Meditation on Violence. 1948. Directed by Maya Deren.

(9/11/00)

Meditation on Violence is a very spare film about the movements of a Chinese boxer. (Alida Walsh called the subject of this film Chinese boxing; it is at least some kind of martial art.) He performs or practices, bare from the waist up, in an interior.

The man's movements have a sort of beauty, yes, but I was bored by this. If I were to know more about this martial art I might enjoy it more.

There is a section where we see the man performing his movements in a structure with columns high above a river. Here he is fully costumed and the editing is fancier, including a freeze-frame. Is this perhaps what the man in the room is imagining as he practices? Is this Maya Deren's acknowledgment that the film needed a little bit more? We are then returned to the man's practice in the room.

There is a flute accompaniment to this film. I didn't find this film particularly memorable.