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While an impoverished Muslim Kashmiri boat man and a middle-aged, closeted homosexual dairy farmer in the Netherlands would seem to have little in common, two films featuring such characters share overlapping themes of sexual longing against a backdrop of death and decay, as well as uncommon insights into the human condition.
“Valley of Saints”, which opens today at the Quad, tells the story of Gulzar, a twenty-something man who dreams of escaping the economic misery and wartime hardships of Kashmir. Death is all around him, either the mounting casualties imposed by an occupying Indian army, or the slowly dying lake upon which he plies his trade, taking European tourists around to see the sights.
Also opening today at the Anthology Film Archives, “It’s All So Quiet” is about the main character’s troubled relationship to his father, who is bedridden, virtually paralyzed, and close to death. The son, named Helmer, is duty-bound to look after his father, feeding him, bathing him, and cleaning his soiled bedclothes but all the while looking so balefully at him that the father asks whether he can’t wait for him to die.
full: http://louisproyect.org/2015/01/10/valley-of-saints-its-all-so-quiet/ _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
