Greenaway's Baby of MÃ¢con

Films/DVD Asylum

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All,
I finally got my hands on a copy of this film (on VHS, from eBay) and watched it on Friday. I had seen it before; my friend watching with me had not.
Although I initially saw this film as a criticism of organized religion in particular, I now feel that it really critiques all large institutions for manufacturing their own "truth" at the expense of their adherents (in the case of religion) or their citizens / voters (in the case of political systems).

The two moments that stood out for me the most this time were Julia Ormond telling Ralph Fiennes that "too many proofs spoil the truth", and--more importantly--the fact that many characters repeatedly try to shatter the illusion of the "play" by shouting their disbelief in full view of everyone ("The voice is a trick!", etc.), but are ignored by the rest of the audience. Even more interestingly, these naysayers are not even punished or ejected by the authorities, since it is obvious that the believers are so much in the majority--this suggests that the masses are somewhat to blame for not being skeptical enough in the face of the "information" with which they are presented.
As a corollary to this, Greenaway also seems to make a point that most of us can never be satisfied with purely symbolic truths; most of us have a (desperate) need to believe in something literal, and the film shows both the lengths to which people will go to create and protect the verisimilitude of their "literal" truth, and the dangers of creating an environment where the the symbolic is too easily confused with the literal (of which the infamous rape scene near the end is the apotheosis).
Truly a tale for our times, and worth seeking out

djprobed

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Topic - Greenaway's Baby of MÃ¢con - djprobed 13:22:39 11/18/02 (3)

ARGH!! I am so jealous!! - Harmonia 10:06:47 11/20/02 (0)

Re: Greenaway's Baby of MÃ¢con - rufus 18:38:17 11/18/02 (1)

1993, between Prospero's Books and The Pillow Book <nt> - djprobed 06:34:39 11/19/02 (0)

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