The elite is surrounded by a bubble of its own making. And the masses are imprisoned in a prison established by the elite. The worlds of the two are different; for both, not only the way of life is different, but the meaning and purpose of life is also different. The mental and physical activities of the two are also different; entertainment and morality are also different; places, locations and even the earth and sky. The “bubble” of the elite is small, while the prison of the masses covers a large part of the planet. Sitting in a small “bubble”, decisions are made not only about the planet Earth, but about the entire universe.
A piece of news or a picture issued from this “bubble” can be the subject of debate for days for the planet-wide prison, and this debate only gives old prejudices a chance to appear in a new language and become stable. They are hardly able to participate in the thought that makes these news and pictures possible.
Overall, the struggle of the people is limited to freedom from the prison, while the struggle of the elite “bubble” is, on the one hand, for the reconstruction of human souls and, on the other hand, to extend its power and authority to the farthest corners of the universe. Sometimes, great stories of the prison and “bubble” are also written. Sometimes there is no harm in repeating these stories!
Readers are familiar with Moroccan novelist Tahir Bin Jelloun. His novel This Blinding Absence of Light mentions the Spanish film Exterminating the Angle at one point. Written against the backdrop of a failed military coup against King Hassan II of Morocco, this novel presents the events of a torture chamber. This torture chamber was built underground in the forest. In complete darkness. There was only ventilation. Here, twenty-three soldiers who were accused of participating in the rebellion were kept in a barracks.
The narrator of the novel is one of those twenty-three. The narrator of the novel, who is also the main character of the novel, adopts many tactics to keep himself and his comrades alive in this dark torture chamber. One tactic is to tell stories. He tells stories from Victor Hugo and Camus’ novels.
The stories do not just connect him to the outside world, they give him a sense of a dynamic and active life in contrast to his frozen life. To survive in the prison, the concept of a living life began to feel more important than food. He had to save his mind and soul from dying along with his body. Therefore, the appetite for the story of Kei Baran would have exceeded the demand for food. He thought that if the mind and soul were saved, the body would also be saved. At the same time, the story of the aforementioned film is repeated.
The film story plays a double role in the novel. First, this story satisfies the demand for the story of the prisoners, and second, the film story is closely related to the story of the novel. The novel is the story of the people’s prison, while the film (which is written and filmed in a realistic style) tells the story of the elite being trapped in their own “bubble”.
This is a Spanish film released in 1962 and is set during the time of General Franco. The story of the film is short but very meaningful. The city’s nobles gather for dinner in a posh house. They eat. They drink. After that, a woman plays the piano. In a mysterious way, everyone is imprisoned in this posh house. No one comes from outside, nor can they go out. They remain imprisoned for several days. One person dies and two people commit suicide. The servants leave on the first night.
Now the city’s nobles are imprisoned in the luxurious house of another nobleman. They are cut off from the outside. Food is gone. There is no water. They get water by breaking the wall and drilling a hole in the water pipe.
In the meantime, some sheep and a bear come from somewhere, they run and catch the sheep, cut them and roast them. Someone’s plan works, but no one’s worship. Why they were imprisoned, this is also not revealed. One character says that the owner of the house, Nobyl, is responsible for this trouble, so he should be sacrificed. Some people oppose this idea. While the discussion of his sacrifice is going on, a foreign guest suddenly has the idea that if everyone takes their seats from the first night, this imprisonment can be ended. They all somehow manage to remember their seats from the night of dinner. The same tune is played on the piano, and the doors open.
People have been gathered outside for several days. They welcome them. As a thank you, they all go to church, and everyone there is imprisoned in the same mysterious way. Meanwhile, riots break out outside. Once again, sheep are shown entering the church, accompanied by a hail of bullets. It is not difficult to understand who could be responsible for the hail of bullets.
Each scene in this surreal film seeks its own interpretation. By returning to their original state, the imprisonment of all the nobles is ended. Whose original state is this metaphor for? Whom do the sheep symbolize? The greatest strength of the modern-day elite is reason and science. Why does it quickly fall prey to superstition? First sacrifice, then going to church, what is the meaning?
General Franco passed away in 1975. King Hassan II was assassinated in 1999. Has the elite’s “bubble” been broken?
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