tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-769237935430750989.post3241337740355706767..comments2024-02-09T23:01:58.528+00:00Comments on The Invisible Province: Lourdes and the cinemaUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-769237935430750989.post-70658625616892662722010-04-19T23:27:25.681+01:002010-04-19T23:27:25.681+01:00Oh Amazing film. I have just purchased a copy of ...Oh Amazing film. I have just purchased a copy of ‘The Diving Bell And The Butterfly’. <br /><br />After watching the film there are a few scenes which I can not get out of my mind. But most especially the first scene when the man who was taken hostage, goes to visit Bauby a stroke victim with “locked in syndrome” in hospital.<br /><br />In relating his experience of being in captivity for 4 years, He says something to Bauby along the lines of “Hold on to everything inside that is human, it is the only way that you will survive”.<br /><br />It strikes me to a certain extent that we are all Bauby,s locked in, whether it be to our morals, our place in society, our vocations, our personalities, our frustrations, our past, our present restrictions bound around ourselves, and even our future.<br /><br />One seemingly can not pass through life with out being a Bauby of some kind. This of course is in no way in comparison to people who have “locked in syndrome” through physical or other illness.<br /><br />But the butterfly within allows us to interpret those Bauby moments in a way that allows us to fly beyond the restrictions of being human and “locked in”. I would rather the hostage had said to Bauby “Hold on to everything inside that is of the spirit, it is the only way that you can be alive”. <br /><br />I feel privileged to have a mind which allows me to be with the people whom I Love in the way that i want to, even though they are not close by. I am blessed to have an imagination that allows all that is mundane in life to become amazing. To me these mysteries are miracles which daily I treasure.<br /><br />For me to be “locked in” would be for my spirit to die and for my body to still be working.<br /><br />Thank you for recommending this film.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-769237935430750989.post-25300768027671334842010-04-15T10:31:18.331+01:002010-04-15T10:31:18.331+01:00Thank you for your post Damien. I am glad that yo...Thank you for your post Damien. I am glad that you have recovered. To realise that I am not the only person that questions things in a deep and analytical way is a great relief to me. Ramblings and unravelings are all a part of making sense of our individual journey and ultimately allows others to Love and understand us and themselves. Thank you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-769237935430750989.post-39016284050409796142010-04-15T01:41:15.882+01:002010-04-15T01:41:15.882+01:00I'm note sure anyone can answer the question b...I'm note sure anyone can answer the question but I have often thought about whether there was/is a reason for JP Bauby or me or anyone to go through these life experiences.<br /><br />I don't mean as a punishment for previous misdemeanours, but whether there was a message being delivered amidst the pain. <br /><br />JP Bauby was driven in the most desperate of times to write, and in doing so has inspired me and no doubt countless others to overcome adversity.<br /><br />I wonder if this was God driving him somehow and I wonder if I'm missing the point of why I went through my illness. The illness took me to a place of total fragility, if not the edge of life then pretty close, and I'm now back in the midst of it all, the rat race so to speak. <br /><br />Sounds dramatic but am I missing a calling..:-). Because I would hate that. I look at Lance Armstrong (ok not a parody of virtue) but he knew what his challenge after his cancer was ...get back on his bike, he created the live strong charity and the yellow bands became famous.<br /><br />But for mere mortals who overcome illness its not as easy. Maybe I'm thinking too much and these things just happen and Bauby (and to a lesser extent Armsrong) are just a unique and special person. <br /><br />I also think of John Hartson, taken to the very very brink, enduring 67 rounds of chemo yet still with us. <br /><br />I feel there has to be a reason why he is still with us, why he didn't die ? It really is a miracle he is still here with the severity of his cancer.<br /><br />Is that a better question maybe, God can't stop an illness or disease but he did he stop Hartson and Armstrong dying from cancer, Bauby from immediate death and maybe me because there was a message to be delivered or 'work to be done on earth' for want of a better phrase. That sounds horrible reading it back, like I think I've been chosen or something, sorry.<br /><br />Anyway its late and I'm rambling, apologies if its not quite appropriate for the comments page on your blog. And I do have some srcibblings of what I went throguh if your interested.<br /><br />Time for bed. Ciao.<br /><br />damianAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13879306872360502500noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-769237935430750989.post-2534119894555828412010-04-14T11:41:48.777+01:002010-04-14T11:41:48.777+01:00Damian, thank you for your comment and for sharing...Damian, thank you for your comment and for sharing something of your own experience of being a Bauby and "locked in". I wanted to read more...I agree, Julian Schnabel's the Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a tremendous film (go, rent/get it on DVD folks) and Bauby's book a fascinating account of this condition told from an absolutely honest, unsentimental and heartbreakingly human position.Fr Martin Bolandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12435449968609118810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-769237935430750989.post-45174251756277939802010-04-14T02:20:55.407+01:002010-04-14T02:20:55.407+01:00Enjoyed this blog entry Fr Martin and agree with y...Enjoyed this blog entry Fr Martin and agree with your sentiment but had to pass comment as although I've not seen the film Lourdes I have seen The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.<br /><br />The depiction of Lourdes is, as you mention, crude and crass but what an amazing film.<br /><br />This time last year I was 'Bauby', locked in and paralysed although for a totally different neurological condition which has meant I have been able to recover.<br /><br />But for 2months I was experiencing the things Bauby was and the film makes for an outstanding, inspirational yet emotional viewing. <br /><br />I find it interesting that although the Lourdes trip is almost a throwaway section of the film just to highlight Bauby's former carefree life. <br /><br />He displays almost a disregard for faith, but the accident then catapults him into an enviroment where he has to live almost entirely in faith. Faith in his nurses feeding him, in his carers washing and dressing him, in his translator, in his friends, in his wife.<br /><br />Everyone needs faith if not in God then in the good of human nature.<br /><br />Powerful film.<br /><br />Damian.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13879306872360502500noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-769237935430750989.post-10298394912678770052010-04-12T23:08:59.205+01:002010-04-12T23:08:59.205+01:00I saw Lourdes recently in Nottingham in a small ci...I saw Lourdes recently in Nottingham in a small cinema. The film left me with many questions and also, having never been on a pilrgimage, a sense of awe at the place itself which, I understand from those who have been there, is a place of great spiritual peace despite the hustle and bustle of so many people. A truly wonderful film!Simon Rockleynoreply@blogger.com