Roger Ebert said this in a review of Volver:
Women see time more as a continuity, anyway, don't you think? Don't you often hear them speaking of the dead in the present tense? Their lives are a continuity not limited by dates carved in stone.
That stopped me long enough to want to tell you. I think it's true, but I'm not sure. It's certainly true of me, I realized. I return continually in the present.
Postscript: I enjoyed the movie tremendously.
Almodovar is a genius. Penelope Cruz is incandescent.
And the title track sung by the flamenco artist Estrella Morente is haunting.
And another thing: in case you think I've gone all morbid on your ass, I haven't. Let's have a cup of coffee and talk about all this a bit more, shall we?
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Continuum
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3 comments:
I suppose it shouldn't be morbid to speak of death and of those who have left us. However,we live in a death denying culture - a culture in which many believe instant gratification is a God given right, so how could it all - just end?!
I really must see Volver.
Paul-
Indeed.
I'm Italian- and our grief rituals, both the religious and cultural, are very healthy. And just as the elderly are revered, the deceased are eulogized: in elaborate services, in endless casseroles of ziti and cookies for the bereaved, in late night post-funeral plates of antipasto and wine and raucous and poignant stories about the deceased. That's my experience. I know I'm not alone. I'm sure most cultures that are NOT American have their own similar stories.
Death is part of life. And it IS denied in this country, as you say. I know that's a broad generalization, but I think there's truth there.
I'm big on broad generalizations! That's why I have switched to English so I be challenged to be more, er, less prone to generalizations.
I'm a lapsed Irishman and would love to attend a gool old Irish wake - like in Ireland! When my grandparents passed away it was close, I'm sure.
It's great knowing you!
Paul
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