker sex as Tajomaru tells the samurai--“she is a woman and weak by nature”; the samurai’s testimony seems truthful because he is dead and--according to the priest--dead men don’t have a reason to lie; Kikori’s testimony makes him look like an innocent bystander.

Despite this, there remains inconsistencies in each witnesses’ testimony. But what is consistent is that each witness is trying to protect something of value.

Tajomaru’s account of the murder adds to his ruthless reputation but also makes him look honorable in that he unties the samurai and gives him the opportunity to avenge his wife. The woman’s account of the murder makes her look weak and also appeals to the protective instincts of men who are manipulated by a woman’s tears and view women--as Tajomaru says--as weak. The samurai’s account of the murder paints him as compassionate towards his wife after Tajomaru rapes her. The samurai also portrays himself as a victim by his wife asking Tajomaru to kill him to hide her shame. Kikori’s account of the murder paints him as a bystander who just happens to stumble upon the scene looking for wood.

The problems with the Kikori’s story

He witnesses 2 crimes--the woman’s rape and the samurai’s murder. Why didn’t he intervene and why did he withhold this information from the police?

Another problem with Kikori’s story is that it doesn’t take into account the fact that Tajomaru--in addition to being a womanizer--is also a thief. Remember Tajomaru had taken everything of value from the scene of the crime--that being the woman’s virtue, the samurai’s pride, her horse, the samurai’s bow and arrows, and the samurai’s sword which he said he bartered for alcohol. One would think that Tajoramu would have taken the woman’s dagger also.

The problem with the woman’s story

She says that she asked her husband to kill her and when he didn’t kill her she tried to drown herself in a pond. Now, one would think that if she wanted to kill herself she could have done so with the dagger she says that she cut her husband’s rope with.

The white horse

The fact that the woman could have killed herself with the dagger compels us to consider the possibility that she may not be the virtuous wife she seems to be. This possibility is expressed indirectly through symbolism. For instance, let’s consider the white horse the police claims that Tajomaru stole from the woman that the samurai had placed her on to exalt her above Earth and man. The policeman found Tajomaru laid out on the beach and assumed that the woman’s horse had thrown him off. But Tajomaru tells the police that the horse did not throw him off, a metaphor suggesting that the woman gave herself to him willingly and that he did not take her by force.

Temptation

Matthew 26:41,
“Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Taking into account the possibility that the woman may be lying to protect her virtue, we can explore more symbolism in the film.

Earth

Although she is portrayed on a white horse as the model of virtue and above Earth--or the power of temptation--she dismounts her white horse to get a drink of water which represents her fall from the divine to Earth and the desires of the flesh. This symbolic scene foreshadows her sexual encounter with Tajomaru.

Nature

Tajomaru is not ashamed of his nakedness and leaves most of his body uncovered in contrast to the samurai and the woman whose bodies are almost completely hidden. Tajomaru ties up the samurai to let him see the woman giving in to him. Tajomaru becomes disappointed when she pits him against her husband to decide her fate, their symbolic duel representing the duality of man’s divine ideal against his carnal nature with carnal nature winning!

Selfishness

Listener: “Man just wants to forget the bad stuff and believe in the made up good stuff because it is easier that way.”

A marriage ends in a bitter divorce. Whose fault is it? Depends on who you ask. The ex-husband will blame the wife and vise versa. Both are victims. But nothing in life is black and white and neither are people.

Tajomaru

Tajomaru’s version of the story omits the fact that the woman rejected his offer to run away with him. He also (according to Kikori’s version of the story) killed the samurai as the samurai begged for his life--not an honorable way to win a duel.

Samurai

The samurai’s version of the story omits the fact that he gave his wife the cold shoulder after Tajomaru raped her. The samurai’s story also leaves out him begging Tajomaru not to kill him.

