Rotten Tomatoes rating – 100%
Finished watching the 7 hours long movie Santantango in one sitting directed by the Maestro Bela Tarr…..
But it wasn’t just watching a movie, it was living in it. As I read Old Man and the Sea, I was able to realize that old man. Here too I could see the slow living of the old doctor without any break. Just as we are not in such life, so this life is more of a curiosity to us.
Looking at the movie, it seemed like it would be raining for months. How would I live if I lived in the only house within the few miles ? Lifeless, powerless like an old man, how could I spend all day sitting in a rented chair? I read a lot of books? Write? A life that never has enough time for these two things draws me a lot. The movie is simultaneously inspiring, disturbing, depressing masterful. I’m feeling grateful that I’ve watched this. It gave me peace.
An almost exhausted village, the hopeless life of the people there, the incessant rain and the rough nature! Bela Tarr’s movies often feature scenes of human existence struggling with nature.
It can be said that this movie has shown a kind of slow burning revolution of a fragile human society. The raw and long shots of the movie can be impatient, but at the same time powerful enough to hold a lot of attention. These long shots have not been seen in any other movie except Tarkovsky.
For these long take, maybe the movie has lasted about 7 hours. An event has been shown in many perceptions. Yet there is no way to feel it. We may think we’re proceeding with the story, but coming back to the same scene somehow!
Preetylata 