Gloomy Sunday, Gloomy Year

I stumbled upon the video at the library, and got to see it last night.

Budapest, pre-WWII. Love triangle, hope amidst despair, and best of all, the infamous piece.

It was known to have triggered a chain of suicides, albeit via vinyl record transmission.

Gloomy is the word.

A generation which grew up, and saw a turn of events they had no control over

i.e. concentration camps

(sound like the US in soccer? we grew up here, and there just isn’t anybody playing it).

Or like Louisiana.

The year saw its neighbor Texas faring better (because of its more stable real estate market, just like Canada to the US, so is Texas to Louisiana).

When you are in a state of shock, you can’t look at things from a bird-eye view.

I am sure Budapest during the war saw shortage of fresh food in the market, bribery under the table and war profiteers with jewelry in the trunk.

The chain of suicides was in vogue. Young Europeans were coming of age, discovering themselves: life and romance. Then bam.

Evil was staring them in the eyes.  Their reaction was as swift as sudden provocation.

And what remains is that short piece, which, if you listened, will be like a chant that puts  you in a trance.

There are two levels in the movie: the carnal level and the artistic level. It makes no effort to hide the central pillar of menage a trois.

In fact, the point of the movie is that life in its flesh and blood is not enough, is short, and one should be intolerant of what keeps “piling on top of you”.

“Darwinism only applies to species, not human. We are human, so we are expected to behave in a certain way, or at least, let’s hope so”,

said the restaurateur after he had saved the life of a later-turned-Nazi commander. There is no quid pro quo in the movie, hence doom and gloom.

But what comes around comes around. I save the ending for you to discover for yourself.  So it’s not Gloomy Sunday, especially when you say you love me…

hey, hey, hey, it’s a beautiful day.