goodbye uncle tom ( italian : addio zio tom ) is a 1971 italian film directed by mondo film documentary directors gualtiero jacopetti and franco prosperi with music by riz ortolani .

the film is based on true events in which the filmmakers explore antebellum america , using period documents to examine in graphic detail the racist ideology and degrading conditions faced by africans under slavery .

because of the use of published documents and materials from the public record , the film labels itself a documentary , though all footage is re-staged using actors .

though the film is presented as a documentary , it is more of a historical drama or docudrama because of its fantasy framing device of the directors travelling back in time combined with the re-staging of historical events .

goodbye uncle tom

goodbye uncle tom ( addio zio tom / farewell uncle tom ) ( 1971 ) - soundtrack . net
a review of the controversial italian exploitation shockumentary . you can watch goodbye uncle tom here urltoken
from the 1971 film addio zio tom ( goodbye uncle tom ) by gualtiero jacopetti & franco prosperi . music by riz ortolani .
video classics australia trailer for the film
farewell uncle tom
( 1971 ) aka
goodbye uncle tom
,
addio zio tom
( original italian title ) ,
addio onkel tom
.
furnas , j . c . goodbye to uncle tom . new york : sloane , 1956 , 435 p .
in our endless discussion about tarantino’s django unchained , a few commenters have mentioned the film goodbye uncle tom ( aka addio zio tom ) .
addio zio tom ( goodbye uncle tom ) is a controversial 1971 italian mondo exploitation film directed by gualtiero jacopetti and franco prosperi ( of mondo cane fame ) .
goodbye uncle tom dir . gualtiero jacopetti & franco prosperi , 1971 . usa . 135 min . director’s cut . in italian with english subtitles
so they made goodbye uncle tom — one of the most challenging , notorious , anti - american , and maligned films of all time .
hirsh , stephen a .
uncle tomitudes : the popular reaction to uncle tom ' s cabin .
from the 1971 film addio zio tom ( goodbye uncle tom ) by gualtiero jacopetti & franco prosperi . music by riz ortolani . sung by katyna ranieri . music is owned by gdm italy .
curated for the genre - centric fantastic fest by drive director nicolas winding refn , the unveiling of farewell uncle tom ( also known as goodbye uncle tom ) proved why it remains one of the most divisive sleaze classics ever committed to celluloid .
anderson , beatrice a .
uncle tom : a hero at last .
gardiner , jane .
the assault upon uncle tom : attempts of pro - slavery novelists to answer uncle tom ' s cabin , 1952 - 1860 .
hill , herbert .
' uncle tom ' an enduring american myth .
prior , moody e .
mrs . stowe ' s uncle tom .
decamerone nero ' s german dvd has a super - 8mm version of
goodbye uncle tom
, ( german audio only ) as a special feature on the disc .
fisch , audrey a .
' exhibiting uncle tom in some shape of other ' : the commodification and reception of uncle tom ' s cabin in england .
farewell uncle tom : vile , cruel , amazing | birth . movies . death .
banks , marva .
uncle tom ' s cabin and antebellum black response .
decanio , stephen j .
uncle tom ' s cabin : a reappraisal .
decamerone nero ' s german dvd has a super - 8mm version of
goodbye uncle tom
, ( german audio only ) as a special feature on the disc . see more »
lant , kathleen margaret .
the unsung hero of uncle tom ' s cabin .
white , isabella .
the uses of death in uncle tom ' s cabin .
the critical response to goodbye africa was rather unkind . the new york times review was particularly outraged :
duvall , severn .
uncle tom ' s cabin : the sinister side of patriarchy .
uncle tom ' s cabin and mid - nineteenth - century united states ; pen and conscience .
riss , arthur .
racial essentialism and family values in uncle tom ' s cabin .
askeland , lori .
remodeling the model home in uncle tom ' s cabin and beloved .
brandstadter , evan .
uncle tom and archy moore : the antislavery nove as ideological symbol .
cox , john f .
uncle tom ' s cabin : a pre - raphaeltie reaction .
fisher , philip .
partings and ruins : radical sentimentality in uncle tom ' s cabin .
harriet and the runaway book : the story of harriet beecher stowe and uncle tom ' s cabin .
_ _ _ _ _ .
simm ' s review of uncle tom ' s cabin .
fiedler , leslie .
home as haven , home as hell : uncle tom ' s canon .
jehlen , myra .
the family militant : domesticity versus slavery in uncle tom ' s cabin .
levin , david .
american fiction as historical evidence : reflections on uncle tom ' s cabin .
_ _ _ _ _ .
stowe ' s black sources in uncle tom ' s cabin .
pickens , donald k .
uncle tom becomes nat turner : a commentary on two american heroes .
romero , lora .
bio - political resistance in domestic ideology and uncle tom ' s cabin .
ward , john william .
uncle tom ' s cabin , as a matter of historical fact .
riggio , thomas p .
uncle tom reconstructed : a neglected chapter in the history of a book .
warhol , robyn r .
poetics and persuasion : uncle tom ' s cabin as a realist novel .
camfield , gregg .
the moral aesthetics of sentimentality : a missing key to uncle tom ' s cabin .
_ _ _ _ _ .
modernization and the american fall into slavery in uncle tom ' s cabin .
arner , robert d .
jeffersonian idealism and the southern frontier : a reading of uncle tom ' s cabin .
cassara , ernest .
the rehabilitation of uncle tom : significant themes in mrs . stowe ' s antislavery novel .
grinstein , alexander .
uncle tom ' s cabin and harriet beecher stowe : beating fantasies and thoughts of death .
_ _ _ _ _ .
getting in the kitchen with dinah : domestic politics in uncle tom ' s cabin .
cass , jeffrey .
harriet beecher stowe ' s acts of theological terror : conservatism in uncle tom ' s cabin .
fluck , winfried .
the power and failure of representation in harriet beecher stowe ' s uncle tom ' s cabin .
jenkins , jennifer l .
failed mothers and fallen house : the crisis of domesticity in uncle tom ' s cabin .
_ _ _ _ _ .
uncle tom ' s cabin in frederick douglass ' paper : an analysis of reception .
message , messenger , and response : puritan forms and cultural reformation in harriet beecher stowe ' s uncle tom ' s cabin .
duvall , john n .
authentic ghost stories : uncle tom ' s cabin , absalom , absalom ! , and beloved .
miller , randall m .
mrs . stowe ' s negro : george harris ' negritude in uncle tom ' s cabin .
watson , charles s .
simm ' s answer to uncle tom ' s cabin : criticism of the south in woodcraft .
the following entry presents criticism of stowe ' s novel uncle tom ' s cabin ; or , life among the lowly ( 1852 ) .
joswick , thomas p .
' the crown without conflict ' : religious vaules and moral reasoning in uncle tom ' s cabin .
krog , carl e .
women , slaves , and family in uncle tom ' s cabin : symbolic battleground in antebellum america .
being that the taboos depicted in it are usually the stuff of exploitation films , goodbye uncle tom is often accused of being categorically exploitative . this claim is not entirely without merit , but it represses the film’s more high - minded goals . all of the “mysteries of life” ( birth , death , sex – including homosexuality and pedophilia – and bodily functions ) are herein presented without inhibition , and these images assault the viewer . goodbye uncle tom strips away the expository narration of documentary cinema and the narrative justifications of scripted cinema , effectively leaving the viewer to comprehend these images without familiarly conventional means of detachment . it is a smoother variant of the disorienting “shock cut” from mondo cane ; rather than jumping from the innocuous to the disturbing , goodbye uncle tom strengthens these images by making them more “real” via the removal of the safeguards ( comic relief , brevity ) of their earlier works .
instead of retreating to safe ground , jacopetti and prosperi jumped into treacherous waters with 1971′s goodbye uncle tom ( addio zio tom ) . the film follows a 20th century italian film crew that travels back in time to visit a 19th century american slave plantation . the crew documents plantation life from the perspective of both the slaves and the slave owners . real events are depicted in naked bloody detail , including the middle passage by which slaves were transported from africa to the united states . most of goodbye uncle tom was filmed in haiti with the permission of dictator françois “papa doc” duvalier . dozens , if not hundreds , of haitians appeared as slaves in the film .
historical domain character : harriet beecher stowe , author of uncle tom ' s cabin , and samuel cartwright , the racist confederate physician , appear .
trailer : farewell uncle tom ( 1971 ) video classics australia trailer - youtube and to lend to the debate , here ' s a link to ebert ' s review , which offers some critical arguments about the actual production of the film . farewell uncle tom : : urltoken : : reviews
[ 21 ] a . h . weiler , “screen : farewell uncle tom , ” new york times , october 29 , 1972 , 69 .
source :
doing it herself : uncle tom ' s cabin and woman ' s role in the slavery crisis ,
in new essays on
uncle tom ' s cabin ,
edited by eric j . sundquist , cambridge university press , 1986 , pp . 85 - 105 .
foreman , p . gabrielle .
' this promiscuous housekeeping ' : death , transgression , and homoeroticism in uncle tom ' s cabin .
dorsey , peter a .
de - authorizing slavery : realism in stowe ' s uncle tom ' s cabin and brown ' s clotel .
whitney , lisa .
in the shadow of uncle tom ' s cabin : stowe ' s vision of slavery from the great dismal swamp .
