The Wind (Poem)

The Wind

Wind, always is the day Wind, always only stays

All else seems to fade with each passing of the day

wanderlust, you might be but do you collect

these paths you tread and these miles you see

blown from your mind ah the winds they are kind

these paths you've tread leave nothing in their stead

These winds caress but they do not obey

the faces you've seen it has blown them away

but if only the wind was so easy to hate

just a depriver of thoughts, the stealer of fate

but we must take such as we have

the good with the bad, the happy and sad

These winds to, they mend whats been broken

they wear down the hills into fields unbroken

Until the you wander on past the scene

then try to remember like a half-recalled dream

It is here the wind does you no favor

it should be forgotten but becomes something to savor

the woman she stood by the shop door

the wind in her hair but her feet on the floor

she turns to leave and catches your eye

then smiles and nods and walks right on by

The wind it is still, it bothers you not

you set her face in your mind, clearly besot

the days turn to years and you've lived out your lot

but you can still see her face, the wind serves you not

this is one hill it has not worn down

for it was still that day in that small little town

this is the problem of missed opportunity

and why the wind is a thing of beauty

things that could have or would have been

are the toys of of the treacherous wind

'Run, Lola Run' An Analysis (paper)

A classic look at German existentialism, Run Lola Run clearly portrays the type of philosophy Germany is famous for. The live in the moment style and the way that the three different scenes are portrayed clearly illustrates the philosophical concept known as "all possible worlds" in which individual actions can drastically change the way that a world turns out to be. What some people have termed to be moral tendencies in the film are little more than various outcomes of different events. In no way does the story take a moral stance. That really is the genius of the movie. It simply states what life could be and makes no assumptions about what life actually is. Within this framework we will observe the ways in which the film uses realism and anti-realism, verisimilitude, characterization, and flashbacks to present its subject matter in a curiously fun way.

The film itself, as mentioned above, exudes philosophical musings. The director has broken the film into three different but equally important pieces. That of acceptance, that of anger, and that of acceptance. In the first run Lola takes the path of accepting that her father is leaving her and her mother and proceeds to find many already robing the convenience store. She plays a mostly passive character throughout the first run not making thing happen but rather allowing things to happen to her. In the second run she becomes angry with her father and proceeds to rob the bank that he works for in order to save her boyfriend. In this role she is working in an active capacity to save her boyfriend instead of allowing things to happen to her. The third and final run plays into the theme of 'amor fati'^*. In this run Lola surrenders her ability to either be worked upon or to work upon the world. In accordance with the philosophy of 'amor fati' she allows fate to decide her future, as is evident in the way that she trusts the roll of the roulette wheel in the casino. The common theme throughout each of these encounters is not whether or not her actions or lack of actions are moral or not but whether she achieves her desired outcome or not. Next we will inspect how realism and anti-realism factor into this film.

The idea of having a film that is split into three different scenes about the same story may seem strange, and it is. The way the movie makes up for this is through its use of, for the most part, a realistic setting and actions that the ordinary viewer might find plausible for the situation that Lola is in. For instance, the entire film is actually filmed in Berlin, the actual setting for the movie. For the main core of German viewers they would be presented with a location that they would have had at least passing familiarity with. This might reinforce the way in which they view the film as recounting a possible day in the life of Lola and Manni. On the flip side of this however are the strange nuances that are added to the film, such as the ability for Lola to break glass with her voice when she is in a rage. While this is not a characteristic most people would have the director chose to include it in the film. The pressing question is: why? Even thought he director had gone through the effort to present most other facets of the movie as being realistic he added in this particular attribute to Lola. This was possibly the directors way of saying that the film, as much as it reflects reality does not, in fact, hold to be the absolute reality. In other words the film is meant to not show a realistic setting. The genius of the film however is to reconcile both of these realities into something comprehensible to the viewer. Here verisimilitude proves particularly adept.

Reconciling the outlandish qualities of the film to everyday viewers expectations of real life is a somewhat tall order. The way in which I will argue for verisimilitude in this particular film might seem to be out of the ordinary to some, and they would be correct. The easiest way to convince an audience that something is like their actual life to to provide them with a way to relate to the film. Normally this might be construed as making a film as realistic as possible and to siphon out any unrealistic elements. While this is perfectly acceptable the director of this film seems to arrive at the same believability through a completely opposite route. By this it is meant that the inclusion of certain unrealistic elements actually improves its verisimilitude. The particular example that fits here is that of the animated sequences. When a person views these sequences they are fully aware that the images they are viewing are not of live actors but of animated figures. Despite this fact I believe it is entirely plausible for a viewer to understand more about the character, and therefore characterization, of these more two dimensional characters simply because the viewer interprets that there is less information to know about an animated character than about a full-fledged person. Because of this idea they feel as though they can connect more with a character that they can more easily understand. Therefore the idea of verisimilitude is effective through a non-real medium.

The final idea that is presented in the movie is that of flashbacks. The reader, however, should take caution here as the flashbacks in this film are not your typical flashbacks. Instead of the traditional flashback the viewer is presented with a 'rerun'. Essentially the viewer watches the same film three times. In the case of 'Run, Lola Run' the flashback turns out to be a completely different reality for the characters. The greatest part about this is the fact that in parts of the film inklings of these other realities are still manifest in the minds of the participants. A prime example is when Lola has the gun while she is robbing the bank. She seems to remember, as if from some other life that the safety on a gun must be turned off in order to uses. In her current reality though she seems to actively remember this and turns the safety of the gun off. In this way the different runs in the film are flashbacks in that they are remembering another scene in the film.

In all the film 'Run, Lola Run' uses several great film tools to set it apart from other movies of its kind. The philosophical undertones of the film encourage the viewer to actively think about the film and the meaning behind it, if there is one, while actively watching the film. The way the director uses realism and anti-realism at the same time engraves a strange image in the viewers mind when used in conjunction with the flashbacks. However all of these are made to seem more familiar to the viewer when combined with verisimilitude and the interesting 2D characterization. The importance of the movie in world-wide cinema is even more important however than the actual film itself. The way in which this film allows a person to view film opens up a large Pandora-like box for other directors to explore and therefore the legacy of the film, while great in and of itself, it eventually outshone by the brilliance of the directors use of his professions paradigms.

*“Love of Fate” (from the Latin)

Existentialism (Quick Word)

A short excerpt from my paper on the movie Run, Lola Run! about the existential aspects of the film. Enjoy.

A classic look at German existentialism, Run Lola Run clearly portrays the type of philosophy Germany is famous for. The live in the moment style and the way that the three different scenes are portrayed clearly illustrates the philosophical concept known as "all possible worlds" in which individual actions can drastically change the way that a world turns out to be. What some people have termed to be moral tendencies in the film are little more than various outcomes of different events. In no way does the story take a moral stance. That really is the genius of the movie. It simply states what life could be and makes no assumptions about what life actually is.