The samurai’s wife

Her version of the story omits the fact that she enjoyed making love to Tajomaru. Her story also leaves out her manipulating Tajomaru and the samurai to fight over her which they probably did or probably did not do. And If they didn’t fight over her, she probably got pissed off and killed her husband while he was tied up to keep him from spreading her shame.

Kikori

His version of the story omits the part that would make him look like a thief. Symbolically, the baby they find abandoned in the corner of the temple provides the clue as to Kikori’s involvement. The listener taking the kimono off the baby and Kikori taking the dagger from the samurai’s dead body are one and the same thing and here’s how they both relate: the samurai and the baby are abandoned by lovers who--as the listener says--throws them away after having their fun. Both the kimono and dagger are left to comfort the baby and the samurai and when the listener says to Kikori--who calls him evil--“If you are not selfish, you will die,” the listener sums up not only his justification for taking the kimono from the baby but also Kikori’s own justification for stealing the dagger off the samurai which he did to feed his 6 kids! Selfishness is also the underlying motive of the samurai, the samurai’s wife, and even the priest whose desire to find goodness in man--such as him saying that “dead men don’t lie and him refusing to believe that man can be so sinful--prejudices him against the possibility that all of the witnesses are lying. The priest also objects to hearing Kikori’s account of what happened to the samurai.

So, what really happened to the samurai? Who knows. But 1 conclusion we can definitely draw from Rashomon and life is that truth is subjective and in order to get it you have to hear all sides as history favors the view of he or she who writes it.

Wrap

Director Akira Kurosawa wanted to make a simple beautiful film and in Rashomon the director has done just that, a film calling to mind Stanley Kubrick’s 1956 film The Killing and Christopher Nolan’s 2000 film Memento, films that also called truth and its subjective nature into question.

For Rashomon, Akira Kurosawa received the National Board of Review’s award for Best Director. And at the 24th Academy Awards in 1952, Rashomon won for The Most Outstanding Foreign Language Film. The film is also Toshiro Mifune’s and actor Takashi Shimura's 1st pairing, both of whom reunite 4 years later in Kurosawa's legendary 1954 epic Seven Samurai.

Like another great film by another great director I admire, Alfred Hitchcock’s 1944 film Lifeboat, Rashomon is an oxymoron: at only 88 minutes, it is both light and heavy and gets better and better each time you see it.

A Streetcar Named Desire--review and analysis of the 1951 film by Elia Kazan

A Streetcar Named Desire is Marlon Brando's 1951 film by director Elia Kazan that he co wrote with Oscar Saul and Tennessee Williams based on Williams’ 1947 Pulitzer Prize winning play. 

The film is about 2 sisters and their fall from a wealthy Mississippi plantation to the 1st floor of a sweaty, dilapidated apartment building in New Orleans called Elysian Fields. Stella marries Stanley Kowalski, a primitive who lives on blind instinct. Blanche DuBois, Stella’s older sister, is a fading belle with a checkered past she is trying to escape, a past that includes a seedy hotel called The Flamingo, a 17 year old boy, and memories of a lost love. As long as she has her Stanley, Stella is fine with Elysian. But not Blanche; she knows that the only way to change her life and escape her past is to leave Elysian. Only 2 things stand in her way--Stanley Kowalski and desire! A Streetcar Named Desire stars Karl Malden, Kim Hunter, Vivien Leigh, and Marlon Brando who earned the 1st of his 4 Best Actor nominations for his role as Stanley Kowalski. The film was nominated for 12 Oscars, winning in 4 categories for Best Actress (Vivien Leigh), Best Supporting Actress (Kim Hunter), Best Supporting Actor (Karl Malden), and Best Art Direction (Richard Day, George James Hopkins). In this presentation, I will look at themes from the film and offer my personal thoughts at the end.

Self-discipline
Self-discipline is among the many attributes that distinguish humans from all other animals. In A Streetcar Named Desire, former Belle Blanche DuBois describes Stanley Kowalski as “an animal...something not quite to the stage of humanity yet! Something ape-like.”