[ in the excerpt that follows , cassara outlines the features that make tom a heroic figure , in contrast to those who view him as the obsequious character from which the pejorative term
uncle tom
has derived . ]
source :
mothers , husbands , and an uncle : stowe ' s uncle tom ' s cabin ,
in authorship and audience : literary performance in the american renaissance , princeton university press , 1991 , pp . 74 - 89 .
farewell uncle tom is a 1971 italian faux - documentary that sought to capture the evils of american slavery , but was demonized for its brutality and exploitative nature .
[ 20 ] hank werba , “italo ‘uncle tom’ beats censor band but pic withdrawn for re - editing , ” variety , december 16 , 1971 , 8 .
as [ stowes ] title ought to suggest , [ uncle tom ' s cabin ] is largely the story of a community . according to stowe ' s 1878 essay
the story of uncle tom ' s cabin
the novel ' s animus was the fugitive slave law of 1850 , which required even . . .
goodman , charlotte .
from uncle tom ' s cabin to vyry ' s kitchen : the black female folk tradition in margaret walker ' s jubilee .
by abandoning their mondo cycle , jacopetti and prosperi created one of cinema’s most challenging and complex works . it is one that has been largely ignored by film academics , usually only garnering a mention for what is seen as its “exploitive” content . this could possibly be due to the fact that , as with slavery itself , goodbye uncle tom is a difficult subject to discuss , as it examples worst aspects of human nature , and forces us face the discomforting contents head on . jacopetti and prosperi have been praised for their stylish and influential documentaries , but goodbye uncle tom is perhaps their greatest achievement—if nothing else , an incendiary cinematic experience that has yet to be equaled .
the historical document known as uncle tom ' s cabin illustrates a truth that has been known to american historians ever since washington irving published knickerbocker ' s . . .
[ in the following excerpt , ammons discusses various feminist themes in uncle tom ' s cabin , suggesting that stowe replaces masculine values with feminine and maternal ones . ]
zwarg , christina .
fathering and blackface in uncle tom ' s cabin .
novel : a forum on fiction ( spring 1989 ) : 274 - 87 .
uncle ( below ) boldly goes forward where zio hesitates at the brink of infanticide .
uncle sam ' s emancipation ; earthly care a heavenly discipline ; and other sketches .
you probably should not see addio zio tom ( or farewell uncle tom or goodbye uncle tom as it is often translated ) . it is a vile , cruel movie , a film that is exploitative in ways that will make even the most hardened connoisseur of envelope - obliterating cinema feel sick and violated . it is a film that feels like true evil , a film that makes the viewer complicit in its atrocities . it is also an extraordinarily well - made film , an almost virulently effective film and a movie that was made , the directors claim , to spread an anti - racist message .
the expression
uncle tom
in the context of today ' s racial tensions has come to stand for a servile , cringing , hypocritical negro who is willing to accommodate to the white power structure and to a less - than - equal place in american society . the melodramatic stage adaptation of uncle tom ' s cabin by . . .
[ in the following excerpt , fluck examines uncle tom ' s cabin in terms of various definitions of sentimentalism , discussing both its cultural importance and its aesthetic limitations . ]
a key to uncle tom ' s cabin ; presenting the original facts and documents upon which they story is founded together with corroborative statements verifying the truth of the work .
bellin , joshua d .
up to heaven ' s gate , down in earth ' s dust : the politics of judgment in uncle tom ' s cabin .
_ _ _ _ _ .
' if ever i get to where i can ' : the competing rhetorics of social reform in uncle tom ' s cabin .
cannon butchered the film even further for its united states release in 1972 . their plan to ride the successful wave of american black exploitation films did not work . a . h . weiler called it a “voyeur’s view of , not a sad good - by to , some lurid aspects of american slavery . ” [ 21 ] pauline kael attacked goodbye uncle tom with rabid fury . in an article declaiming the state of black cinema in the 1970′s , she called farewell uncle tom “the most specific and rabid incitement to race war” of the time . [ 22 ] kael deduced that the film arose from the directors’ “porno fantasies . ” [ 23 ] american racist provocateur david duke held similar views about the film albeit for entirely different reasons . he claimed that goodbye uncle tom was part of a jewish plot—the owners of cannon were jewish—to incite black people to riot and kill whites . [ 24 ]
jacopetti’s influence was not limited to mockumentaries . arguably , the ascendancy of “reality television” can be traced back to mondo cane . modern genre films also owe him a great debt . cannibal holocaust , blair witch project and other numerous films that embrace the “found - footage” formula are direct descendents of mondo cane . astute filmgoers may have noticed that nicolas winding refn’s fabulous drive contains a reference to goodbye uncle tom . refn , who is an avowed student of genre films , uses riz ortolani’s song “my love” to score a pivotal scene in the film . the way in which refn matches the track to the scene’s emotional core is ingenious and reflects a keen understanding of the way the music was originally used in goodbye uncle tom .
this week in austin , a curious crowd got a rare look at cult classic farewell uncle tom ( addio zio tom ) , the controversial 1971 italian faux - documentary about the evils of american slavery known as one of the most confrontationally provocative movies of all time .
source :
heroines in uncle tom ' s cabin ,
in american literature , vol . xlix , no . 2 , may , 1977 , pp . 161 - 79 .
michie , helena .
' dying between two laws ' : girl heroines , their gods , and their fathers in uncle tom ' s cabin and the elsie dismore series .
uncle sam ' s emancipation ; earthly care a heavenly discipline ; and other tales and sketches .
[ in the following excerpt from an essay originally published in 1983 , michaels examines the economic themes of uncle tom ' s cabin , focusing on the role of slavery in the marketplace . ]
. . . . the conjunction of death and secure property has its place in [ uncle tom ' s cabin , a text ] intended not as a romance but , in its author ' s words [ in a key to uncle tom ' s cabin , 1853 ] , as a
representation . . . of real incidents , of actions really performed , of . . .
[ in the following excerpt , gwin discusses the relationships between white and black female characters in uncle tom ' s cabin , emphasizing the strength of these bonds against the threat of slavery . ]
source :
uncle tom ' s cabin : a reappraisal ,
in the centennial review , vol . xxxiv , no . 4 , fall , 1990 , pp . 587 - 93 .
[ in the following excerpt , jenkins examines race , sexuality , and motherhood in uncle tom ' s cabin , tracing what she contends is the collapse of stowe ' s domestic plot . ]
historians typically say that harriet beecher stowe’s novel uncle tom’s cabin had a tremendous impact on the north . abraham lincoln supposedly greeted her by saying , “so you ' re the little . . .
[ in the following excerpt , strout examines the nineteenth - century theological traditions that informed the writing of uncle tom ' s cabin , defending stowe against modernist critics who accuse her of racism . ]
uncle tom’s cabin was important because it helped to bring on the civil war . president lincoln is supposed to have said ( though this is probably apocryphal ) to harriet beecher stowe “so . . .
in the centre of the work is jones , gliding and kicking with the utmost precision , a one - man statement , brimming with health and vitality . with his silky intonation , he taunts the audience playfully :
hey everybody , let ' s have some fun . you only live once and when you ' re dead you ' re done .
only at the end does the mood change , with a valediction to those who didn ' t make it this far :
is this where we are now ?
he asks .
this is 2004 . this is a gesture that means every good idea i ' ve ever had and every bad idea . this is every drop of sweat ever shed on this stage . this is saying goodbye to arnie zane . this is saying goodbye to david , goodbye to gene , goodbye to hope .
bender , eileen t .
repossessing uncle tom ' s cabin : toni morrison ' s beloved . sel . papers from the fourteenth annual florida state univ . conf . on lit . & film .
and to lend to the debate , here ' s a link to ebert ' s review , which offers some critical arguments about the actual production of the film . farewell uncle tom : : urltoken : : reviews
source :
american fiction as historical evidence : reflections on uncle tom ' s cabin ,
in forms of uncertainty : essays in historical criticism , university press of virginia , 1992 , pp . 249 - 59 .
president abraham lincoln , upon meeting the author of uncle tom’s cabin in 1862 , is alleged to have said to harriet beecher stowe , “so you ' re the little woman who wrote the book that started . . .
goodbye uncle tom did play briefly in some urban theaters in the early 70’s , but in a shortened version in the u . s . , for fear that black people would rise up , go bat - shit crazy and start riots . didn’t really help . black people still got very angry when they saw the film , and , not surprisingly , the film was quickly pulled from distribution . but it has gained a genuine cult following since then .
source :
uncle tom ' s cabin and the portent of millennium ,
in the veracious imagination : essays on american history , literature , and biography , wesleyan university press , 1981 , pp . 59 - 69 .
[ in the excerpt that follows , herzog discusses the women and african - american characters in uncle tom ' s cabin , focusing on their role in the author ' s vision of a new religious and political order . ]
[ in the following excerpt , railton focuses on stowe ' s relationship to her audience , contending that uncle tom ' s cabin is both a radical novel of social protest and a conventional recording of genteel victorian preconceptions . ]
crozier , alice c .
uncle tom ' s cabin ; or , history in the making .
in her the novels of harriet beecher stowe , pp . 3 - 33 . new york : oxford , 1969 .
source :
the rehabilitation of uncle tom : significant themes in mrs . stowe ' s antislavery novel ,
in cla journal , vol . xvii , no . 2 , december , 1973 , pp . 230 - 40 .
stomach - turning images flood the screen relentlessly throughout farewell uncle tom , as it revels in showcasing the dehumanizing horrors of slavery . its sympathies are clear , as just about every white character is depicted as a grotesque , abominable caricature .
