An axe for the frozen sea inside us.
by Todd Foley
SOUND OFF: What’s the most devastating story (book, film or play) you’ve ever encountered? What was it about the story that made such an impact on you?
“We need the books that affect us like disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us.” Franz Kafka
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Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan. I returned from that film, and had a crying existential crisis about whether or not I could confirm that what was outside our apartment was real. Also, Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn, as I remember stifling tears while reading in a grade 12 English class. Reality is harsh.
I watched Black Swan long after the Oscars and reading all the hype, expecting to be scared. As the film came to its conclusion, I felt numb, cold, confused and traumatized. In other words, it was a true horror film. More than anything, it was a chilling, cautionary example of how striving for perfection often leads to our own undoing. Reality is harsh, indeed. I’ll have to read that book!
Schindler’s List destroyed me.
The little girl in red, especially. Such innocence and joy cut down for no reason.