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brutal realism
October 2009 
Something Helpless that Wants Our Help...~ Rainer Maria Rilke
Posted on May 19th, 2009
by 
Joy Bringer
Joy Bringer
Just watched a quite dark, existential, weird and multi-layered movie - "Synecdoche, New York", 2008 by Charlie Kaufman that stirred many thoughts, feelings and beliefs. Sharing some intense excerpts here even if they are out of context... Seeing & experiencing the whole movie is probably needed yet I felt the need/urge/desire to share these as they are in text format first...
"What was once before you - an exciting, mysterious future - is now behind you. Lived; understood; disappointing. You realize you are not special. You have struggled into existence, and are now slipping silently out of it. This is everyone's experience. Every single one. The specifics hardly matter. Everyone's everyone. So you are Adele, Hazel, Claire, Olive. You are Ellen. All her meager sadnesses are yours; all her loneliness; the gray, straw-like hair; her red raw hands. It's yours. It is time for you to understand this. Walk. As the people who adore you stop adoring you; as they die; as they move on; as you shed them; as you shed your beauty; your youth; as the world forgets you; as you recognize your transience; as you begin to lose your characteristics one by one; as you learn there is no-one watching you, and there never was, you think only about driving - not coming from any place; not arriving any place. Just driving, counting off time. Now you are here, at 7:43. Now you are here, at 7:44. Now you are... Gone.
Minister: Everything is more complicated than you think. You only see a tenth of what is true. There are a million little strings attached to every choice you make; you can destroy your life every time you choose. But maybe you won't know for twenty years. And you'll never ever trace it to its source. And you only get one chance to play it out. Just try and figure out your own divorce. And they say there is no fate, but there is: it's what you create. Even though the world goes on for eons and eons, you are here for a fraction of a fraction of a second. Most of your time is spent being dead or not yet born. But while alive, you wait in vain, wasting years, for a phone call or a letter or a look from someone or something to make it all right. And it never comes or it seems to but doesn't really. And so you spend your time in vague regret or vaguer hope for something good to come along. Something to make you feel connected, to make you feel whole, to make you feel loved. And the truth is I'm so angry and the truth is I'm so f*cking sad, and the truth is I've been so f*cking hurt for so f*cking long and for just as long have been pretending I'm OK, just to get along, just for, I don't know why, maybe because no one wants to hear about my misery, because they have their own, and their own is too overwhelming to allow them to listen to or care about mine. Well, f*ck everybody. Amen."
Depressing and nihilistic as those beliefs might sound, the film is perplexing and life affirming in its own way. It suggests that too many of us spend too much time trying to make sense of the world and not enough time living in it. We pull back in loneliness and fear when faced with things bigger than ourselves rather than turning to those who can actually help, namely the ones with whom we share our time on this planet...
Access: PublicTagged with: Rilke, Rainer Maria Rilke, help, love, truth, Synecdoche, brutal realism, connected, whole
For some reason none of that sounded depressing or nihilistic to me. The words remind me a little of Fight Club and also American Beauty, two of my very favorites. I'm going to put this movie at the top of my list now and watch it right away. Thank you!
All so true…..great…thanks Darina….love
You welcome Jeannie & Rafa…
I am glad it sparked your interest and I sense you will find it worthy.
Just adding what I wrote in reply to Peggy's great comment here:
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=81876821732&comments
many sages and wise women have confirmed that every moment and every challenge is an opportunity for change and transformation and I agree with Rilke that it is usually also a call for love and acceptance of what is. The less we apply labels and judgements the better. Sometimes 'misery' can seem to overwhelm us and even anger and depression may set in, but seeing the bigger picture with different eyes always puts life & its ups & downs in a more 'chewable' perspective.