[ in the following excerpt , tompkins defends the value of uncle tom ' s cabin as a work of sentimental fiction , discussing stowe ' s attention to nineteenth - century women ' s culture and her vision of social reform . ]
tom can be seen as christ - like in several ways . like christ , tom never takes the form of the world around him . his environment , especially under simon legree , is one of brutality and cruelty , . . .
in uncle tom ' s cabin , where slavery is linked to the male sphere , the bonds between white and black women not only provide succor but can generate enormous power against that sphere . the bonds between mrs . shelby . . .
source :
the power and failure of representation in harriet beecher stowe ' s uncle tom ' s cabin ,
in new literary history , vol . 23 , no . 2 , spring , 1992 , pp . 319 - 38 .
winks , robin w .
the making of a fugitive slave narrative : josiah henson and uncle tom : a case study .
eds . charles t . davis and henry louis gates , jr . oxford : oxford up , 1985 .
[ in the following excerpt , decanio examines the philosophical questions underlying uncle tom ' s cabin , suggesting that stowe ' s treatment of religion and faith has as much relevance for a modern audience as her commentary on gender and ethnicity . . ]
uncle tom ' s story of his life : an autobiography of the rev . josiah henson , 1789 - 1876 ; with a preface by harriet beecher stowe and an introductory note by george sturge and s . morley ; edited by john lobb .
watch this movie if you can get through it . as bad as it is , this is about the truest vision through a ' white man ' s eyes ' i ' ve ever seen on slavery . this is what they thought about us , this is how they treated us , this is what was done to us . its not a laughing matter . i like django but i will always respect spike lee & he does have a point . movie : goodbye uncle tom ( 1971 ) - youtube
based on historical documents , farewell uncle tom re - enacts the horrors of slavery - era america in discomfiting accuracy from the moment it opens , hilariously enough , on a shot of the film crew’s helicopter gliding over bewildered and windblown slaves in a field .
determined to prove their racial liberalism , the filmmakers thought they had another great idea : as prosperi said , “why don’t we do mandingo as a documentary ? ” kyle onstott’s 1957 novel about sex , violence and slavery on an alabama plantation would become a hollywood movie in 1975 , but jacopetti and prosperi got there first and went further . addio zio tom , shown in a shortened american cut as goodbye uncle tom , borrowed the time - traveling doc style of the cbs show you are there , but in scope and ambition it was one of the boldest of all mockumentaries , and one of the earliest ( after woody allen’s take the money and run ) .
if you are up for the harrowing challenge of addio zio tom it plays at fantastic fest this sunday at 2 : 15pm .
source :
sentimental power : uncle tom ' s cabin and the politics of literary history ,
in sensational designs : the cultural work of american fiction , 1790 - 1860 , oxford university press , inc . , 1985 , pp . 122 - 46 .
there are still two good reasons to read uncle tom ' s cabin : for its radicalism , and for its conventionality . as a novel of social protest , it generates so much passion within its own pages that , although the particular evil it . . .
source :
home as heaven , home as hell : uncle tom ' s canon ,
in rewriting the dream : reflections on the changing american literary canon , edited by w . m . ; verhoeven , rodopi , 1992 , pp . 22 - 42 .
source :
failed mothers and fallen houses : the crisis of domesticity in uncle tom ' s cabin ,
in esq : a journal of the american renaissance , vol . 38 , no . 2 , second quarter , 1992 , pp . 161 - 87 .
steele , thomas j . , s . j .
tom and eva : mrs . stowe ' s two dying christs .
[ in the following essay , yellin discusses the influence of mid - nineteenth - century feminist thought on the writing of uncle tom ' s cabin , emphasizing the roles that angelina e . grimké and catharine beecher had on the creation of stowe ' s female characters . ]
goodbye uncle tom is one of the sickest films that can be seen . it ' s about the trade slavery in america and europe in the previous centuries . watching goodbye uncle tom , i viewed some of the nastiest and most unbelievable scenes that can be seen . seeing the white men abuses , rapes , humiliates and does everything that comes to his twisted mind was unbelievably shocking , however , the film was boring too and had some moments that made me feel like turning it off , but i didn ' t , i watched it all the way . the most shocking thing about this film was that all of this has actually happened ! it seemed even sicker than those holocaust stories and movies , in those holocaust stories and movies the jewish people were slaughtered , but they weren ' t treated like animals that are kept in cages just for profit like the black man were . this film actually shows how the white empires are disgustingly cruel and careless . i can only recommend it to people who like being shocked or like watching shocking historical facts that have happened in the
developing
countries by the
developed
countries . 5 / 10
[ in the excerpt that follows , originally from an essay published in 1971 , levin addresses stowe ' s treatment of various social issues in uncle tom ' s cabin from a historical perspective , concluding that stowe should be commended for her often - overlooked , complex intellectual statement . ]
reacting against a long history of neglect , current revisionist studies of american literature have drawn our attention to harriet beecher stowe ' s uncle tom ' s cabin as an especially rich and powerful example of sentimentality in the novel . such attempts to make sense of materials which critics drawing . . .
score to goodbye uncle tom “i didn’t tell anybody where the song ‘oh my love’ [ by riz ortolani ] came from until the final print because the great fun was that nobody knew the source material is probably the most offensive film ever made , ” explains refn of the graphic , 1971 faux - documentary depicting slavery and sexual violence . “i bought the soundtrack for a couple of hundred dollars on ebay last year . at one point , driver becomes both the antagonist and the protagonist in his own life . he’s psychotic , and i felt this song would be a good introduction to that part of him . ”
source :
harriet beecher stowe ' s uncle tom ' s cabin : women and blacks revolutionizing society ,
in women , ethnics , and exotics : images of power in mid - nineteenth - century american fiction , the university of tennessee press , knoxville , 1983 , pp . 102 - 20 .
[ in the following excerpt , goodin discusses the characterization of tom and the ending of the novel in relation to themes of resistance and community . ]
source :
the virtuous victim : les misérables , billy budd , the power and the glory , uncle tom ' s cabin ,
in the poetics of protest : literary form and political implication in the victim - of - society novel , southern illinois university press , 1985 , pp . 51 - 86 .
uncle tom ' s cabin , the main work for which harriet beecher stowe is now remembered , is enjoying a rebirth . with the received
canon
of american literature under attack as elitist , racist , and sexist , it is not surprising that an authentic anti - slavery novel , written by a . . .
for his next piece , last supper in uncle tom ' s cabin / the promised land ( 1990 ) , jones decided to make a conscious shift away from the multicultural partnership that had dominated his work for 17 years and explore his own , particular african - american heritage . at the heart of this exploration was the novel by harriet beecher stowe , often viewed as a constricting but potent cultural reference point .
i wanted to ask : was uncle tom a disgrace to his race ? was he a christ - like figure , a precursor of dr martin luther king ? is this high - minded propagandistic literary work of any relevance to us today ?
says jones .
anachronism stew : harriet beecher stowe and samuel cartwright both appear and discuss their most famous works— uncle tom ' s cabin ( 1852 ) and diseases and peculiarities of the negro race ( 1851 ) , respectively—and the setting seems to be the 1850s , but the international slave trade is prominently featured early in the film , despite having been banned in 1807 .
you probably shouldn’t see addio zio tom . but if you do , go in prepared to look straight into the abyss , right into the eyes of a grotesquerie just this side of a snuff film with a moral message . if the road to hell is paved with good intentions , every cinema in the underworld must be playing addio zio tom .
in 1964 , jacopetti and prosperi began work on goodbye africa ( africa addio ) . at the time , africa was transitioning from a colonial chess set into a continent of independent nations . as the colonialists exited the country , a massive struggle for political power and natural resources ensued . jacopetti travelled africa with a small a film crew in order to capture the events on cameras .
some of the most hotly contested debates in american literary history have surrounded stowe ' s monumental work . in the antebellum years , the controversy focused primarily on her antislavery arguments and her depiction of the south . the first american book to sell more than a million copies , uncle tom ' s cabin was well received in the north , despite the arguments of some abolitionists who felt she was too lenient ; however , southern reviewers accused her of slander , and dozens of
anti - tom
novels soon appeared . after the civil war , white critics in the north and south , for the most part , came to agree with stowe ' s position on slavery , but many took issue with her presentation of african - american characters , claiming that they were depicted in too positive a manner . in the post - world war ii years , however , the opposite view prevailed . reviewers such as african - american novelist james baldwin found in stowe ' s portrayal of tom a negative stereotype of servility and impotence . while
uncle tom
has remained a pejorative term , several scholars since the mid - 1980s have vigorously defended both the political message and the artistic merit of the novel . largely through the efforts of feminist and historically based critics who have focused on stowe ' s attention to the domestic culture of her nineteenth - century female audience , uncle tom ' s cabin has once again become the subject of serious academic study .
but edited back in for the fantastic fest audience , that last reel makes farewell uncle tom ’s confrontational intentions more pointed and clear . in the era of the black lives matter movement , archival footage of police forces brutalizing african americans intercut with scenes of civil war re - enactors jovially playing dress up feels not so much dated and incendiary , but provocatively current .
the original cut of goodbye uncle tom features a fifteen - minute introduction focusing on the american racial unrest of the late 60s and early 70s . this opening sequence reveals that part of the filmmaker’s intent was to show how far blacks had progressed—or regressed—since the days of slavery . unfortunately , most of the introduction was removed and the narration was also completely redone . the resulting film is incoherent and muddled when compared to the original version . the sarcastic narration and riz ortolani’s cheerful music give the film a semi - comedic tone is at odds with the horrors portrayed on screen . the spectacular finale , which is one of the best endings in cinematic history , also seems out of place . it only truly makes sense when considered together with the opening sequence .
