A Homage to the Cinema in Barcelona
… not sure if that word really exists in the English language. What I want to say: Thank God, the cinema in Barcelona exists! Not only in Barcelona, everywhere.
The cinema is a great institution! I am writing this text out of a feeling of extreme gratitude. I a almost always have a good time in the cinema because I choose well the movies I want to see…
This week, I have been to the cinema four times, which has not been planned, but somehow it came that way… I don’t regret having watched any of the movies. They were all good, very different though…
I watched the first movie with a dear friend of mine. She had chosen “Perfect Days” by Wim Wenders. It is the story of a toilet cleaner in Tokio, basically about his daily routine. I loved this poetic movie about Hirayama, a man from Japan in his Sixties. Hirayamas dreams are blended into the movie in the form of black and white pictures of fleeting instants we look at. The Japanese man loves taking pictures, especially of nature. So do I. He loves music. The soundtrack of the movie is great! The movie clearly shows that there are people who take a lot of satisfaction out of their daily chores, their daily routines, their habits, whatever their work/activities may be, wherever that may be… The movie also shows that you can be alone without feeling lonely. Not all the time, of course. There are also precious encounters in the movie. Hirayama has a special relationship with his colleague, a young guy whose romantic life he supports by giving the guy a bit of money to take his girl-friend out to a bar. A lovely, generous gesture! A great movie, indeed! My favorite one, this week… 😉
Another day, after class, I was not in the mood to go home yet. So I changed my way home and went to the cinema instead to watch “Sala de profesores” (“Lehrerzimmer”). It is a good movie explaining the situation of a young teacher who works at a secundary school with many conflicts. It was easy for me to identify with her. Everybody has a story or more than one… What the movie clearly shows is how a young, dedicated person with a vocation for what she is doing can get wrapped up between the fronts. I do not know if this is the right way of saying it. Being a poet, I do not like using this kind of vocabulary but I think this expression describes the situation teachers are in sometimes. Sometimes. Nobody who has ever worked at a school can imagine what life can be like when you have to do justice to millions of people. Pupils. Parents. The staff. Where you have to work with many people, mistakes are being made and this can easily lead to massive misunderstandings and questionable group dynamics. The avalanche is getting bigger and bigger and may roll over you… This, of course, is not always the case. Fair enough and Thank God! There are marvelous examples of good cooperation among teachers and students, teachers and parents and the colleagues among themselves… I think it is important to take the message home with you: We have to respect more people who work in education to make the system work… Mutual respect of all the concerned parties is essential in my humble opinion. Especially young teachers need more support… I seize the opportunity to say “Thank you!” to all people from all walks of life who have helped me in my career. Both, older and younger people… Learning is everywhere!
Very tired when I finally arrived home that day but glad to have seen that movie as well. The cinema budget has been overdrawn this week… 😉 The week goes on. On Friday, I met a close friend. We want to go to philosophical talk but it was raining and the location was far away. Guess what we did? We went to the cinema… Again! A movie from Lithuania: “Slow”. A beautiful story of the relationship between a dancing instructor and a sign language interpreter. I got carried away by the dancing scenes. Contemporary dance. Great music again! One Lithuanian song is interpreted by the male actor with the help of sign language. It is worth watching the movie because of this song and the dancing scenes of course! The movie tells the story of a self-confident woman who breaks conventions and a man who learns to love, who maybe loves for the first time in his life. It is never to late! What we should learn from this movie is that we should try to accept people with different lifestyles in society. Be less hypocritical. We should also respect other people’s emotional needs and help them to develop relations of friendship and love, the relations they are looking for, the relations that correspond to their personality and needs. And also respect their need to be on their own. Why always look at the life of famous people and admire their eccentric way of life? It is far better to help your friends in my opinion. Any your family, of course. If they want to be helped… 😉
Three movies! That’s enough. In one week! Oh, my God! No… This week I’ve broken my own record. A fourth movie! Saturday… Meeting friends in town in the morning, having friends come over for lunch. A lovely day, but feeling very tired in the evening. I just wanted to relax at home but impossible. A big party just in front of my house! Fair enough, other people’s need are not always your own… Going to cinema again in the evening to get some rest. Yes, the cinema is a fabulous place to get some rest! I have slept more than once in the cinema… Yesterday, I also had a little a nap even though I liked a lot the movie about the versatile and polyglot German poet Ingeborg Bachmann and her trip to the desert (“Viaje al desierto”). I think the director Margareta von Trotta also directed the Hannah Arendt movie. Being a strong admirer of the Italian language, I loved the fact that the actress who played the role of Ingeborg Bachmann spoke Italian in the movie, a language I am desperate to learn properly… I have to admit that I have never read a single poem by Ingeborg Bachmann, not consciously at least. Curious to learn more about her. I know “Le pont Mirabeau” by Guillaume Apollinaire. What poem is coming afterwards again? I don’t remember… This is what I love about going to the cinema. It does not end with the movie. On the contrary, each story is the beginning of another story. It’s like life. Never ending stories…
I wish you good luck for yours and, of course, a perfect day! There are more to come, hopefully. It’s all in God’s hands, but we have to forge luck (unser Glück schmieden?) ourselves… 🙂 A good Sunday to everyone!