Michael Pollak
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You're right about the title. It was stunning and long and beautiful. I got lost in it. I just thought of it as Italy, period--as an endless round over land, as if nothing else mattered--just the land and the people endlessly pushing and pulling at each other over the same fundamentals. Even the class distinctions disappear in the end and there is nothing left but different forms of possessing the land.
I am sure we are talking about the same movie. It opens in 1900 in what looks like a medieval court yard with animals and people living together and ends with two old men daring each other, as if boys, to lay down on the railroad tracks. The owner's son does and commits suicide to the dismay and infinite sadness of the tenet's son--who curses him through his tears and disrepect.
Any way, I think Doug needs some art experiences. Maybe you could drag him off to go see it, or get him loaded and then put it on a vcr while strapping him in a chair.
Chuck Grimes