instead , jacopetti and prosperi were met with accusations of gross racism themselves . with good reason : shot in haiti with the help and blessing of then - dictator papa doc duvalier , farewell uncle tom was an exploitation movie made possible by the shameless exploitation of hundreds of locals—a film about the systematic dehumanizing of a people that subjected its cast to the same shocking acts it condemned .
in 1973 , jerry gross’ company cinemation industries re - released the film in the states under the name africa : blood and guts . 40 minutes were shaved from the film , including all traces of political context . this tampering turned the goodbye africa into an incoherent barrage of mayhem and murder that does a major disservice to the original film . jacopetti called the english version “a betrayal . ” [ 17 ]
in 2015 addio zio tom resonates in unexpected ways . we ' re in the midst of a new civil rights struggle , as the black lives matter movement has shined a spotlight on the continuing systemic inequalities facing black americans , as well as highlighting the vicious violence visited upon black citizens by the police apparatus of the country . the howl of rage on which addio zio tom ends , the baby bashing extremity of it , echoes in modern ears with stinging clarity . the nerve at which addio zio tom tugs is still incredibly raw , 40 years after its release .
uncle tom ' s cabin , the book that abraham lincoln reportedly claimed started the civil war , was one of the most widely read and profoundly influential works of the nineteenth century . its anti - slavery message , in direct response to the fugitive slave act of 1850 , provoked unprecedented levels of critical disagreement throughout the north and south , serving as a catalyst for sectional conflict . following the war and the end of slavery , the novel—and its numerous stage adaptations—continued to serve as a focal point for discussions of race in america well into the twentieth century . while usually recognized for its historical contributions , uncle tom ' s cabin has also played an important role in shaping american literature and is noted for its influence on many prominent writers , ranging from sarah orne jewett to richard wright and ishmael reed .
late in me nineteenth century harriet beecher stowe announced mat god wrote uncle tom ' s cabin ( 1852 ) . the novel by then seemed too monumental even to its author to have been imagined by one woman . earlier in her life , in contrast , stowe had no doubt mat she wrote the subversive book or mat she was inspired to write it , despite marital and household irritations , . . .
banned or severely cut in several countries , goodbye uncle tom in all its excess provoked ebert to a level of disgust that made his africa addio review seem mixed . “the vile little crud - squad of jacopetti and prosperi” has produced a “vomit - bag of racism and perversion - mongering… the most disgusting , contemptuous insult to decency ever to masquerade as a documentary . ” he called the employment of haiti’s poor in the film “cruel exploitation . if it is tragic that the barbarism of slavery existed in this country , is it not also tragic — and enraging — that for a few dollars the producers of this film were able to reproduce and reenact that barbarism ? ” if the film is recalled fondly today , it is for ortolani’s rapturous score ; the movie’s theme song , “oh my love , ” appears on the soundtrack of the new ryan gosling film drive .
the movie gloats over scenes of human degradation . and this time there isn ' t even the excuse of documentary ; every scene in this movie was specifically staged . unfortunately , jacopetti and prosperi have been able to find people willing to undergo the humiliation inflicted on them in
farewell uncle tom
; most of the blacks in the film are apparently africans forced by poverty and need to do these things for a few days ' pitiful wages .
a still from goodbye uncle tom adorns the front cover of mark goodall’s examination of mondo cinema sweet & savage . the scene in question shows three white men , rifles on their hips , posed for a photo next to a large pile of dead black men . the whites are slave hunters—the blacks , their quarry . the camera flashes . the “dead” slaves spring to life and run laughing into the surrounding brush , the trio of hunters following slowly behind , content that their charade will placate their benefactors . for the whites , truth has become malleable . they know that the visual image is more valuable than the lives of those in it ; shooting with the camera what they once would have shot with their guns . they have created an authentic scenario but one that is in reality mere smoke and mirrors , a new “truth” constructed out of clever fictions . nowhere else in the film are jacopetti and prosperi’s intentions more unmistakably or brilliantly communicated .
but farewell uncle tom also brilliantly juxtaposes images of unforgivable brutality with moments of beauty , making frequent use of a jarringly romantic theme by composer riz ortolani . ( refn later used the song , “oh my love , ” to underscore murder in his ryan gosling - starrer drive . ) the sympathetic camera occasionally meets eyes with unnamed slave characters and that track recurs to great emotional effect , wordlessly emphasizing the humanity beating inside the hearts and minds of the disenfranchised .
when the first installment of uncle tom ' s cabin appeared in the abolitionist magazine the national era in june 1851 , stowe had a modest reputation as a writer of didactic fiction , having published the mayflower , a collection of sentimental short stories and sketches . the daughter of a prominent presbyterian theologian , her income garnered from writing supplemented her preacher husband ' s paltry salary . stowe often claimed that the writing of her most famous work was aided by the hand of god , tracing its inspiration to a brunswick communion service in which she tried to imagine the death of a pious slave at the hands of a white master . following the tremendous success of the novel , stowe published a key to uncle tom ' s cabin ( 1853 ) , in which she defended the novel against southern critiques . although she continued to write prolifically for several more years , none of her later works achieved the success of her first novel .
bill t jones ranks among the world ' s most daring and controversial choreographers . his work has included some of the most challenging works in the modern repertoire , such as last supper at uncle tom ' s cabin in 1990 , which explored issues of race , religion and literary stereotyping , and the totemic still / here , which was famously branded
victim art
by the new yorker critic arlene croce , but is now widely accepted as one of the most powerful artistic comments on the aids crisis .
one of the true revelations of farewell uncle tom is the scope of its ambition . an early slice - of - life foray through a slave - trading post is staged with the vast grandeur of a grindhouse gone with the wind . hundreds of choreographed extras move through a slave auction where babies are sold by the pound , white nuns haggle over the price of a young boy , and nameless men and women are subjected to extreme degradation on the auction block—all while a jaunty period score plays in the background .
i saw goodbye uncle tom in a cinema in sydney in 1972 , and i would assess that if being released in 2011 , it would not get a film classification today and be shelved or banned . the entire purpose of this fake documentary about back slavery in the 19th century in america , is simply to show as much cruelty towards black men and women as possible . this is like xxx amistad or roots xxx but with extreme distressing gore and astonishing brutality . the two scenes that have stayed with me horribly for 40 years are of a baby being swung into a wall head first and its face smashed to bleeding pulp , and a row of black men having their front teeth knocked out with a chisel , one by one . these two scenes are two of many similar in a film that is a shopping list of cruel images thought up by the producers , not from any other source . so degrading and so bleak , this is a film that really ought to be destroyed . it serves no purpose other than depict bleeding crying distress meted out to young black people of varying ages .
uncle tom was a flop and an embarrassment , and the last of the jacopetti - prosperi collaborations . a feud between the two had simmered for years , but hit films and a shared view of the medium’s subversive possibilities kept them together . after they split , neither reached the heights of their early successes , and jacopetti returned to print journalism . but a movie career doesn’t need a happy or tragic ending to give it significance . once upon a time , jacopetti created a movie that altered , arguably liberated and certainly coarsened popular culture . he made the world mondo .
anyone thinking of checking this film out : be warned , words can not express what an awesomely brutal experience it is to sit through . i ' m a big fan of horror films , but nothing i ever saw came close to the feeling of revulsion this 30 plus year old film gave me . trust me , you will have to use the fast forward button on your remote control several times sitting through this one . a group of italian journalists goes back in time to america during the time of slavery and documents what they see . the viewer is spared no amount of detail as we are shown what it was like to travel aboard a slave ship , be sold in market as common livestock , be raped , tortured hunted and killed , and basically denied even the slightest bit of human empathy or compassion at every turn . while roots covered the same subject matter a whole lot better , it came nowhere near delivering the visceral reaction of this film . for that reason , i recommend people watch goodbye uncle tom . while by no means a great film , if society is truly never to forget the injustices and wrongs of the past , work like this is necessary viewing .
there are two things that make addio zio tom intriguing for the truly hardened viewer . for one , it is incredibly well - made . the movie puts you through the wringer , leaving you feeling dizzy and sick . many exploitation films presented horrors in a way that made them titillating or tantalizing , but addio zio tom truly repulses . sweaty and grungy and scorched by hate , the film feels so present and immediate that you want to reach through the screen to stop the torture . that alone makes it a work of cinema that matters , in its own strange way .
or as roger ebert wrote , “they have finally done it : made the most disgusting , contemptuous insult to decency ever to masquerade as a documentary . ” yet to be fair , one might point out that the “mockumentary” genre the film pioneers—watkins is the only filmmaker who comes to mind who previously described such a patently fabricated scenario , i . e . , one taking place before motion picture cameras were invented , as a “documentary”—was still an almost totally unfamiliar lexicon . ebert is arguably making a contemptuous insult to his readers’ intelligence by thinking anyone would take uncle tom’s claim to documentary at face value .
some of the footage in
africa addio
was apparently real , but not a lot of it . and the planned execution of a rebel in the congo was postponed for 24 hours so that jacopetti and prosperi could get there with their cameras and film the death . some money reportedly changed hands in that case . the film was racist and slanderous enough to provoke a public denunciation from arthur goldberg , then our un ambassador , but that did not prevent it from finding a booking here . and the whole distasteful history of these filmmakers was not enough to keep
farewell uncle tom
out of town .
