4/25/02

I was thinking about the movie this morning over my first cup of coffee, just running a few scenes over in my mind.  I'd thought of a couple scenes in succession - one scene from when the main characters (Jesse, Jesse's Dad and Llama Norbu) were all in Bhutan, and one scene from Seattle.

Then I stopped, backed up the tape and said - hmmm, why the blue filter?  Now directors, especially ones such as Bernardo Bertilucci do nothing without good reason I said to myself.  Why the blue filter I'd asked:  Answer?

This is my take on it:  It was his way of showing an out of balance western culture, all the colors skewed very hard in one direction.  All the scenes from Siddartha's past, and all the scenes shot in Bhutan, Katmandu and where Gita lived were shot less out of balance tonalitly-wise.  Of no less significance is the fact that, upon Jesse's return to Seattle with Dad - after Llama Norbu's funeral rights - the blue filter was gone, replaced by a graduated filter to accentuate the, what was it early morning, or late afternoon sun.  It would be significant either way, but from a Buddhists thinking standpoint seems that it would have been early morning, like the dawn of a new consciousness for Jesse, his father and perhaps mother, and for Llama Norbu.

This creative filtering effect was used well in the movie, not over-used but it got the point across very well without screaming it.  Very much like Buddhist teachings, very gentle.

OK, back to the filter - it's a very specific tone of blue that evokes an emotion, it's hard for me sometimes to pick just the right word to associate with an emotion.  To me, it's sort of a somber tone of blue amidst the craziness of the city life. Meaning that folks are running around like ants at a picnic, and unhappy - furthered by the fact that Evan had a "accident" - left unexplained, but we all know it wasn't just an "accident".  And that brings me even deeper a step, why did Evan commit suicide?  He went bankrupt, so all his life was worth was what he had in the bank ...  I don't think so.  The director and screenwriter is trying to make a point here though.  A persons life, no matter what the profession or what-have-you should not be considered worth only what one earns or be measured solely on one's professional work, be it you are a truck driver, architect or brain surgeon.

Also, if you watch the movie, when Kampotensin is explaining about the message from Llama Dorje, and the jump-cut scene from the park, where Kampotensin meets Jesse's mom, those scenes, as if from Kampotensin's view, are shot without the blue filter - almost saying that this is how he sees the world - more whole.

An excellent passage from the movie goes thus - a music teacher speaking to his student on a passing boat - "If you tighten the string too much it will snap, and if you leave it too slack it won't play".  Stop a moment here and think about that.  There is a great truth in walking the middle way, that area of consciousness and mindfullness where you live as a whole being, caring for all parts of your life, but not getting so wrapped up in any individual part that you lose sight of the whole.

Back to the movie:  Now, think of the song that was playing in the Scout, with Llama Norbu, Champa, Kampotensin and Punzl ... "Everybody is wondering what and where they all came from..." - nothing, not a single point of that movie is without significance, is it ... more of a rhetorical question really.  Perhaps the message here is that we all can ask the right questions, but we aren't all on the right path to find our answers.

Back to Evan, that was put in there and it was specifically shown to the audience how a tragic loss like that affects those close to the soul who let themselves get lost in despair and do the unthinkable   Also going on to say that sometimes, as tragic as this may be - for some people like Jesse's father, it takes an unfortunate incident like that to kick them in the head and make them examine themselves and try to do better.

So in closing let me leave you with a short thought:  Every one is valuable.  Everyone has purpose.  Everyone should try and be as 'rounded' as they can with their lives and not get caught up so much in the problems of the here-and-now they lose sight of themselves, and those around them.  Yanni made a good point also, a quote which I love to hear over and over, because it's so true ... "You know sometimes we get caught up in our troubles and our problems and we let life sort of ... slip away; and life is precious, all of life - and one must try to take in as much of it as possible".  I'll go on to add this - with as centered and whole a viewpoint of one's self as one can achieve.