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Grief Colorized

 I watched Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors recently and found myself thinking about the scenes from the movie several days after. A Romeo and Juliet themed story is universally accessible and that is probably why this movie makes sense to a global audience. Beyond that it's about detail and how the director chooses to depict the state of mind of his character, draw us into their live and times. Justice is swift and final for one thing - we see that very early on in the movie. The level of infraction and the outcome would be hard to correlate for an outsider. From there tragedy begets tragedy until there is no one and nothing left to mourn over. 

The movement of the camera in many parts of the movie leaves a feeling on being on roller-coaster trying to take in the scenery the best you can. The period of grief Ivano (the main protagonist) experience is depicted in a blur of color and fast moving images, scenes go from being shot in color to being black and white. Through the haze, sometimes there is a bit of clarity where the camera pauses ever so briefly on something that the viewer can take in. 

I found this depiction of the suffering through the lost of the beloved very poignant. Even for a viewer who has no familiarity with the the language or the culture, the striking visuals resonate - you see the person trying to cope with loss best he can, losing is mind along the way and coming out the other side, transformed into something unrecognizable to those who had known him before. There is a lot beyond the visualization of intense grief a person could take away from the movie - but for me it was what made the strongest impression.

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