Just finished my 18th viewing, bladder full to bursting and stomach so empty it feels like it's gnawing on my intestines. Time to move up to the living room for lunch and viewing #19, and then I'll be able to relax until tonight as Cole's at work all day.
New diversion for staying awake during watching T7S: Pushups and crunches. I did 200 pushups yesterday, and over 500 crunches. This challenge may kill my social life with the exception of my opponent, but at least I'll be ripped by the time I finish!
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Theory about Death
First of all, 17 viewings down, and I'll hopefully be able to get at least 2 more in today to catch up to Nicole, though if she's still sick enough to miss going out tonight she'll get at least 1-2 in and pass me again. I'm starting 18 as I type, but I had an epiphany during viewing 17 about why the whole group dies at the end.
Near the beginning Block and Jons come across a corpse, and one that obviously had died from the plague. What if Jons at that point caught the plague from that corpse? Sure, Block had already been marked for Death in the opening beach scene, but Death at that point showed no interest in also collecting the squire's soul, only the knight's. So if Jons contracts the plague at minute 7 when he touches the corpse's face, he passes it along to Raval when he either a) roughs him up and prevents the rape of the mute girl or b) when he cuts him and prevents the torture of Joff. That would explain why Raval dies of the plague later (sure, he dies a bit before Jons but Raval isn't as healthy as evidenced by his obvious poor hygene, and he doesn't have the protection of Block's chess match), and also why Joff is not effected during that scene because Jons never touches Joff, only Raval. Jons could then pass along the plague to the mute girl when he shares the milk with her, Block, Joff and Mia at mark 56:00. Joff and Mia, if you watch the scene, only drink from the milk bowl before Jons does, so they wouldn't be able to get the plague from any backwash. The mute girl does drink after Jons, however, and she could have caught it then.
Jons could then pass the plague to Plogg when he gets hugged by him after their drunken heart-to-heart at mark 60:00. Plogg would then pass it to Lisa when Lisa kisses him during their reunion and the "death" of Jonas Skat. The only death that doesn't make sense in this line of thought is that of Skat himself, but if you remember that his intention is to climb up the tree to take a nap, it's easily possible that he falls out of the tree and breaks his neck, or that the tree falls over in the wind with his added weight in the upper limbs. Death's appearance in that case would be justifiable and wouldn't need a connection to the plague.
I'm not sure if this theory will hold up over more careful scrutiny, but it bothers me that Death takes all of the group at the end of the movie when at the start he was only looking to take Antonius Block.
Near the beginning Block and Jons come across a corpse, and one that obviously had died from the plague. What if Jons at that point caught the plague from that corpse? Sure, Block had already been marked for Death in the opening beach scene, but Death at that point showed no interest in also collecting the squire's soul, only the knight's. So if Jons contracts the plague at minute 7 when he touches the corpse's face, he passes it along to Raval when he either a) roughs him up and prevents the rape of the mute girl or b) when he cuts him and prevents the torture of Joff. That would explain why Raval dies of the plague later (sure, he dies a bit before Jons but Raval isn't as healthy as evidenced by his obvious poor hygene, and he doesn't have the protection of Block's chess match), and also why Joff is not effected during that scene because Jons never touches Joff, only Raval. Jons could then pass along the plague to the mute girl when he shares the milk with her, Block, Joff and Mia at mark 56:00. Joff and Mia, if you watch the scene, only drink from the milk bowl before Jons does, so they wouldn't be able to get the plague from any backwash. The mute girl does drink after Jons, however, and she could have caught it then.
Jons could then pass the plague to Plogg when he gets hugged by him after their drunken heart-to-heart at mark 60:00. Plogg would then pass it to Lisa when Lisa kisses him during their reunion and the "death" of Jonas Skat. The only death that doesn't make sense in this line of thought is that of Skat himself, but if you remember that his intention is to climb up the tree to take a nap, it's easily possible that he falls out of the tree and breaks his neck, or that the tree falls over in the wind with his added weight in the upper limbs. Death's appearance in that case would be justifiable and wouldn't need a connection to the plague.
