Thank God
for unexpectedly long bursts of free time. I had been waiting for one of those
for quite a while. This is one to be taken in your stride folks. It’s a two
hour – ten minute monster with some heavy duty messages about the human
condition very cleverly mixed in. I am told the book is even better – and having
read a few excerpts online I will probably be heading to my nearest Waterstones
asap to get my grubby little paws on a copy, but in the meanwhile, this will do
more than fine. Ok, it’s not exactly “easy watching” but hey, not everything in
life is. Right?
Our
protagonists are Port (John Malkovich ) and Kit (Debra Winger) Moresby. They
are two artists from New York who have lost well… Everything that matters. Namely
their love for each other and their love of life. Port, a composer, hasn’t
composed a thing in years and Kit’s fame as a writer stems from one play she
wrote a number of years ago and that got mixed reviews anyway. So they do what most
people with too much money do. They decide to go on a journey in the hope of
finding the “selves” they once lost. Kit is a more conventional soul but she
lets herself be convinced by Port to travel to North Africa and the desert. Kit
does not like the desert. In fact she is positively terrified of it. Port
however, throws himself into desert life with gusto… The real question remains
however, is what they are looking for really in the desert? In fact, is it
anywhere they can physically go and “seek it out” of? Aaah, if only life were
really that simple…
One must always
be cautious when it comes to the film adaptations of books. History – and the
internet – overflows with tales of writers positively enraged by the film
adaptations of their books. Now, I’m not quite sure what Paul Bowles made of
this fellow. But personally, I would find it hard to complain. Bertolucci’s
stunning, and by stunning I mean, let me re-re-iterate that, STUNNING
photography and the kind of acting that got Malkovich and Winger nominated for
and made them winners of quillions of awards come together to form a piece of
art you would have to actually be made of stone not to appreciate. It is one of
those rare films you could literally stop at any random point and have a
brilliant potential poster right there.
That said,
I must say I do agree with some of the criticism as well. Maybe not completely,
but in part. A lot of people who wrote bad reviews for this film criticised it
for being too obscure, and that anyone who hadn’t read the book would struggle
to understand what it is truly about. Now, I can’t comment on that part. I also
have to admit, however, that even for someone who likes hunting down obscure
meanings and symbolism in films, this is a tricky one. Then again, I wouldn’t
say that all meaning is completely lost. I mean, for example, let’s take a
quote from the film (and book as it happens) and let’s go for the one that
gives the film its name. I cannot find it written verbatim at the moment – and I
really want to get my reviews up online asap – so I’m going to have to
paraphrase. Namely, Port says that the sky shelters us from what lies beyond
it. When Kit asks what that may be, Port answers that he is not sure, but it’s
probably just darkness and night… Now, you don’t need to have a degree in
social sciences to figure out what particular part of the human condition this
refers to.
Unfortunately,
not everything in the film is this clear. Then again, it is rather a beautiful
film all in all; there are multiple layers of delicately structured meaning, foreshadowing
and… The desert. The desert with all its infinity… And whether this sense of
infinity scares us like it does Kit or pushes us to leap into the heart of it
and explore like Port… I am confident this film will provide you with something
to ponder on…
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