works include : 1973 pas de deux for two ; ' 75 everybody works / all beasts count ; ' 78 baby doll ; ' 79 monkey run road ; ' 80 blauvelt mountain ; ' 80 valley cottage ; ' 83 intuitive momentum ; ' 83 naming things ; ' 84 freedom of information ; ' 89 forsythia ; ' 89 absence ; ' 90 last supper at uncle tom ' s cabin / the promised land ; ' 92 last night on earth ; ' 94 still / here ; ' 97 we set out early . . . visibility was poor ; ' 99 the breathing show ; 2003 reading , mercy and the artificial nigger .
with mondo movies everywhere , jacopetti and prosperi turned their attention to a new kind of mondo movie , a hybrid between documentary and fiction . the film was addio zio tom , an exploration of american slavery using actual historical records . the way they decided to make the film is almost hallucinatory in its strangeness : at the beginning of the movie a helicopter containing a time - traveling italian documentary crew lands on the front lawn of a plantation , looking to film the reality of slavery . that opening shot , scored to the gorgeous sounds of riz ortolani’s music , is absolutely beautiful and also horrifying in its wrong - heaedness . it is addio zio tom summed up .
addio zio tom was not a hit . roger ebert despised it , and pauline kael called it racist . but get this : so did david duke , who claimed the film was an incitement to get blacks to rise up against whites . somehow jacopetti and prosperi had managed to make a message movie that offended both progressives and racists . that alone is a certain kind of perverse accomplishment .
bloody and bruised by the farewell uncle tom experience , gualtiero jacopetti and franco prosperi took a different approach by creating a sprawling psychedelic version of voltaire’s candide . 1975′s mondo candido is a sprawling psychedelic version of an alejandro jodorowsky movie . cunégonde’s ravagement by dozens of armor - clad soldiers is visualized as a bawdy comedic skit . in a scene that predates mel brook’s history of the world part 2 , the inquisition is presented as a psychedelic busby berkeley dance routine . heretics dance their way into giant meat grinders while psychedelic rock music plays . despite the bizarre visual sense , the film is very faithful to the novel . the film stays surprisingly close to the original material . of course , scenes in which candide and his slave companion cacambo zip back - and - forth between modern day new york city , northern ireland , and israel are significant exceptions .
account of mrs . beecher stowe and her family , by an alabama man . - - uncle sam ' s emancipation . - - earthly care ; a heavenly discipline . - - a scholar ' s adventure in the county . - - children . - - the two bibles . - - letter from maine no . 1 . - - letter from maine no . 2 . - - christmas ; or , the good fairy .
but more than that it’s the profound cognitive dissonance at the heart of addio zio tom that makes it fascinating in the modern day . i truly believe that jacopetti and prosperi were , as they later claimed , making an anti - racism movie , much as they believed africa addio was a critique of colonialism . these guys truly thought they were making a profound statement . addio zio tom is a real world example of how the best intentions can go apocalyptically awry , especially when those best intentions come from a condescending , patriarchal perspective . for all of the suffering and abuse jacopetti and prosperi show us they somehow never thought to bring us the humanity of the sufferers . the result is evil on celluloid ; while jacopetti denied any role in the execution of the rebel in africa addio there’s no question of his involvement in the depravity here , visited upon barely paid poverty - stricken haitians . even though there’s a lot of movie magic on display there is a sense of despair and humiliation coming from these people that seems beyond acting .


mozart decoded is a 2008 documentary about the life of wolfgang amadeus mozart produced by sullivan entertainment .

the film was made as a follow up to sullivan entertainment ’s magic flute diaries and uses a lot of the same visual material .

the program premiered on december 20 , 2008 on a-channel in canada .

mozart decoded

have you ever wondered about the man behind such beautiful music as the magic flute opera ? learn more about the young genius , his life , the time period and the masonic rituals that impacted his work . watch mozart decoded online on gazebo tv : urltoken purchase mozart decoded on dvd here : urltoken learn more about mozart decoded here : urltoken
mozart decoded is a prelude to the magic flute diaries ( a , 8 p . m . ) , a two - hour modern take on mozart ' s popular opera . though with its soundtrack of mozart classics , recreations featuring opera atelier and fabulous footage of great cathedrals and lush countryside , this feast for ears and eyes easily stands on its own .
mozart continues to influence the people of the world . he is undoubtedly my hero . mozart forever ! ! ! !
the latter part of this kevin sullivan - produced doc could have been called the magic flute decoded since it uses mozart ' s masonic membership as a focal point for not only his political ideas but as the creative fulcrum of his final opera , an entertaining masterpiece reflecting free - thinking ideals .
requiem in d minor by wolfgang amadeus mozart for solo piano ( 1791 ) k . 626 ebook by wolfgang amadeus mozart - 9781447489177 | rakuten kobo
the ( true ) story of the mozart ' s requiem a funereal video .
the music of wolfgang amadeus mozart has amazed and entertained people for over 250 years . . . but who was the man behind the music ? what inspired him to compose the musical masterpieces that immortalized him as one of the greatest composers the world has ever known ? mozart decoded takes an in - depth look at mozart ' s tumultuous and often difficult life , from his beginnings as a musical prodigy , through his rise to stardom and membership with the secretive freemasons , and ultimately to his mysterious and untimely death or murder at the age of 35 .
amadeus ( 1984 ) official trailer - f . murray abraham , mozart drama movie hd
mozart - ah ! vous dirai - je , maman k . 265 for piano solo
wolfgang amadeus mozart - abendempfindung - k . 523 - a score for voice and piano
the music of wolfgang amadeus mozart has amazed and entertained people for over 250 years . . . but who was the man behind the music ? what inspired him to compose the musical masterpieces that immortalized him as one of the greatest composers the world has ever known ? mozart decoded takes an in - depth look at mozart ' s tumultuous and often difficult life , from his beginnings as a musical prodigy , through his rise to stardom and membership with the secretive freemasons , and ultimately to his mysterious and untimely death or murder at the age of 35 . written by sullivan entertainment
there is also the bbc series the genius of mozart and also the genius of beethoven .
requiem in d minor by wolfgang amadeus mozart for solo piano ( 1791 ) k . 626
wolfgang amadeus mozart - das veilchen - k . 476 - a score for voice and piano
wolfgang amadeus mozart - die alte - k . 517 - a score for voice and piano
wolfgang amadeus mozart - an chloe - k . 524 - a score for voice and piano
wolfgang amadeus mozart - der zauberer - k . 472 - a score for voice and piano
wolfgang amadeus mozart - das kinderspiel - k . 598 - a score for voice and piano
fantasia in c minor by wolfgang amadeus mozart for solo piano ( 1785 ) k . 475
wolfgang amadeus mozart - oiseaux , si tous les ans - k . 307 / k . 284d
wolfgang amadeus mozart - das lied der trennung - k . 519 - a score for voice and piano
7 variations on wilhelm von nassau by wolfgang amadeus mozart for solo piano ( 1766 ) k . 25
wolfgang amadeus mozart - als luise die briefe - k . 520 - a score for voice and piano
nope . your order is not fine at all . mozart is above beethoven sorry . i have read music history page after page and there bach and mozart stand above every compoer as the greatest composer ever . beethoven is nowhere close to mozart . mozart wrote the greatest piano concerts , the greatest operas , the greatest mass and the best symphonies . its not up to your personal opinion who is the best . music history the ultimate source of music has spoken and has ranked beethoven below mozart , where he belongs
j . s . bach is the father of us all .
- w . a . mozart
9 variations on a minuet by duport by wolfgang amadeus mozart for solo piano ( 1789 ) k . 573
piano suite in c major by wolfgang amadeus mozart for solo piano ( 1782 ) k . 399 / 385i
9 variations on lison dormait by wolfgang amadeus mozart for solo piano ( 1778 ) k . 264 / 315d
wolfgang amadeus mozart - die ihr des unermeßlichen weltalls - k . 619 - a score for voice and piano
12 variations in b - flat major by wolfgang amadeus mozart for solo piano ( 1786 ) k . 500
wolfgang amadeus mozart - dans un bois solitaire - k . 308 / 295b - a score for voice and piano
12 variations on salve tu domine by wolfgang amadeus mozart for solo piano ( 1783 ) k . 398 / 416e
6 variations on mio caro adone by wolfgang amadeus mozart for solo piano ( 1773 ) k . 180 / 173c
8 variations on ein weib ist das herrlichste ding by wolfgang amadeus mozart for solo piano ( 1791 ) k . 613
12 variations on la belle fran oise by wolfgang amadeus mozart for solo piano ( 1782 ) k . 353 / 300f
mozart meets the masons : ' the magic flute ' written during the final year of mozart ' s life , the magic flute presents a magical world of surreal characters and mysterious rites , and the composer filled it with masonic symbols and allegory .
wolfgang amadeus mozart - ah , spiegarti , o dio - k . 178 / 417e - a score for soprano voice and piano
12 variations on ah , vous dirai - je maman by wolfgang amadeus mozart for solo piano ( 1782 ) k . 256 / 300e
piano sonatas no . 16 - 17 by wolfgang amadeus mozart for solo piano ( 1788 - 1789 ) k . 545 k . 570
steven lubin , mozart , variations in c , k . 265 ( 300e ) , on
ah , vous dirai - je maman
the music of wolfgang amadeus mozart has amazed and entertained people for over 250 years . . . but who was the man behind the music ?
mozart was the true genius of music without doubt , because his works started with the simple piano sonatas , violin sonatas , trios , quartets… . and the italian & german operas . he mastered every genre of music . of course , if anyone compares his low kv numbers , it may be weak ! mozart changed completely after kv 271piano concerto no . 9 . tchaikovsky said
the center of christianity is jesus and the center of music must be mozart
. it is the true that bach is the father of music , then mozart must be the god of music .
mozart ' s status as the rock star of his century , most notably established by an irreverent tom hulce in the 1984 film amadeus , is given its due here . as is mozart ' s precocious proclivity for producing complex compositions , reputedly beginning when he was 4 , and his peculiar demise at just 35 .
we ' re not finished with it yet , but it ' s definitely better than
the magic flute diaries .
interesting info on mozart , though .
i don ' t know of any other ones , but are you talking about the mozart movie ,
amadeus
? that one was really good . .
usually real brilliance is accompanied by either sketchy character , or demented family lives . so , propz the mozart for his well - rounded , dignified time on earth .
