Freedom And Order

Ok, just another scene from Sátántangó. Director Béla Tarr very much likes long monologues. I mean we all know that in a similar everyday situation there are likely to be short(er) contributions to a conversation from either parties, which can be, depending on the situation, down to the fact, or more emotionally heated, but rarely a concise statement of the standpoint or philosophy of a party on the matter at hand. But these monologues give you the feeling of such situations, because they relate those thoughts, perhaps only recognised by an outside viewer, that are there but are never pronounced. Here an artist can use his refined skills in rhetorics and turn even a drunkard into a Cicero of his own existence. The scene here is when the main characters, Irimiás and Petrina, are told that they have no choice but to cooperate in police activities. And while doing so, the police captain starts a monologue on order and freedom. Is it only me, or here and there he does seem a bit drunk...? Anyway, to me the most interesting part of it all, is the one about people being afraid of freedom despite the fact that there is nothing frightening in it, and kind of expecting order from authority despite the fact that there are many frightening things in order. I believe there is some truth to this. On an individual level, we may all look for our own solutions to a problem like that. What this is on a social level, if there is any satisfactory, is or should be open for argument. But the "beauty" of a situation as the one in the clip is that you cannot argue or even defend your individuum because you have no choice but to cooperate! When expected norms which should make living together easier intend instead to determine you, be it in the name of any ideology, I believe that is alarming...