La balada de Narayama

The story of a traditional person in the backdrop of traditional theater seems to exclude real understanding for us, modern people, without us committing distorting anachronism. Like in other cases, can a person of the Age of Enlightenment only imagine a vanished world, separated from him by a wall (romanticizing or disillusioning) of imagination? Not at all, because the modern person is literally present in the center of the action, although as a less noticeable supporting character - the character of the old man, fleeing from his fate. The confrontation between the modern and traditional person thus takes on personal traits. The story of the dying old woman, who willingly gives up her life and the pleasures that remain to her (her teeth), in order to secure the favor of the gods and die with peace in her soul, with the calmness of convention, is confronted with the cowardice of the old man, who falls into the disdain of the community due to the violation of tradition. The undeniable yet ultimately cowardly dignity of the old woman stands against the dishonor of the old man, who, however, appears as an embodiment of modernity, with its appreciation and enjoyment while there is still time, and oblivious to death, which, after leaving the safety of tradition, appears with all its horror. From rain under the eaves, or history. (16.09.2014)