The House is Black/
Sin
First, I
would like to say that The House is Black
was really uncomfortable to watch for me. I am very squeamish, so seeing all of
those people so marred by leprosy was difficult to stomach. In my opinion, this
may have been by design. I believe the Farrokhzad may have wanted to expose the
audience to a level of discomfort that we are not used to. Now, I have no prior
knowledge of the work of Farrokhzad, so I can not be sure, maybe you would be
able to enlighten me on that. It just seems like she has somewhat of a dark
side to her. I say this also because a lot of her poems seems to be dark or
negative more than they are positive. Specifically, some of the titles speak to
my point: Sin, Grief, Captive, and I Pity
the Garden just to name a few. I saw the title The Ring, I thought that might be promising; not so much. It had me
believe that there was an engagement, which would normally be a happy occasion.
However the last verse says otherwise, “Distraught, she sighed: Vaye! Vaye!
This band---, so lustrous and aglow---, is the clamp of bondage, of slavery.”
In
reference to The House is Black,
maybe Farrokhzad just wants us to appreciate the things we have before we
complain about the little things in life. I say that because, at least after my
initial feelings of discomfort, that that should be a current lesson for the
new viewers. The House is Black
really made me thankful that I lead a healthy life and have a good family,
because in the end, that is what matters the most.
Anthony Mahalis
Anthony, the film really made me feel thankful as well. There were many times during the film where I just felt so sad for these people that they had to live such a painful, suffering life. To see your body deteriorating must be awful. These people had to be isolated and deal with the physical and psychological consequences of that. Definitely makes you count your blessings.
ReplyDeleteMelissa
Anthony, I also feel as if the film was meant to push people out of their comfort zone. In her poem On Loving Farrokhzad says,
ReplyDelete"why shun darkness?
the night abounds with diamond drops."
So to me this is her way of saying that sometimes we have to step out of our comfort zone and into the dark in order recognize something beautiful. In this case that something beautiful might have been the fact that the lepers still found value in life through their prayer and activities at the leper colony which helped them through their daily lives.
- David
I agree 100%
ReplyDelete