Please understand . . .
I see a number of "off beat" films for one who does not live in one of the
cultural poles or a university town. The term of art nowadays is "indie." So unsophisticated am I that "indie" left me initially mystified. Please know too that I am not some attention challenged specimen of Gen X -- or worse Y -- who needs steamy sex, car chases, and multi-coloured phantasmagoria to make me part with the price of admission. Drawn to NORTHFORK on slender knowledge but an interest in the purported subject, I was left ossified with boredom, annoyed with the patent attempts, mostly successful, to "weird me out," and the anti-colour whilst filming in colour for exaggerated effect. One should not dismiss the beautiful relationship between priest and sick boy for its instructional value. (Nolte, fine actor, needed a haircut desperately for 1955, if you please.) That plot line aside, the rest could politely called "surreal," but as I said upon arriving home, "I would give my worst enemy my life savings to shoot me in the head, rather than see this film again." Perhaps if I watched again . . . slowly . . . it might yield more as second viewings often do. See the paragraph above, however. Sorry if I gave offense. We need more films without Bruce Willis or the like.. 
The voice-over epilogue during final credits. Sanctity of the dying process.
The voice-over epilogue at the ending credits is
profound.Particularly.for one who has witnessed death and sought some possible understanding of it.It is actual verbiage from Mr Nolte from his mothers funeral. This is explained in thew DVD extras. I pass these words on to friends when they lose loved ones, to provide strength. The words give some comfort as to the sanctity of death to the spiritual person. The analogy is easily transferred from a place to a person. The words can also be edited and also paraphrased. The meaning not lost. The film is slow and heavy in its understanding. Nolte does a magnificent job.. |
Trailers: |
