Tuesday, November 23, 2010

After the Wedding by Greg Weinstein

After the wedding creates a stirring dichotomy between 2 very different subsets of the world's cultures. On one hand you have the capitalist endeavor of becoming wealthy and powerful and on the other you have the legion of people who are barely able to get from one day to the next. This is showcased in the two different locations in the film of India and Denmark, of an orphanage and a mansion, of the industrialized developed area and the poor, downtrodden land. Now, one can look at Jorgen's actions and his death as a greedy capitalist pig trying to "atone for his sins" of acquiring said wealth and then reaping what he sows, but perhaps he was just an opportunistic individual who, when staring down the fearsome figure of death, decided to make his loved ones happy and make thousands of individuals he has never seen before happy as well. Now, does this arrangement come with provisions? Of course, all deals do, but unlike deals with the devil, this doesn't require the purging of one's soul and in the end, it is all by choice anyway. Jacob never actually has to say yes, but just in the same way Jorgen loves his family, so too does Jacob love his and he will do whatever it takes to keep his old and new family happy, protected, and able to grow. This isn't one of those deals of the past where the person with all the money and the power makes a fool out of the naive, penniless foreigner, but instead an image of understanding and growth, for which maybe we all could learn something from.

No comments:

Post a Comment