The long drought of good movies has ended and how! Watched the Doors, Ray and Motorcycle Diaries recently and each of these movies has left behind a poignant and deep impression, through their sheer intensity. I felt anew that when a movie leaves you with a pained pleasure and engenders several thought trains that don’t remain just that, but work at a subliminal level to affect you personally, that’s when movie watching is a really moving experience and that feeling is worth worlds.
Ray - here was a man who, through tribulations early in life, almost became what many of us become through sheer inertia, another brick in the wall. He started off where Nat King Cole left off, the need for mass appeal drawing him along the oft-trodden path. Then happens the blessed moment of clarity and then we get a glimpse into the real Ray Charles as he starts belting out Gospel and Blues, a hitherto unheard genre, drawing enough flak along the way for blasphemy and irreverence. But these songs were an instant hit because of the soul of these songs was one which was left to its natural beauty, unencumbered with the burden of the artificial lacquer that, sadly, is often the concession made to popular demand. Then he constantly reinvents himself, going further and deeper to his roots to explore himself, with music as his probe.
It’s a fascinating path to travel along, especially when you are lost and confused.. the path backwards. To return to the roots, to glance inside you and get drawn into the tunnel, like Alice, following the rabbit of self-introversion, seeing several glimpses of yourself along the trip in sudden turns and hidden corners, to look upon yourself with increasing understanding, so that as you near the end(or rather the beginning), you know what you are going to see and are feeling completely at peace with yourself. That’s when the best in you comes out and manifests itself.
Hit the road Jack.. that’s precisely what I did last weekend. Awesome weather, shy, soft, soothing drizzles along the way and back, pleasant people, magnificent mansions, enchanting experience.
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