3 rondos in a minor , d major and f major by wolfgang amadeus mozart for solo piano ( 1786 - 1787 ) k . 511 k . 485 k . 494
very well done - - very entertaining as well as being informative . fine acting - - an artistic achievement . congratulations to all involved in its production ! ( but i agree
joeyc
- - bach still the greatest , and i think mozart would agree with this estimation . bach , beethoven , and mozart , in that order . : )
piano sonatas no . 7 - 9 by wolfgang amadeus mozart for solo piano ( 1777 - 1778 ) k . 309 / 284b k . 310 / 300d k . 311 / 284c
there ' s food for thought as well , beyond the mozartkugeln that appear in the film ' s opening sequence . while the individually foil - wrapped bonbons ( featuring a cameo of the composer ) typify mozart ' s enduring appeal , writer dan matthews moves beyond biographical broad strokes to explore how mozart achieved his superstardom - and has managed to retain it some 250 years later - what led the supremely accomplished musician to become a member of the secretive freemasons society , the import of his magic flute masterpiece and the circumstances of mozart ' s early death .
the story begins with the composer ' s father leopold with whom mozart conducted a passionate and tortured correspondence . it is leopold who knows mozart ' s secrets . and there is another voice : that of the music itself . music is the key to unlocking the emotions of mozart , starting in this film with the great piano works . without this key , how can we ever understand the emotions that gave birth to some of the most beautiful sounds the world has ever heard ? the first great phase of mozart ' s brief life was that of the travelling child prodigy - gifted as a performer and writer of music - who grew into the genius who , working within the restrictions of his time , began to rewrite the musical rules .
minuets 1 - 6 by wolfgang amadeus mozart for solo piano ( 1762 - 1789 ) k . 1 / k6 . 1e k . 4 k . 2 k . 94 / 576b k355 / k6 . 576b
mozart , pffft . . . sissy music for wimps and little girls to weep over ! give me wagner and a full horn of mead , bloody up to the elbows with the glory of slaughter . . .
still , while there has been plenty of speculation about masonic allegory in mozart ' s opera , one of its messages seems fairly clear . the story introduces a mysterious brotherhood , supposedly headed by an evil man . but by opera ' s end , the brotherhood turns out to be benign , and the leader seems like a pretty decent fellow . perhaps that was mozart ' s way of saying that freemasonry may not be the ominous force some folks think it is .
in act two , the queen of the night ( soprano anna kristiina kaapola ) lets fly with one of mozart ' s most treacherous arias ,
der hoelle rache
—
hell ' s revenge .
elizabeth carecchio hide caption
a little late in replying to you , obviously , but in choosing mozart as your hero , you ' ve demonstrated to me , at least , a very admirable quality about yourself , in that all of mozart ' s music is so filled with a genuine love of humanity that i suspect the same thing resides in your heart , and that this is a big reason you are so able to connect with his achievements . everyone knows that mozart was unparalleled in his musical genius , but do you know what he himself said about that ? he said ,
love . love is the soul of genius .
and , considering what he proved within his short life , i think we should take him at his word .
so , while mozart ' s drama fell into the general category of
magic opera
— works based on folk tales , with plenty of stunts , scene changes and spectacular stage effects — it was also a political statement in disguise . mozart and schikaneder crammed all kinds of veiled masonic symbolism into the magic flute , and people have been trying to figure the whole thing out for more than 200 years . ( maybe , in his next novel , brown could have robert langdon decode the opera for us ? )
mozart showed amazing talent from early in childhood . already competent on the keyboard and violin , he started composing from the age of five and performed before european royalty . at 17 , he was enlisted as a court musician in salzburg , but grew restless of this and decided to travel in search of a better position , always composing abundantly . the requièm mass in d minor was composed in vienna in 1791 and was left unfinished when mozart died on december 5th 1791 . a completion dated 1792 by franz xaver süssmayr was delivered to count franz von walsegg , who had anonymously commissioned the piece for a requiem mass to commemorate the february 14th anniversary of his wife ' s death . a facsimile sheet of music from the dies irae movement of the
requiem mass in d minor
( k . 626 ) in mozart ' s own handwriting . it is located at the mozarthaus in vienna .
after developing an interest in classical music , beethoven was , for many years , my musical hero . at the same time , i was being told
sooner or later , there will be mozart .
i resisted him and his music until i was given two recordings - his 26th and 27th piano concerti , and one of his wind concerti . suddenly , beethoven took a back seat . oh , if only mozart had lived to beethoven ' s age , how much richer our own lives would now be . while bach composed some absolutely thrilling short pieces , my overall taste in his music is limited .
take a quick look at the latest fiction bestseller list , and you ' ll find a familiar author topping the charts . it ' s dan brown with his latest blockbuster novel , the lost symbol — a grimly portentous book with an interesting connection to mozart ' s shrewdly playful opera , the magic flute .
then go and invert mozart or beethoven , reverse , upscale , hop step and jump the music and wow - - - you ' d be a musical genius - - - - only you wouldn ' t ! ! ! ! ! because you ' d be doing nothing more than rearranging someone elses genius . . . .
music is and has always been a matter of preference when placing one composer over / beneath another . putting them into a top three list really equates them when considering them against all the other composers that have been or will be . unless you gave mozart a third placing because his music has
too many notes .
; - p
the length could have been shortened ! three hours of bad acting and constant reminders of how shitty fashion used to be in 1700 ' s is overkill . but , wonderful telling of mozart ' s personal life and accomplishment . were those love letters his words , verbatim ? how charming , not only was he a musical genuis , but a true romantic .
on world of opera , host lisa simeone presents mozart ' s the magic flute in a buoyant performance from the 2009 aix - en - provence festival . it features conductor rene jacobs and the academy of ancient music , along with tenor daniel behle as tamino and soprano anna - kristiina kaapola in the famously high - flying role of the queen of the night .
mozart gave the queen of the night one of the most treacherous arias in all of opera :
der hoelle rache
—
hell ' s revenge .
it ' s heard in act two , as the queen ( soprano anna - kristiina kaapola ) is asking her daughter pamina to murder sarastro , and includes four , famously stratsopheric , high f - naturals .
an enlightening and enveloping reconstruction of wolfgang amadeus mozart ' s ( 1756 - - 1791 ) life . masterfully written and directed , every aspect of the film has been given thorough thought in order to ensure an accurate historical reconstruction . inspirational performances from the main actors and actresses foster captivation , while regular narrative interjections from the popular composer and conductor charles hazlewood brings an insightful , educational dimension .
mozart ' s opera is in two acts , set in an unspecified time and place . as act one opens , we see a young prince , tamino , running for his life from a terrifying serpent . he ' s rescued by three ladies who serve the local ruler — the queen of the night . they go off to tell the queen about the young stranger they ' ve encountered .
but there was another facet to mozart - the adult thinker aware of the bigger picture , passionately attached to the progressive values of the enlightenment - impressively well - read , a speaker of most european languages ( even a little english ) , an austrian catholic , a freemason and above all a composer at the height of his formidable powers , determined to succeed in the most difficult and lucrative area of all - opera .
opera lovers have long been in the same position when it comes to the magic flute . both mozart and the opera ' s librettist , emanuel schikaneder , were devoted freemasons , at a time when the masonic order was frowned upon by the authorities and mistrusted by the public . its meetings were mysterious to outsiders and the order was believed to be connected to the principles of the enlightenment , so established political leaders were a little nervous about it . the emperor of austria even restricted the number of masonic lodges allowed to operate in the country .
meanwhile , pamina endures trials of her own . she again has to escape the rapacious monostatos . she must also refuse her own mother ' s order that , to restore their family ' s power , she must murder sarastro . ( this command from the queen of the night is delivered in one of mozart ' s most famous arias — complete with four high f - naturals that seem to defy gravity , not to mention vocal chords . ) to top it off , pamina is falsely led to believe that tamino has rejected her . at one point she ' s on the brink of suicide , but is rescued by the three boys .
i have the strong impression that
pure composing facility
counts for a very great deal in your estimation of these chaps , and also that you ' re too prone to letting books tell you what your opinions should be . did music history have its hands over its ears for the entirety of the 19th century ? because if influence over subsequent composers counts for anything , beethoven is greater in that regard than either bach or mozart . but this is apples and oranges , as they say . all three men were clearly the summit of their eras , and in that respect all were the greatest . anything beyond that is useless quibbling , and missing the point of the music .
