WARNING: This is one of those rants I wrote whilst sick, in bed, and would normally delete a couple of days after writing, after noticing how embarrassing and emotional it is. But I wont. Not this time. Instead, I’m simply offering this warning. SECOND WARNING: I’m a pretty emotional guy. A hint of advice: don’t read this.
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When you’re sick and lose the energy to do the simplest tasks you normally do on a regular basis, you have a stronger feeling of emotions. You feel more, basically. All of a sudden, none of these little things matter. These ridiculous quibbles you argue over and stress yourselves with, they all fall apart and crumble in the face of this refreshed mentality which should accompany you always, not just then. Family means everything, friends far away at home seem like the world to you, and they are. You love and long for peace and happiness more than you ever have. At least so it seems at this hour, when the sky is gray and you feel your body dying, but your mind and heart are more alive than ever before. Maybe I am being a little too overdramatic. Its all in the sickness. That’s what I’m getting at, I suppose – when you are physically fragile, you are mentally desperate. So anything emotionally touching is twice as affecting when you are in that state of being. Moving on.
I never saw Atonement until now. I’ve been in bed with no energy to do anything, let alone get up to take a shower. This is no time to write about film, but I must write about one particular moment in that film. The beach scene. If you’ve seen Atonement, you know what I am referring to. Not only is it all done in one shot, but everything falls into place perfectly, hitting all of those emotional receptors at the right moment, even more so when you’re sick and sad anyway. Not only is it a precious moment in film history in regards to camera work, but the music as well. The fucking music. Is So. Glorious.
There is a song during this scene, called Whittier Hymn, that a group of soldiers sing in an old abandoned carousel, facing the sun, on this beach, waiting to go home. All of this is wrapped by a song off the soundtrack called Elegy at Dunkirk. There is a very strong sense of restlessness in the main character’s situation, and everything around him, the madness of it all, is almost completely silenced by the peaceful aura of this music. This scene made me almost cry in my bed, alone and tired. A single teardrop. Like that Native American guy. In those old commercials. You know what I’m talking about. With the garbage, and…? No? Whatever.
“Drop thy still dews of quietness, Till all our strivings cease; Take from our souls the strain and stress, And let our ordered lives confess The beauty of thy peace. The beauty of thy peace.”
Awesome.