Stanley’s 1st scene is a brawl in a bowling alley followed by a domestic scene where he throws a radio out the window; and in another scene, he beats Stella and cries like a baby to get her to come back to him. These scenes establish his character as 1 driven by base human elements, primarily passion.

But the film also shows how Stanley’s energy and passion work to his advantage: how his aggression translates to his job where he does a great deal of traveling, a position that demands drive, something Stella is proud to point out to Blanche who is very critical of Stanley. Blanche is also surprised that Stanley was a Master Sergeant in the Engineers’ Corps during his time in the military.

Stanley’s aggressive personality is a turn-on to Stella. When Blanche arrives at Elysian, Stella is proud to point him out in a brawl in the bowling alley; Stella even admits to being turned on seeing Stanley smash the light bulbs in their apartment on their wedding night. By contrast, Stanley’s friend Mitch, who prides himself on being a gentleman, is--unlike Stanley--SINGLE. The truth of the matter is that women, like Stella, seem to be more attracted to bad boys.

Hypocrisy
Blanche condemns her sister for leaving Belle Reve and going down in class to marry Stanley often referring to him as an animal and a Polack. But Blanche is not the Ms. Goody Two-Shoes she pretends to be and Stanley sees through her right off the bat. Through some of his friends, he digs up the dirt in her past such as the fact that she once worked as a prostitute out of this hotel called the Flamingo and that she got fired from her teaching job for fooling around with a 17 year old boy.

Mommas boys
Stanley’s childlike personality brings out Stella’s nurturing side. After he beats Stella and she runs upstairs to her friend Eunice’s apartment, he gets her to come back to him by crying like a baby. And when Blanche rebukes Stella for allowing Stanley to manipulate her, Stella becomes defensive just like a mother standing up for her kid. Stella also cleans up the mess he makes when he throws his temper tantrums.

Like Stanley, Mitch’s childlike personality appeals to Blanche. Mitch is looking for another mother to replace his own mother who is dying. His mother is also concerned about him finding someone to take care of him(this is why she wants to know how old Blanche is). His mother still treats him like a child, worrying about him if he stays out too late; he believes that Blanche is the lady that she pretends to be. And to her, he is a safe alternative for her attraction to boys as she can vicariously live out those fantasies with him.

Paradise Lost
Shame
Gen. 3:6-10, “6When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

In A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche DuBois is fearful of people finding out her age; she is fearful of people finding out her past in Laurel where she turned tricks as prostitute; and she is ashamed of people finding out that she was kicked out of Laurel for being involved with a 17 year old boy who happened to be 1 of her students.

By contrast, Stella is not ashamed of her desires and the fact that she left Belle Reve to marry a brute like Stanley Kowalski. She admits to being turned on by Stanley’s aggressiveness and even after he beats her she returns to him the same night and is not ashamed of doing it, even in the face of her sister’s criticism.

Desire
Matt. 10:34-36, “34Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35For I have come to turn a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
36a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.”

Although Blanche is trying to escape her past, temptation follows her to the Elysian apartments. There she is tempted--right off the bat--by Stanley who peels off his T-shirt in front of her. She is tempted by alcohol. And in a moment of weakness, she is also tempted by the sight of a paperboy.

Matt. 13:25, “But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.”

Notice that in this parable weeds are sown while we are asleep. The weeds that this parable speaks of is human nature--emotions and cravings we are born with, that we are controlled by, and that we learn to cultivate through discipline. Human nature is synonymous with Stanley who has no discipline over his impulses. Blanche DuBois may be a hypocrite but she is also trying to overcome her desires and start a new life. Blanche is not like her sister who has given in to the desires of her flesh. And because Blanche has not given up on leaving Elysian, she is a threat to Stanley’s control over Stella.