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trippy indie madeline ' s madeline is the movie that lakeith stanfield and boots riley from sorry to bother you want to see the most .
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airsoft gi - $ 150 - $ 300 mid - level m4s . jg , elite force , airsoftgi g4 custom , and g & g
beethoven lives upstairs - 1992 [ greek subs by vas mous . ] _ arc . avi
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congo : white king , red rubber , black death describes how . . .
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yeah , uh huh . . . you must have been damn well gassed when you posted that piece of horse manure .
bach . . . is not a brook , but an ocean .
- beethoven
leopold was clearly not the only person able to perceive the depth and profundity of amadeus ' s genius . he was hailed far and wide by men and women of letters , and most conspicuously by franz joseph haydn who , writing to leopold , said ,
i declare to you before god that your son is the greatest composer i know , either personally or by name .
i like the simplicity and clarity that charles hazlewood explains music . i absolutely love it . many thanks .
mr . kanamori , a teacher of a 4th grade class , teaches his . . .
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the subject who is truly loyal to the chief magistrate will neither advise nor submit to arbitrary measures .
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comment : good condition . . . . canadian seller ! ! ! shipped from canada .
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the man . . . the music . . . the masonic mystery . see more »
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2x marx at the piano in a duet chico marx was known for shooting the keys of the piano . as part of the act he would play passages with his thumb up and index finger straight  like a gun . a charming example of his keyboard flamboyance is found in the film a night at the opera . read more > >
romans 1 : 16 for i am not ashamed of the gospel , because of the power of god , and those who believe in it . . . .
there ' s a chopin movie with hugh grant . never seen it though . you can search for it in imdb if you want . there ' s also that beethoven movie a few years back with ed harris but i didn ' t really like the looks of the preview . it sounded like a pink love story movie . i stayed clear of it . but if you ' re interested there are loads of books with composer biographies .
ken russell has made numerous , but rather curious films about composers , including
the music lovers
( about tschaikovsky ) ,
mahler
, and
lisztomania .
however , since they ' re by russell , these films may be viewed as actually having more to say about russell himself than they do about the composers . on a more serious level , there was an excellent documentary that came out about 5 years ago about khachaturian , entitled , coincidentally ,
khachaturian .
yd
chopin : a song to remember is by far my favorite chopin film . not historically accurate , but quite artistically put together as a film . beethoven : immortal beloved . music is first rate . perahia recorded several pieces for this . the filmmakers did a lot to connect music , imagery , and dramatic elements - so if you know about some beethoven history it would give an added dimension to the film . beethoven lives upstairs . this is more of a kids movie . schumann : song of love . liszt : rêves d ' amour
made a liszt . need new handel ' s for soler panel & alkan foil . will faure stein on the way to pick up mendels ' sohn . josquin get wolfgangs schu with clara . gone chopin , i ' ll be bach
. it focuses more than anything in chopin ' s relationship with george sand . saw it ages ago so i can ' t really state a solid opinion about it , though i ' m not a fan of hugh grant .
beethoven : immortal beloved . music is first rate . perahia recorded several pieces for this . the filmmakers did a lot to connect music , imagery , and dramatic elements - so if you know about some beethoven history it would give an added dimension to the film .
must add that it ' s not historically accurate , but i think the only reason for that is to make it more ' poetic ' . i find the ending scene quite touching by the way .
by concentrating on precision , one arrives at technique , but by concentrating on technique one does not arrive at precision .
the music business is a cruel and shallow money trench , a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free , and good men die like dogs . there ' s also a negative side . ( hunter thompson )
if documentaries are ok than there is a wonderful one about rachmaninoff called
the harvest of sorrow
you can actually watch it one youtube but make sure you do not watch the one that is in english and japanese at the same time .
how about
the magic bow
with stewart grainger as paganini . worst film ever ? thal
spring symphony ( 1983 )  a more accurate biopic than the 1947 hollywood version ( and nastassia kinsky looks better as clara than katherine hepburn ) . urltoken
i remember watching that and thinking she is never going to get her clothes off in this .
lisztomania is absolutely hilarious . gotta love the scene where wagner turns into a vampire and attacks liszt ( it ' s subtle symbolism ) , to say nothing of the opening scene with , um , the metronome . you wouldn ' t expect anything less from a film with ringo starr as the pope .
there was a strange one i saw on brahms about his relationship with women ' but for women ' i think it was called or something like that . copious amounts of nudity . . . . .
never look at the trombones . you ' ll only encourage them . richard strauss
i was just wondring wether anyone has a link were you could watch england my england online . . . i absolutly adore purcells music . i am from the netherlands , but don ' t yet have a credit ard so ordering the movie is potentially problametic . . perhaps someone know were i can find it here ? much greetings beckey
there ' s also that beethoven movie a few years back with ed harris but i didn ' t really like the looks of the preview . it sounded like a pink love story movie . i stayed clear of it .
, and it is not a
pink love story movie
! give it a chance . harris is superb .
i remember watching that and thinking she is never going to get her clothes off in this . wrong again thal .
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fantasia in d minor - a score for solo piano k . 397 / 385g 1782
sonata for piano four - hands in d major - a score for piano with four hands k . 381 / 123a ( 1774 )
piano concerto no . 23 in a major - a score for solo piano k . 488 ( 1786 )
flute quartet in a major - a score for flute , violin , viola and cello k . 298 ( 1787 )
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when the queen of the night finishes her furious aria , sarastro ( bass markos fink ) follows it with a musical and dramatic mirror image , singing
in diesen heil ' gen hallen
—
in these holy halls .
it ' s a restful number , featuring some of the opera ' s lowest notes .
papageno ( daniel schmutzhard ) is less than thrilled at his first encounter with papagena ( sunhae im ) , his future wife . elizabeth carecchio hide caption
papageno ( daniel schmutzhard ) is less than thrilled at his first encounter with papagena ( sunhae im ) , his future wife .
the lost symbol features the same , somewhat unlikely central character as brown ' s previous bestseller , the da vinci code — the heroic symbologist robert langdon . in the earlier book , langdon was found decoding timeless legends of the knights templar . in the new novel , he ' s again tracking the age - old mysteries of an ancient order . this time , it ' s the freemasons — a fraternity famous for secret rites and rituals , which in the novel threaten to bring down the entire u . s . government .
of course , writing about masonic ceremonies can be a little bit dicey . the only people familiar with them are masons — and they ' re all sworn to secrecy . so the rest of us are kept guessing as to how much actual fact might be present in dan brown ' s fiction .
tamino falls asleep , and wakes up to meet papageno — a funny - looking man dressed in colorful feathers and playing the panpipes . papageno says he ' s the queen ' s bird catcher . the two characters have virtually nothing in common . when papageno simply describes himself as
a man ,
tamino is skeptical . still , the two quickly develop a bond .
after tamino and papageno finish sizing each other up , the ladies return and show tamino a picture of pamina , the queen of the night ' s daughter . tamino takes one look and falls in love . but pamina has been captured by sarastro , the queen ' s arch enemy , who is described as an evil fiend . when the queen of the night arrives in person , with her signature clap of thunder , she asks tamino to rescue her daughter . she gives him a flute with magic powers , and sends papageno along to help , with a magic instrument of his own — a set of chimes .
the scene changes to the realm of sarastro , where pamina is being held . she ' s alone with the treacherous monostatos , who seems intent on raping her . just then , papageno wanders in . he and monostatos scare each other half to death , and monostatos runs off . papageno leaves with pamina , to look for tamino .
meanwhile , three mysterious young boys have guided tamino to a temple with three doors . one of them , marked
wisdom ,
opens to reveal the temple of the orator . tamino asks about pamina , and the orator tells him that she ' s still alive . but to find her , tamino must first join the temple ' s holy order .
tamino plays his magic flute , and in response he hears papageno ' s panpipes . papageno appears with pamina , and they ' re both running from monostatos . he ' s about to catch them when the mighty sarastro appears . he reprimands monostatos for his evil designs on pamina , and monastatos slinks off . sarastro then offers pamina and tamino the chance to be together . but first , he says , they must endure rituals of purification , and they ' re led into the temple .
act two begins near a temple that ' s surrounded by palm trees . after a brief processional , sarastro and his priests say that tamino will be permitted to undergo the trials required to join their brotherhood . he will then be allowed to marry pamina . papageno also wants a wife , and may also undergo the trials , though he ' s more than a bit reluctant .
by the end of the opera , both pamina and tamino have faced trials of fire and water , and have survived them together . papageno finally earns a wife — his female namesake , papagena . she turns out to be a real peach , though she first appears to papageno as a wrinkled hag who claims to be only
eighteen years and two minutes
old . the queen of the night and her ladies make a desperate attempt to bring down sarastro ' s temple , but they ' re defeated amidst frightening storms and the queen vanishes into darkness .
as the opera ends , sarastro ' s mysterious but apparently benevolent order has prevailed , granting all power to beauty and wisdom .
the documentary room 237 has been called a
diy mashup
of the many theories put forward over the years as interpretations of stanley kubricks ' s 1980 horror classic , the shining . and there is good reason for viewers to puzzle over the film 33 years after its release : the shining tends to be opaque , even though its corridors are well - lit . i recently found what is arguably the most exhaustive examination of how kubrick adapted stephen king ' s novel into the script he wrote with diane johnson . click below to read the post and see how kubrick took king ' s novel and made movie history !
