And he starts to see reasons to continue living-to value life. What happens when the Knight doesn't play chess? More importantly, what happens when he takes the milk from the actors? Gets involved with the little witch, and finally meets again with his wife? He forgets about death for a while. After all, it's not too enriched or plumped with meaning. Such a philosophy certainly makes life an easy thing to let go of. Otherwise, you'll be too distracted by them and the crew will be forced to carry you on the ship against your will. Epictetus warned us life's only a break from the sailing of the ship collect your valuables on the shore, but be ready to leave them behind when the captain calls. It's why the Greek Stoics advised against attachments. His connections to life, loosened as they are from isolation, will not tug on him so strongly to stay behind. Continuing down that path-well, by the time he inevitably loses, he'll probably be all right with it. It forces him into a struggle no one else can see, let alone understand. What are the consequences, however? It alienates him from other people. He's unlikely to ever beat death, sure, but he can make a mighty opponent of himself. The Knight actually does pretty good in the game of chess. Solitude equips us with the tools to challenge death. As a result, I feel confident that I have significant portions of it memorized.Īs to how I interpret the film, I'd say it's a pro-community film. Hell, half of the 'things' there to catch are made up on the spot by other people.Īs for The Seventh Seal, I love how simple the surface story is and how unique the images are.

That's my basic attitude when watching films-I'm not going to catch everything. At some point, you're going to have to come to terms with the fact you're not going to see everything. Think of traveling around a foreign country. I never feel I 'owe' anything a watch or that any film 'deserves' any sort of respect. Like the film came from outer space and just magically fit in my DVD player. Sure thing-I pretend that they come from the void.

The seventh seal film