a Simple Man Soul

Jean-Dominique Bauby & locked-in syndrome

a brief review of the movie

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Le scaphandre et le papillon)

I recently watched the movie The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Le scaphandre et le papillon). I didn’t know what to expect, because, I so often disagree with what I hear or read in movie reviews.

The story is by and about Jean-Dominique Bauby. Mr. Bauby suffered a massive stroke in 1995, when he was only 43 years old, which is my current age.  When he awoke in the hospital three weeks later, he was completely paralyzed, with the only exception being his left eye & eyelid.

The story is told from the first person perspective of Bauby.  And therefore, because you are seeing the unfolding of his life from inside of his paralyzed body, you are able to comprehend the utter terror and anguish of being “locked-in” and unable to talk or touch.

I am impressed that Bauby was given the opportunity to communicate via his unparalyzed eye.

These are feelings that I have when I consider the events of Mr. Bauby’s stroke, & his waking up paralyzed:

• I am ashamed of the years that I waste in solitude & laziness.
• I also wonder if I would ask forgiveness of my wife and family, for squandering our time together.
• The time when Bauby told Marie that he wanted to die is a profound mind shift, because he is moved to think of someone else more than himself.
• Could I make the same resolution that Bauby made?  I suspect that I would not.

There are things that I wished Bauby had said, but…, he didn’t and I wonder why not?
If I knew I could never hold my wife again or talk to her, I wonder what I would not say?

I wonder if an apology at that point serves any real point at all.

It is serendipity that today’s poem, on the Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor, has a woeful & useless apology as its theme.

The poem, Time + Distance by Leslie Monsour.

This poem fits my feelings on Mr. Bauby & his relationship with Céline, his wife.

• [A word of caution about this movie, I did not like the graphic depiction of violence in two or three of the scenes. So, a word to the wise...]

Ofelia and the sick Oak tree

I think about the two adults who Ofelia trusts, the mother and the lady concierge, Mercedes.

Each of these central caretakers for Ofelia, tell her that when she is older (and ostensibly wiser) she will become as they are.

When maturity comes, she must give-up hope, dreams and belief in “fairy tales”. This correlates and is juxtaposed with Jesus’ words in Mt 18:3-6
“Verily I say unto you, Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me: But whoso shall cause one of these little ones that believe on me to stumble, it is profitable for him that a great millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be sunk in the depth of the sea.”
This also would be a motivation to never seek to “mature”.
Why would Ofelia have any desire to become, either;
1. The lover to a demon, as her mother had chosen
2. Or, the concierge and lead housemaid to satan’s instrument of pain, as Mercedes had chosen?
There is a particular scene when Ofelia’s mother finds out that she has placed a mandrake under the mother’s bed?
Her mother is very pointed about the need for Ofelia to give up hope, and then she threw the mandrake (hope) into the fire.

I think the fire symbolizes satan’s domain (aka hell), the mandrake represents the growing hope that is inside of both, the mother and Ofelia.
The mother attempts to kill Ofelia’s hope by destroying the mandrake, however, she, in-fact, only kills her own hope & dreams.

Would hope threaten the mother’s reality? I don’t know.
Or maybe, Ofelia’s hope represented an indictment of the mother’s compromises.

In any case, it challenges me to consider what I demand of my kids. How much hope, of my children, should I be willing to incinerate, so that they are well grounded in reality?

I struggle with some of the concepts.
There is a frightening aspect of children choosing “the hope” of death, rather than the corresponding “hopelessness of life.”

But, I feel the correlation and it bothers me.

It disturbs me that the life that Ofelia is promised by the faun, appears to have such a strong resemblance to death.
Why does life resemble death?

And the reason that this question is relevant is because it is inherent to the biblical narrative.
The concept, “Life is death and death is life”, is at the very core of Christ’s passion.

I will, with reluctance, recommend this movie with the caveat in the beginning of this post.

I am considering Ayn Rand and her philosophy of objectivism. I think that I understand why she had to develop it and why she had to promote it so avidly.

I do see many inconsistencies in the theme and characters in Atlas Shrugged. But, these have probably been written by others, so I won’t waste time.

I feel empathy for Rand. She must have carried a deep emotional burden because of her decision to leave her mom and dad behind in Russia, and then to never be able to know what became of them.

This is the statement in Atlas Shrugged Chapter 8;  “It was the greatest sense of existence; not to trust, but to know.”

Armed with nothing but vision

Rand was mistaken. She made an error in separating Knowledge from Faith.

I am not convinced that knowledge can exist apart from faith.

It is a premise that I have not accepted from materialists, regardless of whether these materialists are capitalists, such as Rand, or socialists, such as Chomsky.

Faith and knowledge are intimate partners. They are married, as it were. Yet, when they are divorced…, the fall occurs.

Genesis 3:4 “…your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

I watched The Island on Christmas night and was very moved by the story.
There is a paradox, in that Father Anatoly rejects the totality of the Orthodox Church’s reverence to tradition, but he remains quite within the Orthodox tradition.

Father Filaret and Father Job admit, in their own way, that their religious observance has trapped them in a unique kind of decadence. It’s an interesting idea, of religious decadence. I wonder what would fall into that category, for any modern Christian group.

Personally, there are somethings that I am unwilling to give up, just like Filaret with his boots and blanket, which is shown in an unusual scene.
If only I could be locked in a boiler room with no air supply and have my demons chased away.

I feel convicted by the film’s portrayal of Anatoly’s contrition and the humility of his daily repentance.

I will recommend this one to anyone who desires redemption.
When does a person receive redemption and how does one know when he is redeemed?
DSM