A question raising
spiritual journey or the delusional scribbles of a man drinking and starving
himself to death? The movie never makes it clear which one of the two it is,
and that feels intentional.
I wondered if his inability to consume anything other than wine and bread relate to the significance of wine and bread in Christianity. Is his odd diet supposed to represent his ability or desire to find things that would reconcile with his fate? Sure you could just chalk it up to stomach cancer but there is no reason why it can't symbolize something else.
There are a lot of subtly presented questions about the actions of the members of his parish and constant reminders that he may not exactly be the best person for the job. Indeed sometimes his faith seems to be result of his fear and sickness.
His views on certain subjects seem harsh at times and many repeatedly hint at his inability to communicate properly. The girl tells him how everyone thinks he is a drunk, the older priest tells him his simplicity burns everyone else and the young man from the military informs him of how he agrees with his uncles regarding his lack of social skills.
So one must question how valuable or agreeable his conclusions really are. Breaking into tears, sudden fits of revulsion or attraction to prayer... Not everything seems quite all right with the young priest.
His opening remarks seem rather untrue, there doesn't seem to be any lack of drama, tension or mystery in his life or at least in the parts of it we see. There is a lot of exploration regarding the views and beliefs people hold and the priests views seem to shift every time someone talks to him. However for reasons I'm not able to put a finger on I just feel underwhelmed by the idea of describing them in detail. Maybe if the movie was a little shorter... Either way it was very interesting to see the priest who was creeping towards death the entire time asking so many question to just about everyone trying to find out or learn more.
I don't really feel all that interested by the many questions the movies keeps posing revolving around all the minor characters. Rather the overall journey of the character from a meek and lost priest to a dying man who finds peace is very interesting and unconventional. After all, everything we know about these minor characters, we know from his diary, so isn't it more important to understand how the priest himself works?
I wondered if his inability to consume anything other than wine and bread relate to the significance of wine and bread in Christianity. Is his odd diet supposed to represent his ability or desire to find things that would reconcile with his fate? Sure you could just chalk it up to stomach cancer but there is no reason why it can't symbolize something else.
There are a lot of subtly presented questions about the actions of the members of his parish and constant reminders that he may not exactly be the best person for the job. Indeed sometimes his faith seems to be result of his fear and sickness.
His views on certain subjects seem harsh at times and many repeatedly hint at his inability to communicate properly. The girl tells him how everyone thinks he is a drunk, the older priest tells him his simplicity burns everyone else and the young man from the military informs him of how he agrees with his uncles regarding his lack of social skills.
So one must question how valuable or agreeable his conclusions really are. Breaking into tears, sudden fits of revulsion or attraction to prayer... Not everything seems quite all right with the young priest.
His opening remarks seem rather untrue, there doesn't seem to be any lack of drama, tension or mystery in his life or at least in the parts of it we see. There is a lot of exploration regarding the views and beliefs people hold and the priests views seem to shift every time someone talks to him. However for reasons I'm not able to put a finger on I just feel underwhelmed by the idea of describing them in detail. Maybe if the movie was a little shorter... Either way it was very interesting to see the priest who was creeping towards death the entire time asking so many question to just about everyone trying to find out or learn more.
I don't really feel all that interested by the many questions the movies keeps posing revolving around all the minor characters. Rather the overall journey of the character from a meek and lost priest to a dying man who finds peace is very interesting and unconventional. After all, everything we know about these minor characters, we know from his diary, so isn't it more important to understand how the priest himself works?
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