I'm not sure if this theory will hold up over more careful scrutiny, but it bothers me that Death takes all of the group at the end of the movie when at the start he was only looking to take Antonius Block.
90 min in
Kurin, Block's wife, is reading from the Book of Revelations, the same passage that started the movie and details the ending of the world. I actually read a great book called Kingdom Come by Alex Ross about Superman and other DC comics heroes a few years ago and it references this passage fairly frequently, and even ties in with the last part that Kurin reads about the world-ending comet named "Wormwood". There's a secretary of defense in Kingdom Come named Wormwood, and in the book he's the one that gives the order to use nuclear weapons against rogue supers and nearly dooms the world to a holocaust. It's just a little strange to be connecting Superman to a 1957 black-and-white by way of the Book of Revelations.
So in the movie Death finally comes for Block, having won the chess game and ready to collect the souls of the crusader knight, Jons his squire, Lisa and the blacksmith Plogg, the mute girl, and finally Kurin, the knight's wife, who gets a REALLY raw deal in that she just met her husband for the first time in over 10 years and she has to die anyway. Joff and Mia have escaped however, and with their son Michael (the son "for which all things will be possible" according to Joff at the start of the movie, and an obvious Christ allegory) make their way into the sunset.
So in the movie Death finally comes for Block, having won the chess game and ready to collect the souls of the crusader knight, Jons his squire, Lisa and the blacksmith Plogg, the mute girl, and finally Kurin, the knight's wife, who gets a REALLY raw deal in that she just met her husband for the first time in over 10 years and she has to die anyway. Joff and Mia have escaped however, and with their son Michael (the son "for which all things will be possible" according to Joff at the start of the movie, and an obvious Christ allegory) make their way into the sunset.
81 min in
I've got to be honest, when the mute girl runs for the water bag to give a drink to the dying Raval she really looks like my friend Leah. Like eerily similar. Like I think Leah might be a time traveler now.
If you watch the final chess moves between Block and Death there are two things to catch: 1) When Block knocks over his pieces to let Joff, Mia and Michael escape the king piece is broken. When Death sets the pieces back up the king piece is whole again, and 2) When Death does reset the pieces he puts them in different places, giving him a one-move checkmate of Block.
I guess at this point Block doesn't care that he's going to die because he's achieved his "one significant" act by saving Joff's family, but still...put up a fight at least. I mean, Death blatantly cheats.
4th creepiest exchange of the movie:
Block: And you will reveal all of your secrets to me?
Death: I have no secrets.
(camera zooms in on Death's black, lifeless eyes)
Block: So you know nothing?
(camera zooms in further, you see that Death has no white in his eyes, only blackness)
Death: I am...unknowing.
Max age check: 55, but I missed the scene where the witch is burned alive, and he's EASILY 75 there.
If you watch the final chess moves between Block and Death there are two things to catch: 1) When Block knocks over his pieces to let Joff, Mia and Michael escape the king piece is broken. When Death sets the pieces back up the king piece is whole again, and 2) When Death does reset the pieces he puts them in different places, giving him a one-move checkmate of Block.
I guess at this point Block doesn't care that he's going to die because he's achieved his "one significant" act by saving Joff's family, but still...put up a fight at least. I mean, Death blatantly cheats.
4th creepiest exchange of the movie:
Block: And you will reveal all of your secrets to me?
Death: I have no secrets.
(camera zooms in on Death's black, lifeless eyes)
Block: So you know nothing?
(camera zooms in further, you see that Death has no white in his eyes, only blackness)
Death: I am...unknowing.
Max age check: 55, but I missed the scene where the witch is burned alive, and he's EASILY 75 there.
70 min in
Fun fact, when Death cuts down the tree that Jonas Skat is sleeping in a squirrel actually DID come and eat some of the sawdust. Another fun fact? Swedish squirrels look NOTHING like North American squirrels. They look more like skinny chipmunks with long thin tails. It's kind of strange to think about things like that when you're watching a movie this many times, but I might try and do a little research on the differences between Scandinavian and American Northeastern ground squirrels. Maybe it'll be research for the next Monty Python and the Holy Grail?