The curtain
Blanche has a checkered past but portrays herself as the ideal woman, telling Mitch that she is a Virgo--which is synonymous with the word virgin--and also telling him that her name means white in French. Mitch is naive and falls for her superior act, referring to her as Miss DuBois and expressing his disapproval over the guys playing poker in front of “ladies.”

But Stanley is not naive and on to Blanche from Day 1. Unlike Mitch, Stanley doesn’t buy into appearances because he knows that a woman’s charm is fifty percent illusion. He knows that she is hiding secrets under the fake furs, costume jewelry and superior airs and later in the film, he uncovers all of her dark secrets.

Death
Gen 2:15-17, “15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Desire is the forbidden fruit and the penalty for partaking of it is death. Yet, after eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve do not die--or do they?
Job 10:4, “Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as a mortal sees?”
God, being the spiritual being that he is condemns Adam and Eve to a spiritual death. Likewise, death takes on other forms in A Streetcar Named Desire.

The aging process
There are 2 types of death in Streetcar: a death that is like a corpse you see at a funeral--and the type of death that occurs incrementally over time as Blanche says to Stella in describing those she saw die at Belle Reve: “funerals are pretty compared to deaths. Funerals are quiet, but deaths--not always. Sometimes their breathing is hoarse, and sometimes it rattles, and sometimes they even cry out to you, "Don't let me go!" Even the old, sometimes, say, "Don't let me go.”--The death of Belle Reve is a metaphor for Blanche who--like the Elysian apartment building--is slowly disintegrating: “I never was hard or sell-sufficient enough,” she tells Stella, and “when people are soft,” she says “--soft people have got to shimmer and glow--they've got to put on soft colors, the colors of butterfly wings, and put a-- paper lantern over the light.... It isn't enough to be soft. You've got to be soft and attractive. And I--I'm fading now! I don't know how much longer I can turn the trick.”

The Varsouviana
This song is the theme of death throughout the film, playing on the night Blanches’ young husband, Allen, commits suicide; playing when Mitch breaks up with Blanche over her past; and playing the night of Blanche’s birthday party when Mitch doesn’t show after Stanley tells him about her past as a prostitute.

Hell
Rev. 6:8, “And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.”
Everyone in Elysian lives in a Hell. Stella’s Hell is a dysfunctional and abusive marriage; Blanche’s Hell is fear of her past coming to light.

Ghetto mentality
When we think of a ghetto, what usually comes to mind is a poor community with minorities but a ghetto is any community that is restricted to its own kind. Isolated from other communities that are different from its own, the ghetto-dweller’s perspective is shaped by what he is exposed to and becomes the norm; such is the case with the people who live in Elysian Fields:

For instance, when Stanley throws a tantrum and beats Stella she leaves him but goes back to him and they make up. When their neighbors upstairs, Steve and Eunice, get into a fight and Steve hits her, Eunice leaves him but goes back to him and they make up repeating the cycle. Blanche is shocked seeing Stanley hit Stella and more shocked to find Stella back with Stanley afterwards. Mitch, on the other hand, is matter-of-fact about Stanley hitting Stella, telling Blanche that it happens all the time.

Breaking the cycle
Matthew 26:41, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Stella gives up Belle Reve without a fight unlike Blanche who does fight to keep the plantation because, although she is a hypocrite, she is also--through her struggle to keep Belle Reve--trying to resist her desires. Their attitudes towards the Elysian apartment also differ. Whereas Blanche is horrified by Stanley’s outbursts, Stella is used to them and defends him, telling Blanche that Stanley just doesn’t know what he is doing when he hits her and that he is really ashamed of himself afterwards. Blanche thinks that the rundown apartment is beneath their standards but Stella doesn’t mind living in the apartment and has no plans to leave unlike Blanche who hopes that marrying Mitch will enable her to leave.

Streetcar ends on a bittersweet note. Yes, Blanche is committed to an institution after being raped by Stanley but by this time Stella has a real baby to direct her love to and leaves Stanley for good.

