The main essence of Adam's struggle with Ivan is
forcing him to admit that there is evil
on the planet that cannot be turned into something good. Therefore Adam is
introduced diegeticly through his fascist ideals and conditions of
probation as "the evil"
against what Ivan tries to stem.
The initial conflict between those two
semantic ideals is shown through the use of space. Two shots are especially
well suited here; Ivan browsing through Adam's probationary-information while
he himself and Adam are spatially divided through a table and every shot of
Ivan talking reveals a cross hanging on the walls behind him. The symbol of a
cross can be found at several key scenes (compare p.2).
This shot is narrativley placed at the beginning of
the movie, just before the viewer gets to know what specific topic is going to
be dealt with. The next shot worth mentioning is outside the church, when the
group of Ivan, Gunnar and Khalid are put together in one shot while discussing
how to deal with the raven-situation, whereas Adam is shown in a single shot
when talking. He has no interest in his apple pie, but all the more he does not
care about the highly biblical symbolisms (the crows, the maggots).
In conclusion, the camera quickly creates two entities by means of separating and merging the characters right from the start.
To analyse the role of the Book of Job it is quite
helpful to look at several set-ups, which prepare the audience and Adam to
finally deal with the Job-theme. Just after Ivan picks up Adam, he puts a Take
That cover of „How Deep is your Love" on, which is an often repeated shot
and also Ivan's way of dealing with the uprising tension between him and Adam.
In a cynical and subtle way, the song's lyrics constantly make Ivan remind
himself that all his misfortunes are just God's way of testing him.
The first small climax can be found as Adam is not
able to detain his anger towards Ivan any longer and beats him up. The initial
disequilibrium does not result in a relief of tension, on the contrary, it gets
more intense and Adam's misfit-situation toughens. It is important to notice
here that the camera movement during the fights does not emphasize the fighting
itself but rather capturing the weird frame of a pastor being beaten up by a
Neo-Nazi on the beautiful forecourt of a church in a small village; you can
hear the birds tweeting and the wind breezing through flowering trees. And also
after the fight is over, the camera follows Adam into the kitchen where he is
joined by a completely blood-smeared Ivan just moments later, merely to inform
Adam and Gunnar that he is on his way to the hospital now.
Despite Ivan being battered, the scene is filmed with
absolutely no fear of showing his wounds. So on a narrative and stylistic level
it is made to look like nothing happened.
Therefore this scene gains quite an important function
because it reveals Ivan's abnormal idea of optimism.
The most important set-up, the set-up of the Book of
Job, is representing the final climax and turning point. Several shots show the
bible falling from a shelf in Adam's room and landing opened on the Book of
Job. These are followed by a shot showing Adam finally reading it and then
confronting Ivan with the statement that it is not the devil testing him,
indeed it is God himself. The blood dripping out of Ivan's ear functions as a
symbol for Adam's victory for the time being and also for a possible semantic
closure. Just moments before, the storm has removed the hay from the scarecrow
and revealed a wooden cross, which is highly charged with the symbolism of the two
fighting semantic ideals. But what is following is not a scene of Adam's
relief, it is a sudden twist on the narrative, semantic, and stylistic level.
The former idyllic setting of the small church surrounded by a tranquil
landscape fades and the shot darkens. Adam is visibly remorseful due to the
fact that apparently higher powers are interfering and even his flashlight runs
out of power during the most impressive shot, where his apple tree is struck by
a massive lighting strike.
Constant semantic twists can be found throughout the
whole movie.
Another well suited example is the cross in Adam's
room, which he replaced with a portrait of Adolf Hitler, representing his idea
of faith. His 'idea of faith' is shaking every morning under the vibrations of
the church bells and finally collapses after a scene of Ivan's undaunted
optimism regarding Adam's apple tree. Also the narrative position of this scene
strengthens its validity because it is put just shortly after the first
possible semantic closure in which Ivan breaks down the first time. The viewer sees no plausible reason for Ivan
to pursue his task of showing that every evil can be changed into something
good.
But not only the set-up of the Job-motif itself plays
a vital role for the narrative; another important semantic opposition, which
however is subordinate to our main semantic question, is the one between
telling the truth and lying. On the one hand, there is Gunnar or primarily the
Gunnar we get to know through Ivan's telling; a former alcoholic, cleansed
through his regained faith in God. On the other hand however, Gunnar is
constantly drinking cough syrup in the kitchen in a recurring shot. Also the
frame is trimmed to the essential parts - a highly obese male sitting at a
table filled with empty bottles of cough syrup. The narrative content of Ivan's
set-up of Gunnar has no impact on Adam's behavior, the pay-off and how it is
presented stylistically however triggers the first impulses to actually doing
something. So this scene is a key step for Adam's further relation to Ivan.
The exact same cinematic motif can be applied on the
character of Khalid, whose catharsis is only part of Ivan's figment.
But how is the semantic opposition clarified?
On that
account we have to take at look at the process of Adam changing his mind and
thus ceasing from his former ideals.
Adam's progressively accumulated stress is shown
through his violent work-offs and his rising consumption of cigarettes. We find
two shots of Adam smoking in front of the local hospital, both times he is the
one responsible for Ivan being there but also the one who somehow changed his
mind and took him there.
In addition, the scene as the doctor decides to leave
town, because he cannot comprehend the ongoing developments regarding Ivan's health,
functions as a key scene in so far as the devil's advocate himself has to give
in to God's power, because Ivan's optimism seems to have finally been rewarded.
The movie did an excellent job at clarifying the main
semantic opposition. We can find several turning points, which lead us to
thinking either Adam or Ivan have gained final victory over the other. Seeing
two ideals that extreme in constant battle leads to appreciation of both sides.
After the indefinite ellipsis at the end, Ivan and
Adam are singing "How deep is your love" one last time as the shot
fades to black. This scene reveals final semantic closure since Adam actually
did change from the personification of "The Evil" into something
good. You cannot help to agree because
of alternating characters enabling
a dialectic insight into both main actors thoughts.
Adam becomes an advocate of faith, while Ivan's
protective shield gets shattered for a short period of time.
Both extremes, both ideals are shown at their peak to
charge their decline.
________
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