I agree that solitary confinement is actually MUCH worse than it might sound on the surface of it. I've read accounts of prisoners who thought it would be a piece of cake because they didn't really care for people in the first place but were going out of their minds after 3 months. It's an immense psychological load.
And I totally believe that prison is a MUCH worse fate than death. The "power of hope" is overrated if you get life in prison without the possibility of parole. Every aspect of prison life sounds like barely a step above torture, even in the absence of solitary having to constantly worry about the power structure and politics and the possibility of being someone's personal biyatch could potentially be worse than the abuse itself.
With regards to the movie, I strongly disagree with your conclusion though:
The film argues that no matter the level of torment, passion, obsession felt by people who cling to something for the entirity of their life and at the cost of living a full and colourful life, we should let go of the past and move on but at the same time I think the balance is well drawn between people who are able to do this and people who are not. The husband was unable to move on, Irene was unable to look back and Benjamin was caught somewhere inbetween the two.
With the last sentence being particularly egregious. The husband was the most fanatical idealist yes, but Benjamin came close and was clearly inspired by Morales' example which invigorated him throughout the years and provided the final push into joining ranks and accepting his passion. How else to explain how he had the innate ability to divorce his wealthy wife who he obviously cared for but could not fall in love with in order to be in close proximity to the woman of his dreams? And despite what she might have said, Irene was obviously not "unable to look back" as it was clear her body language betrayed her every time she made such claims. She had the similar romantic idealism ensconced so obviously in Benjamin but was more capable of hiding it. All three main characters fell into the category of those unable to let go of the past and the message was that the similarly afflicted should pursue their visions to fruition rather than resign themselves to the misery of a life filled with regret and remorse. Yes of course to us Morales' life seemed equally pained to Gomez's in his absolute quest to achieve his uncompromising vision, but it did ultimately provide him meaning and purpose to a life that would otherwise be devoid of any further reason to live.
OTOH, there were no examples of the people who are able to move on from the past, as it's far more common. Another aspect, perhaps unintentional, seemed to shine the spotlight on the mentally unbalanced that suffer from rather extreme forms of OCD and how they often suffer a life filled with misery.
Some fellows get credit for being conservative when they are only stupid.
- Kin Hubbard
reply
share