unlike kubrick ' s famously unrealized biography of napoleon , the shining got made . stanley kubrick wrote and directed the shining with the intention of turning out a blockbuster , after the lush but relatively financially unsuccessful barry lyndon . the shining , more than any other of his films , has inspired hundreds of thousands , if not millions , of words devoted to finding the meaning behind the film , even though , or , especially because , kubrick himself was reluctant to discuss possible interpretations of his films , leaving it to the viewer to make up their own mind . ( allow me to say that i do not favor any of these theories over any other . i don ' t want to get pilloried in the comments ! ) none of which stopped blogger jonny53 , whose epic post ( it took me almost 12 hours to read ) is certainly the most exhaustive shining analysis on the internet . it will definitely , as jack torrance promised wendy ,
bash your brains in ,
( with exacting attention to detail , of course ) . prepare to go through the looking - glass , people .
the problem with criticism of the shining is that almost every interpretation tends to go off the rails at some point , i . e . , the film is really about native american genocide , or kubrick ' s guilt over faking the moon landing :
this one is no different . jonny53 ' s final conclusion seems to be that the numbers in the film point us towards 12 / 24 / 11 , which apparently was the date of the mayan apocalypse back in the 70s , before cooler heads prevailed and it was moved to the far more accurate date of 12 / 21 / 12 . he does make the excellent point that most of the people who have put forth interpretations of the film over the years have never actually read the novel , and that what kubrick did with the novel , and what he did with all of the novels he adapted to the screen , was to alter the content so that the story would be cinematic rather than literary . this is a challenge facing all filmmakers who are adapting someone else ' s work ( or even their own , from a different format ) .
i can’t think of any other movie where reading the source novel was so enlightening . . . many writers skim the surface when trying to compare the novel with the movie and then simply give up . you absolutely cannot have a thorough understanding of stanley kubrick’s shining without looking at what he did to stephen king’s story . ignoring the novel is crazy . . . [ he ] didn’t randomly alter things from the novel as many readers think . he’s inverted them .
in the novel they’re brought to the overlook in a red vw and have a yellow snowmobile up at the hotel . in the movie they’re brought to the overlook in a yellow vw and have a red sno - cat up at the hotel . they ' re also saved in a red sno - cat . in the movie jack throws his yellow ball and in the novel danny plays with his red ball . stanley kubrick didn ' t just change the colors , he inverted the colors stephen king uses in the novel for these major props . look once at the vw in the opening credits of the movie ; you’ll never forget that yellow color . ask anyone who’s seen the film , they will be able to tell you what color the vw is . ask anyone who’s read the novel and they probably won’t .
in the novel , the scrapbook containing the overlook ' s sordid past is a major plot device , and jack becomes obsessed with it and possessed by it . in the movie , it ' s seen only in passing , but has the same effect . when jack discovers the scrapbook , he loses interest in writing anything but that one phrase , and becomes obsessed with doing the
duty
of hotel caretaker , even if that means killing his wife and child . this is how , according to jonny53 , jack
shines
the apparitions of lloyd and grady : he has seen them before , in the newspaper clippings in the scrapbooks . but we barely see the scrapbook , an element from the novel kubrick made subtly cinematic and almost subliminal without the heavy exposition of the novel , in which the provenance of the scrapbook is related in exacting detail .
even better for kubrick , who was always playing games with the viewer , the first - time viewer will probably interpret lloyd and grady as ghosts , even though kubrick has made his
ghost story
about anything but , at least according to jonny53 . to him , it ' s a film about esp and telekinesis ( note the number of calumet cans behind jack and halloran ' s heads , respectively , while they are
shining .
) the first scene occurs precisely : 27 minutes into the film , and the second precisely : 27 minutes from the end of film , in the us version : the parallel edits jonny53 finds in the shining are remarkable . jack torrance has four more cans than halloran , meaning he
shines
more , which is why halloran isn ' t able to predict his impending death at the hands of jack :
it goes on and on . in the novel , wendy is a smart , independent blonde ; in the film , she is shelley duvall ' s mousey doormat ; in the book , there is no hedge maze , but rather hedge animals which move constantly ; in the novel , the overlook hotel wants danny for his power , but in the film , the hotel has no power at all , only a sort of
shining
which affects the whole torrance family , even though danny is the only one to know about it . in the film , both jack and wendy have the power of
shining
( jonny53 ' s basis for this is the line , delivered by halloran ,
but there are other folks , though mostly they don ' t know it , or don ' t believe it .
) visually , kubrick shows us this by subtly giving the characters telekinesis , even if they themselves aren ' t aware of it . they can move furniture , and even make chairs appear and disappear at will ( also note the scrapbook in the foreground ) :
for many viewers , the question of whether or not we are dealing with the traditional cinematic supernatural is answered in the scene where jack is released from the freezer , evidently by the ghost of grady , the former caretaker . this is never made totally explicit ( in the novel , we see that it is a ghostly grady who leaves a drink and mallet for him outside the door , while in the film , the opening of the door is deliberately ambiguous ) :
jack and dick hallorann both have the same supernatural ability . it’s no stretch of the movie ' s reality to see that jack also “shines” when he’s locked in the storeroom . it’s obvious that his ability to supernaturally move things ( telekinesis ) , and not the ghost of delbert grady , is what unlatches the storeroom door releasing him . . . this is what the shining is about , people with an unusual ability . there’s no law that says stanley kubrick can’t change , or hide from the audience , which cast members have this special ability , and just exactly what that ability is .
in the novel , halloran lies in order to get up to the overlook . in the movie , he always tells the truth ( which means , if we believe what he says to his friend larry durkin , that ullman can
shine ,
since he called halloran and told him to get up to the overlook . ) this is a very out - there theory , but is actually somewhat confirmed by the deleted scene cut by kubrick a week into the film ' s u . k . run . for any shining fanatic , or anyone interested in how a master filmmaker took a classic novel and adapted it into a classic film , this is required reading . i personally think jonny53 goes off the rails at the end with his theory that kubrick is subliminally encoding the date of the impending mayan apocalypse ( that ' s called apophenia ) , but jonny53 has done all fans of the shining , and moviemaking , a great service with his incredible eye for detail .
the best theory movie on the shining that i ' ve seen was
kubrick ' s gold story
. it ' s about american currency switches off the gold standard .
kubrick was ' ait starting out , cut his teeth on some ok no - budget work , then got good fast . his reputation has also improved over time .
people deify him and put out documentaries like this , where every little drip of information is assumed to be motivated by his genius , then they use every drip to prove said genius . it ' s like when people use the bible to prove the infallibility of the bible .
sk was most certainly one of the great directors , but i totally disagree with the notion that the quality of filmmaking is worse off now than it was then .
nonsensical conspiracy theory run amuck . maybe room 237 was intended as a parody . entertaining yes , based on any fact no .
i saw this at sundance and more than half the audience walked out before they could hear the theory that kubrick helped nasa fake the moon landings and the shining was his secret confession . i stayed through the whole thing , fascinated that this even got into the festival , and as a reward i got to hear the real truth behind the shining : it is a movie that was meant to be watched backwards .
it was really a documentary on the online community of kubrick conspiracy theorists which to me actually was interesting . on the way out i heard another audience member say ,
once i realized they were crazy i actually enjoyed the film .
maybe that is the secret of room 237 . . .
i saw it at afi and afterwards they actually did a screening of it backwards & forwards simultaneously , overlayed .
i ' m surprised people didn ' t catch on right away . room 237 was pretty funny right from the start and got more so as it went along . i was wondering if the interviewees were upset when it came out and they realized they weren ' t being taken seriously .
i ' ve read the reason there weren ' t any moving hedge animals in the film ( as were in the book ) was because kubrick just wasn ' t satisfied with the cgi technology at the time that would be required to create them .
as for these overanalyses , you could probably find people who will dissect twilight or the hangover and come up with a comparable amount of nonsense .
like i said , this blogger goes off the rails , as do all of these other theories . the interesting thing to me was how kubrick changed the source novel .
i get the impression kubrick cares more for the shot than continuity . i keep finding myself responding to discontinuities by noting that the composition of one or more shots involved would be compromised by adhering strictly to spacial continuity . i imagine a process where you do a take ; then some element of the background bothers you so you fix it and continue . then in editing you feel free to choose the best takes because you know people won ' t notice the discontinuities . you try it out on people .
i feel the movie is about schizophrenia . this is reflected in wendy as women ' s intuition , a staple of cinematic devices . and danny represents innate childhood imagination and it ' s suppression , which is also a fairly common observation . ( my son is a tiger literally 75 % of the time . i saw an art show of 5 year olds recently and about 10 % of the paintings could sit along art in galleries and sell for thousands of pounds , assuming the painter could be constructed as the possessor of a career , history , development , personality , genius , godly vessel , madman , etc . i just realised how old - fashioned the art world is . and similarly , how old - fashioned this sort of critique is , which reads literally * everything * as an intentional act of often hidden communication . )
clarification : jack ' s schizophrenia and psychosis , ie . hallucinations . which is contextualised and reflected . . .
the esp theory makes a lot of sense . except that in an interview with michel ciment ( linked to by another nofilmschool article ) stanley kubrick is asked :
so you don ' t regard the apparitions as merely a projection of his mental state ?
- to which he replies :
for the purposes of telling the story , my view is that the paranormal is genuine . jack ' s mental state serves only to prepare him for the murder , and to temporarily mislead the audience .