To the left of the father is a Brazilian film produced in 2001 based on a novel of the same name. It is such a film which is interesting, bright in the first half and gloomy in the second half for me.
Without knowing any background information about the film, I got attracted by the first scene of Andre masturbating. The shot looks a bit distorted as the images are stretched. The background blare of a train made me feel that Andre may be immersed in his memories, like a train to our old memories inside. Andre's masturbating is not a powerful exercise in a sense of just releasing the impulsiveness or sensual pleasure. Instead it looks painful and hurting for me, because of his almost crying face with fingers digging into his belly and snatched slowly through the skin before the coming climax. The train's sound came gradually to the foreground and Andre's body became blur, however, I can feel the intensity burst out via the elaborated rhythm of the train's blare. At the end, it was Andre's aimless eyes which tell me this masturbation more likely comes out of a blue memory.
The second point that touched me is the tune of the lust in childhood. The tune is set with green grass, brown leaves, blue sky and the dark soil. The lust is buried in the toes grasping the soil and rubbing the earth. It is such a natural intimacy between a child and nature that, I could not feel there is any shame around the feeling. Young Andre is also bright, curious and adventurous and he was spending time with himself in this wild nature. Even when the most controversy plot revealed it self on the screen, which I think is Andre making love with his sister, the director Luiz has organised the scenes in a skilful manner. Luiz arranged a sequence of parallel shots which alternate with the shots of the brother and the sister making love. These parallel shots talk about how young Andre waited and caught a purely white pigeon. I am not sure does pigeon have specific cultural meaning in Brazil or not, simply from my perceptions about pigeons, they represent loyalty and some sort of spirituality. Thus, when Luiz put young Andre catching a pigeon along side adult Andre finally touched his sister, to whom Andre had been struggling with his feelings, I can understand the bright side of this love.
To the left of the father absolutely has a strong emphasis on the religion, though I am not sure about which religion the film exactly talks about since I grew up non-religiously. The religious culture in Andre's family has made his father an superior and authoritative figure. His father talks about what kind of people the family members should become at dinner table, and his mother never speaks at dinner table even though she seemed to have had such close connections with all family members. The film has used a big portion of its length in talking about Andre's ideological battle with his father's speech and the religious atmosphere infiltrated in the family that, Andre wants to feel and express his passion and freedom which stands in the missing part of his father's speech. For these religious ideologies, interestingly that Luiz did not film any religion related place or symbol. In the contrary, the village where Andre's family lives at seems to be a simple and collective Xanadu. How interesting it is that the simpler place has the stronger morale of religious or traditional conventions.
There were several times that I felt lost in Andre's memories. This is partly because Luiz didn't really depict the outer environment of Andre's household but the internal environment. Therefore, when he suddenly swap into another household, I was confused about whether this is the extended household space or another place. Partly this may also be resulted from Andre's imaginary scenes that did not actually happen, however, Luiz has put those scenes together with the peaceful village life shots. Therefore, I was a bit lost between Andre's world and the reality.
The saddest part for me may be Andre's sister and lover - Anna's experience. She was not insensitive in catching the different love from her brother, although I am still not sure whether the passion and lust were more related with her teenage period or not. She seemed to respond to Andre's cravings and struggles that, she appeared in Andre's hidden place. Then, she confessed in front of the god.
This is a stimulating film for me as I am curious about the meanings and the religions and the lust, as well as simple like is sensual pursuit lighter than the spiritual pursuit? Hope to connect some other feelings back to this film one day.
Without knowing any background information about the film, I got attracted by the first scene of Andre masturbating. The shot looks a bit distorted as the images are stretched. The background blare of a train made me feel that Andre may be immersed in his memories, like a train to our old memories inside. Andre's masturbating is not a powerful exercise in a sense of just releasing the impulsiveness or sensual pleasure. Instead it looks painful and hurting for me, because of his almost crying face with fingers digging into his belly and snatched slowly through the skin before the coming climax. The train's sound came gradually to the foreground and Andre's body became blur, however, I can feel the intensity burst out via the elaborated rhythm of the train's blare. At the end, it was Andre's aimless eyes which tell me this masturbation more likely comes out of a blue memory.
The second point that touched me is the tune of the lust in childhood. The tune is set with green grass, brown leaves, blue sky and the dark soil. The lust is buried in the toes grasping the soil and rubbing the earth. It is such a natural intimacy between a child and nature that, I could not feel there is any shame around the feeling. Young Andre is also bright, curious and adventurous and he was spending time with himself in this wild nature. Even when the most controversy plot revealed it self on the screen, which I think is Andre making love with his sister, the director Luiz has organised the scenes in a skilful manner. Luiz arranged a sequence of parallel shots which alternate with the shots of the brother and the sister making love. These parallel shots talk about how young Andre waited and caught a purely white pigeon. I am not sure does pigeon have specific cultural meaning in Brazil or not, simply from my perceptions about pigeons, they represent loyalty and some sort of spirituality. Thus, when Luiz put young Andre catching a pigeon along side adult Andre finally touched his sister, to whom Andre had been struggling with his feelings, I can understand the bright side of this love.
To the left of the father absolutely has a strong emphasis on the religion, though I am not sure about which religion the film exactly talks about since I grew up non-religiously. The religious culture in Andre's family has made his father an superior and authoritative figure. His father talks about what kind of people the family members should become at dinner table, and his mother never speaks at dinner table even though she seemed to have had such close connections with all family members. The film has used a big portion of its length in talking about Andre's ideological battle with his father's speech and the religious atmosphere infiltrated in the family that, Andre wants to feel and express his passion and freedom which stands in the missing part of his father's speech. For these religious ideologies, interestingly that Luiz did not film any religion related place or symbol. In the contrary, the village where Andre's family lives at seems to be a simple and collective Xanadu. How interesting it is that the simpler place has the stronger morale of religious or traditional conventions.
There were several times that I felt lost in Andre's memories. This is partly because Luiz didn't really depict the outer environment of Andre's household but the internal environment. Therefore, when he suddenly swap into another household, I was confused about whether this is the extended household space or another place. Partly this may also be resulted from Andre's imaginary scenes that did not actually happen, however, Luiz has put those scenes together with the peaceful village life shots. Therefore, I was a bit lost between Andre's world and the reality.
The saddest part for me may be Andre's sister and lover - Anna's experience. She was not insensitive in catching the different love from her brother, although I am still not sure whether the passion and lust were more related with her teenage period or not. She seemed to respond to Andre's cravings and struggles that, she appeared in Andre's hidden place. Then, she confessed in front of the god.
This is a stimulating film for me as I am curious about the meanings and the religions and the lust, as well as simple like is sensual pursuit lighter than the spiritual pursuit? Hope to connect some other feelings back to this film one day.
