This evening I had an experience that I feel very priviledged to have had; that is, to have watched, at Edinburgh's Filmhouse Cinema, Andrzej Zulawski's film 'Trzecia czesc nocy', and to have listened to his fascinating answers to questions that the audience posed afterwards. The night itself was in three parts- Zulawski's intro, the film, Q&A with Zulawski. in the intro was stressed that films are not made in an abstract time; films are made from within a definite time and relient on the technologies and on the experiences that are available to the director and those assisting him. 'The Third Part of The Night' is, in this way, reacting against the brutality and stupidity of a totalitarian regime. Filmmakers must 'define their enemy' said Zulawski.'The Third Part of the Night' is a beautiful film. I found it humbling and beautiful in its moments of high, unfamiliar (to me) psychological tension, as in this screen capture above, but also in the extraordinary release of momentary joy/ bewilderment at the birth of a child. Also in its quiet moments., in the opening scenes in the forest area where the characters have a lice-like quality, as though we're looking through a microscope. It is a violent film too, but its violence is quiet, is the exact opposite of propoganda, the exact opposite of glorification: a microscope may enlarge something but it doesn't glorify it...
