1. In WR 122, one of my students, from Chile, told a story about a river not far from Santiago where peope gathered little rocks because they all had, by nature, had the symbol of the cross on them. She gave me one of these rocks. It's remarkable.
2. In ENG 257/WR 123, Margaret and I showed the movie "Into the Wild". It was the fourth time I've seen it and I was once again enthralled by it. I marveled again at what a beautifully made movie it is, how perfectly cast, and what a puzzling story Jon Krakauer and Sean Penn wrote. Once again, I loved Catherine Keener, laughed at and enjoyed Vince Vaughn, and was deeply moved by Hal Holbrook. For what I enjoy in a movie, "Into the Wild" is nearly perfect.
3. In ENG 109, where I'm trying to expose my students to as much literature around the world as I can, I showed the Mongolian masterpiece, "The Story of the Weeping Camel". Thursday, my students discussed what they learned from the movie. We focused much of our discussion on the place of human beings in the story. Humans are a small part of the story. They are not central. They are in a harsh environment, in the Gobi Desert, and live in the company of natural and supernatural forces much larger than they are and have a humble relationship with the animals they live with. I thought it was fascinating to watch a film whose pace and rhythms were very slow, as if the movie was set to the time of nature, not dictated so much by human activity.
No comments:
Post a Comment