The Red Violin

It's back to the grind tomorrow and I attempted a last ditch effort to effectively utilize my leisure time today with a meaningful film.

Though I find most technology an annoyance and irrelavant, i.e. GPS, I have to agree that PVR is quite useful. Till date, I have not managed to watch the Red Violin from beginning to end. I've caught snippets of it while surfing through the online guide at the most inopportune moments. Today, with luck being in my favour, I discovered that said film was playing this afternoon on Showcase. I was, thus, able to secure a recording through PVR to watch later this evening.

I was finally able to follow the entire story uninterrupted. It did not disappoint though the entire Samuel Jackson portion was hardly inspiring. The film was neither riveting like the English Patient, nor grief inspiring like Schindler's List, nor satisfying like the Shawshank Redemption. Nevertheless, it kept you thinking long after the movie had ceased. Particularly interesting were the storylines in Italy, Viena & China. For a blood veneered violin to have survived centuries, passing from one hand to another, used and abused and finally restored is truly inspiring.

I personally believe, we leave something of ourselves behind in our possessions and there is a 'chi', if you can call it that, that flows from it to the person taking over that possession. Perhaps that is what gives antique furniture and instruments so much character. If they could tell stories, can you imagine what we could learn of our past, of ourselves and of our actions. Something to ponder when you find yourself browsing on Craig's List or Kijiji...