Wrap

This film is faithful to Tennessee Williams’ 1947 play but there are some differences, particularly the play’s darker ending. In the film’s coming-of-age character arc, Stella eventually leaves Stanley but in the play she stays with him. Another difference between the film and play involves the rape scene with the play’ being more explicit than the film. Also, Blanche is more explicit in recounting her husband’s homosexual affair.

With the exception of Vivien Leigh, the films’ leading actors--Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden--starred in the original Broadway production which was also directed by Elia Kazan. Brando, Hunter, and Malden have the same roles in the play as they have in the film with the exception of Blanche DuBois in the play which went to Jessica Tandy who won a Tony for Leading Actress in 1948. Brando’s performance in the film confirms my opinion that he is the best actor ever. That he, through Kowalski, can provoke such revulsion and contempt attests to his command over his craft. Kim Hunter is also well-cast as Stella and Karl Malden is perfect as Mitch. But the standout performance in the film--and arguably the best female acting performance ever--is Vivien Leigh as Blanche DuBois.

Vivien 1st played Blanche in the play’s 1949 London debut which was directed by her then husband Laurence Olivier. After 326 performances in the play, it stands to reason that Mrs. Leigh’s command of her character is due to the sheer brute force that comes with familiarity and repetition. It can be argued that Blanche DuBois’ wild mood swings in the film were fueled by the actress’ real-life struggle with bipolar disorder, a condition she claims was exacerbated playing Blanche DuBois which tipped her over into madness. In any case, her acting is among the best ever irrespective of gender.

Again, enough can’t be said about the film’s acting, 1 of only 2 films--along with Sydney Lumet’s 1976 satire Network--to win 3 Oscars in this category: Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Actress, Karl Malden, Kim Hunter, and Vivien Leigh, respectively; Brando was also nominated for Best Actor.

Elia Kazan had the most productive and artistically successful career of any director within a given decade, directing 8 films from 1950-57 including, arguably, 3 of the best films ever in A Streetcar Named Desire, On The Waterfront, and East Of Eden.

A Streetcar Named Desire is the 1st Tennessee Williams Play I’ve read and I must confess that he was a great writer. When I read the play, I could see and hear all the characters in the film. I’m not sure Streetcar is THE greatest film ever, but it is definitely up there with the best.

Black Narcissus reviewed and laid bare in black and white!

Black Narcissus is a 1947 drama co-directed, co-produced, and co-written by British duo Emeric Pressburger and Michael Powell known together as The Archers who also collaborated on great films such as The Red Shoes, The Tales of Hoffmann, The Small Backroom, “I Know Where I’m Going!” and others. 

Based on the 1939 novel of the same name by Margaret Rumer Godden, Black Narcissus follows a Superior nun named Sister Clodagh and 4 fellow Sisters who are sent to Saint Faith, a remote Indian village in Southern Asia. The palace of Mopu is 8,000 feet above sea level facing a mountain range nearly as high as Mount Everest. The highest Peak, Nange Dalle (Nange Daily), is nicknamed The Bare Goddess for a good reason. General Toda Rai donates the palace to the nuns to open a school and a dispensary and assigns Mr. Dean as the nun’s guide as well as their link to the villagers. The palace of The Bare Goddess sits on a high windy shelf above Mr. Dean and the villagers who live far below in the valley. To Superior Sister Clodagh and her 4 sisters, the task of setting up the school and clinic seems simple. But none of the sisters are prepared for the high altitude, the strong wind, the spell of The Bare Goddess; they can hide their bodies but they can’t hide the mountain. The film’s music is by Brian Easdale, is edited by Reginald Mills, and its cinematography is by Jack Cardiff. The film stars Deborah Kerr as Sister Clodah, David Farrar as Mr. Dean, Kathleen Byron as Sister Ruth, and Jean Simmons as the village girl Katchi. The film won 2 Academy Awards for cinematography and art direction for Jack Cardiff and Alfred Junge, respectively, with actress Deborah Kerr winning the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress. In this presentation, I will take a closer look at the film’s themes and offer my personal opinion of the film at the end.

