Macon Film Guild Blog
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
The Sadness of Sweet Land
A friend of mine sent me this comment after seeing Sweet Land: ...It was a bit of a downer. Of course their lives were over even as the story was being told; but after it was over I thought, Gee, that’s how it is, in a couple of generations we’re all forgotten.
I felt like she missed the point. I responded: I saw something entirely different in it, their nobel-ness, their courage, their goodness. The deck was stacked heavily against them, and through God’s will they scratched out their little place in the world. What he did to save Frinzen’s land – when no one else would lift a finger, and when he himself had no plan – was the epitome of facing fear successfully. This virtue was matched – indeed bettered! – only by her reasoning with and eventual prevailing over the preacher. She beat him at his own game! (Those clever Germans!) End of their time, yes – that is our mortality. We will all die. But, will her son ultimately have the strength and courage his parents did???
I thought this was an exquisite film – simple, elegant, beautiful, electric emotions.
Am I reading too much into it?
I felt like she missed the point. I responded: I saw something entirely different in it, their nobel-ness, their courage, their goodness. The deck was stacked heavily against them, and through God’s will they scratched out their little place in the world. What he did to save Frinzen’s land – when no one else would lift a finger, and when he himself had no plan – was the epitome of facing fear successfully. This virtue was matched – indeed bettered! – only by her reasoning with and eventual prevailing over the preacher. She beat him at his own game! (Those clever Germans!) End of their time, yes – that is our mortality. We will all die. But, will her son ultimately have the strength and courage his parents did???
I thought this was an exquisite film – simple, elegant, beautiful, electric emotions.
Am I reading too much into it?
Comments:
Links to this post:
<< Home
It seemed to me that not being forgotten was central in the sense that the underlying issue, as Walter implies, is will the grandson see his life as within the same narrative -- its plot, its characters, the virtues admired within it, etc. I think, at the end, he does.
Jack
Post a Comment
Jack
# posted by 
: February 4, 2008 10:12 AM
: February 4, 2008 10:12 AMLinks to this post:
<< Home
Archives
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]