63 min in (on viewing 17)
Interesting here: in the subtitled presentation Jonas Skat thinks that Lisa's name is "Kunigunda", but in the dubbed version it's "Ariadne". I can't really figure out why they changed it. By reading Jon's lips you can easily tell that it's supposed to be Kunigunda.
So Plog confronts Jonas Skat and his cheating wife Lisa, Skat "disposes" of himself with the fake knife, and recaptures his wife. The irony of course is that Skat fakes his own death and then is immediately killed by Death as soon as the others leave. I guess it was just his time?
I finished viewing 14 back in the apartment last night, watched 15 last night, then watched 16 this morning at 8 when I woke up. I WILL catch up! Then again, on 5 hours of sleep I'm definitely hearing things. I could have sworn that my roommate talked to me in Swedish this morning.
So Plog confronts Jonas Skat and his cheating wife Lisa, Skat "disposes" of himself with the fake knife, and recaptures his wife. The irony of course is that Skat fakes his own death and then is immediately killed by Death as soon as the others leave. I guess it was just his time?
I finished viewing 14 back in the apartment last night, watched 15 last night, then watched 16 this morning at 8 when I woke up. I WILL catch up! Then again, on 5 hours of sleep I'm definitely hearing things. I could have sworn that my roommate talked to me in Swedish this morning.
Friday, October 30, 2009
58 min in
So I was wondering about this earlier, but basically Death and Block are playing a game of chess, and both are supposedly excellent players. We don't see how many moves each makes at the start, but it couldn't have been too many because here at the 58 min mark when they're playing again there are only a few pieces out of place. They actually only PLAY chess in one other scene in the movie, and (spoiler) Death wins in less than 3 moves in that instance.
So, is Block really bad, or are they just really really fast? Can you win a game in 6 moves? I don't know much about strategy in chess, but my games usually take at least a half an hour of solid move-making. Is Swedish chess different? Color me confused.
Also, I'm going to stop the live blog here at the hour mark because my battery is dying. I'll pick it up tomorrow morning at the same mark with (hopefully) viewing #16 or so. Cole just texted me and said she's started viewing #19, so I might have killed myself before then. Wish me luck!
So, is Block really bad, or are they just really really fast? Can you win a game in 6 moves? I don't know much about strategy in chess, but my games usually take at least a half an hour of solid move-making. Is Swedish chess different? Color me confused.
Also, I'm going to stop the live blog here at the hour mark because my battery is dying. I'll pick it up tomorrow morning at the same mark with (hopefully) viewing #16 or so. Cole just texted me and said she's started viewing #19, so I might have killed myself before then. Wish me luck!
52 min in
Third best exchange of T7S:
Joff: I was so angry, I roared like a lion!
Mia: Where they scared?
Joff: No, they just laughed.
Mia: Did you hit them?
Joff: I got angry...but I never got to that.
Joff: I was so angry, I roared like a lion!
Mia: Where they scared?
Joff: No, they just laughed.
Mia: Did you hit them?
Joff: I got angry...but I never got to that.
44 min in
Fun fact, and this is true: All of the extras in the background of the scene in the inn where Joff gets tortured by Raval and forced to dance are retirees that Bergman plucked from a local senior home. Some truly awesome facial hair, but how disconcerting would that have been for these people? All super old, probably suffering from undiagnosed dementia and altzheimers, and they're plucked out of bed, dressed in medieval rags, taken to a medieval inn and served racks of ribs and beer. And then TAKEN BACK?? I'd be surprised if they even told the family members.
Gramps: I tell you, I was back in the middle ages! There was a pig on a spit, and mead, and a funny dancing man, and...
Grandkids: Of course there were. Orderly, has Gramps been taking his red pills?
Orderly: They can get a little funny with age lads. Don't you worry though, we'll take care of him.
(Grampa has "heart attack" later that day)
Gramps: I tell you, I was back in the middle ages! There was a pig on a spit, and mead, and a funny dancing man, and...
Grandkids: Of course there were. Orderly, has Gramps been taking his red pills?
Orderly: They can get a little funny with age lads. Don't you worry though, we'll take care of him.
(Grampa has "heart attack" later that day)
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