Themes

Empathy
You have to relate to people to empathize with them. This is the story of Jesus who came in the flesh to experience life as we experience it and to be tempted in all ways like us. Like Jesus, the nuns are sent to a palace exalted high above a remote village in south Asia to build a school and a hospital for the natives. The natives are connected to the land through farming and live simply. But unlike Jesus, the nuns are running away from everything associated with pain and any other feeling reminding them of the past and what they are. As a result of this renunciation, the nuns are to the villagers as the palace is to the valley, high and out of reach. For example, a young general named Dilib Rai congratulates Clodagh, the Superior nun, on the birth of Jesus. She reprimands him by telling him that Christ is not addressed in such a casual way. But a local guide named Dean is within earshot and objects to this formality by pointing out that Christ should be casual and as much a part of life as our daily bread.

This separation of the divine and the flesh is symbolized by the Holy man who isolates himself from the other villagers and spends all day and all night staring at the mountain. For example, there is a scene where he doesn’t react at all when a villager dies. In an equivalent scene, Sister Clodagh tries to get a nun named Ruth to open up and talk to her concerning the nun’s weight loss. Ruth’s weight loss is due to worry concerning her vows to the nunnery and her attraction to a man--Dean, their guide. But knowing how Clodagh would condemn her if she were truthful about this, Ruth refuses to confide in Clodagh.

If Clodagh could accept her own feelings as a woman, Ruth would feel like Clodagh could relate to her and open up. But Clodagh, being the Superior Sister, is self-righteous, insensitive and is as cut off from herself as the Holy man is from the other villagers.

Hebrews 4:15, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are...”

The power of the senses
Stimulation reconnects the nuns to the past and their emotions. Sister Phillipa is reminded of what she was before becoming a nun when she finds Dean fixing a pipe in the shower. Dilib Rai’s colorful clothes and jewelry reminds Clodagh of the emerald necklace and other jewelry her grandmother left her. When Dean joins in singing Noel and Lullay my Liking, his masculine voice reminds Clodagh of the night her fiancé gave her a present of jewelry.

The House of The Bare Goddess: TemptationWhen the nuns arrive at the palace, sister Phillipa complains about the garden being overgrown. And later, Clodagh tells Dean that something in the air and high altitude has “exaggerated” everything. Both the overgrown garden and that “something in the air” is nature. Nature’s power over the body is more powerful at Mopu palace. Dean and Katchi symbolize nature. This explains Dean’s raw masculinity, his mostly exposed body and its effect on the nuns, and also the effect of his voice when he sings with the nuns (On a side note, pay attention to the young general’s face when Dean sings and the general’s comment about Dean’s deep, beautiful voice afterwards). The power of nature over the mind also explains how Katchi’s raw sensuality is able to seduce and ultimately conquer the young general who believes that going to an all-girls school is as simple as studying hard.

The nuns, the Holy man, and the young general have their own ways of resisting the power of nature. The Holy man isolates himself from other villagers; deprives himself of all sensory stimulation; and he concentrates all of his attention on a mountain. Likewise, the nuns resist nature through hard labor and covering their entire bodies from head to foot. To suppress the instinct to nurture the sick, a child with a high fever is turned out of the convent and sent home with its mother. The child dies as a result but pay attention to the tussle between sisters Briony and Honey. Honey's maternal nurturing instincts come out in this scene as she begs sister Briony to keep and comfort the baby. Also, the nuns restrict the school to young women and children. The nuns limit the color of the garden to green vegetables. And at the end of the film when Ruth trades in her habit for a red dress, Clodagh responds to her by reading the Bible.

