Julio Quintana's The Vessel is a meditative exploration of faith, hope, grief, and despair, being a film which exhibits humanities' struggle to deal with pain and emotional anguish, often looking towards the supernatural for guidance and acceptance when the natural world itself seems to offer little penitent for pain. Centered around a small-town located somewhere in South America (I think), Julio Ouintana takes place in the wake of a horrible tragedy, one in which has left forty-seven school children left lifeless after a tsunami unexpectedly wrecked havoc that day. The town is lifeless, stagnant, and full of misery, with many of the younger inhabitants of the town long gone, with only the older citizens of the town left in a perpetual state of misery. Leo, one of the few young inhabitants left, struggles with the loss of his own brother in the tsunami, unable to personally move on from the tragedy, due in part to his mother's deep-seeded misery. When Leo begins to experience strange happenings, after a near death experience, the town begins to run aflame with passions long forgotten, with many of the townsfolk beginning to see Leo as a source of hope, a vessel from god, and a light which could slowly lead to their own sense of happiness once again. Julio Quintana's The Vessel is a sociological study of grief and despair, being a film that deconstructs the toxic nature of such sadness, exposing a whole town of individuals whose own sadness, guilt, and grief reinforce their perpetual state of misery. Leo is a character who himself struggles with the burden of guilt, questioning why he is still alive when so many others weren't granted that right. His pain is reinforced by his own mother, who herself struggles due to the death of her other son, Leo's brother, living a life essentially as a mute with her only vocalization coming through an occasional sad song. The Vessel remains rather ambiguous as to whether Leo is in fact experiencing a spiritual presence, an intentional decision that touches on the fundamental nature of humanities' search for answers about our existence and the fundamental question of why do bad things happen. While some members of the village become empowered from Leo, showing for the first time some semblance of hope and rejuvenation, other members of the town view Leo as a demon of sorts, responsible for forsaking the town and these people, not helping them when they surely needed him the most. The Vessel is not an attack on faith or religion per se, more an examination of the existential nature of such beliefs, deconstructing both the empowerment which faith can have over the individual while simultaneously touching on the destructive nature it can create. The fine line between miracle and tragedy is a construct of perception in many cases, with The Vessel creating a meditative and thought provoking examination of both the dangers of blind faith, the importance of hope, and the destructive power of grief. Humanities shared connection, the need for empathy, and the importance of community are all intrinsic aspects of The Vessel, a film that really leaves the viewer in a sense of existential awe, with life and all its pain and joy being something we as individuals and a society should never take for granted. Considering Terrence Malick's involvement in The Vessel, the film's existential nature certainly isn't particularly surprising, but neither are the film's technical qualities, which featured the same type of rhythmic, lived-in, expressionistic cinematography that has been a major aspect of the late stages of Malick's career. Open spaces, decaying facades, and a grim color pallet of grays and black visual express the stagnant sorrow of this town, which only aids in creating the meditative aspects of the film's overall experience. Julio Quintana's The Vessel can be uneven at times with its message, but what stands out is the existential nature of this story, being a film that deconstructs man's penchant for hope, never shying away from looking at both the positives and negatives of faith.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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