tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-717875266905215662.post6902469394860293051..comments2016-06-22T17:21:30.235-07:00Comments on The Cinema of Estrangement: The Hour of the Wolf - Guilty ConscienceAl Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251435271776441569noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-717875266905215662.post-48573902141228522852011-01-24T09:34:50.539-08:002011-01-24T09:34:50.539-08:00(Warning: spoiler alert. I finished the film early...(Warning: spoiler alert. I finished the film early since I missed class Thursday.)<br /><br />I definitely agree with you that the people Johan encounters on the island are figments of his imagination and it’s interesting that you tried to pinpoint the cause of these horrific nightmares, but I think Alma sees them as well, at least when she is with Johan. When he tells Alma of his encounter with the boy near the rocks, in which he ultimately smashed the child’s face against a stone and threw him into the ocean, Alma is horrified and shocked. In this instance, Johan experienced his vision alone. However, when Johan and Alma visit the castle, it seems as if they experience his visions together. As Johan is being seduced by his ex-girlfriend, Veronica, and prepared for a sexual encounter with her by the men at the party, Veronica hands Alma her husband’s diary and tells her “I have bought myself a sizeable stake in your husband” while taunting her with bruises in inconspicuous locations claiming they’re spots of enthusiasm. We can’t be totally sure if she’s experiencing these visions at the same time as Johan, however, until the final moments of the film. It’s at this time that she questions how much loving Johan and living with him for so long could affect her. She admits that because she loves him, she tried to think like him but wonders if she could have protected him if she had loved him less and his demons not spread to her. These notions of one person’s fears being able to translate to another and being less equipped to protect the ones you love, I think, are the most intriguing parts of the film.Baxter Millerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11337456992735695632noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-717875266905215662.post-44382071899739762672011-01-24T08:27:40.305-08:002011-01-24T08:27:40.305-08:00I agree as well that the past events of adultery, ...I agree as well that the past events of adultery, and other sexual experiences manifests itself in Johans breakdown of his perception of reality and that the audience sees. His deep seeded feelings are portrayed in how he remembers past experiences and it is possibly manifested in his artistic work as well which as far as I recall, we never get a chance to see. Earlier in the movie, I recall Alma's reaction to one of his works as just complete shock. For someone who is the wife of an artist to be shocked by one of his works it must be relatively disturbing. It is possible the summer in isolation with just his pregnant wife, whom he has betrayed through adulterous situation, caused so much angst in them that he enters disturbed state of reality.Paul LaBarberahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00944542073256621760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-717875266905215662.post-29683871099774447012011-01-24T08:16:24.540-08:002011-01-24T08:16:24.540-08:00I agree completely with your first point--that Joh...I agree completely with your first point--that Johan is having flashbacks of guilt represented through the characters presented in the film. To me, it seems that the body of the film (the many events with the others on the island) shows many different facets of Johan's conscience--from past sexual affairs to suppressed homosexual desires.<br />What causes these guilty conscience flashbacks, however, I’m not completely sure. You suggest that Alma’s pregnancy may have caused Johan to question his identity, thus releasing his underlying desires. However, I believe that Johan wasn’t questioning his identity, but realizing it through the strange events in the film. From the beginning, I perceived Johan as a very disturbed character, a fact that becomes more evident throughout the film. <br />Whatever the reason for Johan’s actions—whether an identity crisis or just inherent identity recognition—Johan and Alma’s summer is most certainly a peculiar sequence of events.John Scottonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01927785294393315743noreply@blogger.com