When all other efforts to resist temptation fall short, the nuns respond to the power of nature with denial. There’s a scene in the school in which Katchi and Ruth catch a whiff of Dilib Rai’s perfume. Katchi is aroused by the general’s scent and expresses her feelings; but Ruth lies about the perfume’s effect on her. In another scene, Ruth sees some small children and fights back her nurturing instincts by criticizing them.

Humility
Black Narcissus ends with a showdown between Clodagh and Ruth on the cliff underneath the bell. This is a symbolic confrontation as Ruth--in her red dress and red lipstick--has eaten of the forbidden fruit by renouncing her vows to God and a religion that doesn’t relate to her human frailties. In the struggle with Clodagh, Ruth loses her balance and falls off the cliff and down to earth. This falling from heaven and the height of the mountain is symbolic. Ruth falls down to the villagers level, to that of a human.

Isaiah 40:4, “Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.”

From the valley below, Clodagh looks up and sees clouds covering the palace, a sign that nature can never exist separately from the body. Clodagh learns also that she cannot help the villagers from the mountain just as Jesus himself had to come down from Heaven to Earth in the form of flesh and blood man:

Romans 8:3, “For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh...”

Wrap
“A basket of fruit, piled high and luscious and ready to eat” are the words Margarette Rumor Godden--the author of the book that this film is based on--uses to describe the village girl Katchi; however, the same words can be equally applied to the film itself which, like the village girl, is inflamed with erotic tension. Art director Alfred Junge does a terrific job in articulating this tension in the costumes by juxtaposing the nuns’ stark white religious habits against the young general’s flower patterned coats, gold, turquoise, jade jewelry. This tension carries over to contrasting the nuns’ restrictive habits against Dean who may as well have worn a thong throughout the entire film as his bare legs and torso are exposed and glowing as if rubbed in baby oil. All of these visual motifs--the lushly colored surroundings of the village; the young general’s colorful wardrobe; Dean and Katchi’s unabashed sexuality--underscores the plot’s tension and the nuns’ struggle to repress memories of what they were prior to joining the order.

It is hard to believe that as beautiful and as scenic as this film is that it was shot primarily at Pinewood Studios in Southeast England with large-scale landscape paintings, scale models, and matte paintings. The landscape settings were filmed at Leonardslee Gardens in West Sussex, the General’s palace was shot at the home of an Indian Army retiree. None of the scenes in the film were shot anywhere in South Asia. This film is so well shot--especially the aerial scenes of the mountains and palace--and so striking in its colors that there are few films I can compare it with.

Martin Scorsese--who happens to be a huge fan of the film and its director Michael Powell--called the film one of the earliest erotic films and I agree with him 100%. At times, though, the erotica angle is so obvious that I found myself laughing such as the scenes involving Dean and the nuns. Powell is such a great technician that it is hard for me to think that the humor in these scenes weren’t intentional. But I found the most erotic scenes in the film for me involved Kathleen Byron’s character Ruth’s transformation from uptight nun to super-freak acting out Clodagh’s desire for David Farrar’s character Dean.

All of the acting in the film is terrific despite the fact that of all the principal characters, only 1--young general Dilib Rai--is Indian. Jean Simmons, who plays the village girl Katchi, is British and had her face painted for the role. Despite this, it is hard to imagine any actress other than Simmons playing this role as--or more--seductively, especially in the scenes where she seduces the young general. Deborah Kerr is also terrific as sister Clodagh, the Superior Sister tasked with keeping her fellow sisters in line while also struggling with herself. But, to me, the standout performance is Kathleen Byron’s character Ruth who steals the last 1/3rd of the film when she trades in her religious habit for the red dress and red lipstick; wow! Her physical transformation reminds me of the point in The Wizard of Oz where the film goes from black and white to technicolor. The scenes involving her and Dean early in the film also stand out, especially 1 in which Dean is shirtless and her moving in slow motion for a closer look. Funny scene.

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger have collaborated on many films and I would put Black Narcissus up there with The Red Shoes as among their very best and 1 I’d recommend to someone who hasn’t seen their films.