Opinion about The Film 'Songs From The Second Floor'

 

The Film ‘Songs from the Second Floor’ (2000)

      The Swedish movie ‘Songs from the Second Floor’ is grotesque, with a hit of humour that comes from unexpected situations as well as a sad, hard record about a non-decorated contemporary life. 

       The mask, that reflects external, socially acceptable norms to be positive, full of joy with a happy ending, is torn off by recording a negative side of a human being existence. The film shot in separate parts, full of people with negative things that happen. Speaking about a content of the visual production, there is any solid storyline, any strong expressed single character. However, it can be seen a substantial key element in combining a whole - it is human suffering, loneliness, the loss of meaning in the life. Keeping a close watch on the movie stages, they indicate that a viewer is entering apocalypse, which has got a long way for consistent, systematic and long-destruction through negative feelings, thoughts and experiences. The observer is caused by thoughts: ‘Could we stop it? Are we able to do it? Could we stop our feelings? Who or what should comfort us if we cannot sleep because of inner noise?’ People do not sleep, they stare front of them blindly, and they do not feel other human beings, questions, touches, take care of does not impact.

      The movie’s visual metaphors gives strong meaning. Thrown crosses with crucified Jesus grotesquely signal not only about the worthless business idea to produce crosses and sell them, but either proves that in the world does not exist any need to create artificial idols for torment of people. Each of us is carrying one’s self single, great internal suffer bearing the life as the cross itself.

       A second metaphoric signal reveals inanity of a symbolic sacrifice youth (coherence with the religious oblation). Individual observation dictates that endeavour with the its content is without excuse, because the sacrifice cannot redeem nothing at all. Alone, millions in the planet residing in their own desires, needs and priorities, intersecting with other individuals, human beings ‘crown’ struggle for worldly values.

       Somebody is still attached to the need of authority (the man is dismissed from a job after thirty years). Somebody overestimates own powers (the magician performance hurts the viewer). We watch later the man, who has burned business leading a psychological trauma because of his son, whose writing poems rouse mental disability. (However, a creative work cannot cause disease, but individual hyper sensitivity does!). There is arbitrating the ethical problem of aging in a negative way (if the old man is welcomed pompously to one hundred year anniversary of the shelter, where he resides, later his still life body is phantasmagorical dropped off a cliff onto rocks, indicating that aging itself in terms of effectiveness and utility is not anymore welcoming in the society). Eventually should be a relief in simply joys of the life such as the love, but when inner spirituality is lost, the love between people has not a content and looks like partners are sharing suffer inviting more destroy in their collapsing life. The movie particular accurate describes the life without colours, without smell and without sincere touch, and without positive feelings. Who would like to live in it?

      Visual metaphors are endless. For instance, the officer going by taxi says to the driver:   ‘(...) the life is a journey, but if you do not have a compass and a map, you will go nowhere. We are in our culture, heritage and history (…)’. He states for the importance of meaningfulness in the life, which depends on our roots.  He is right and we can understand it by our mind. But there is a trap. We are not only minds, but also bodies with feelings. What is the compass and the map if knowing that Jesus suffered for us does not help yet? How to be with the joy and the unity with ourselves if we are not able deal with our personal problems anymore. We cannot do it being high pressured by the contemporary life demands and either other people interactions and/or interruptions have straight impact on us. What to do?

        ‘(…) If you want to be happy, you must make me happy’, - has pronounced the businessman for the colleague in an exhibition selling crosses. The statue of Jesus on the cross hangs sway - none of visitors buys the product.  How we answer questions that are too complicated and have not clear conclusions?

        The chronicle of the film raises more questions do not allowing to find an answer. There comes the next indirectly question, asking the viewer how it is possible to love a metal disabled person, who is ‘out’ of reality? Yeas, we do it with a big suffer not having a chance to have an equal respond. Why we suffer if the love itself is a spiritual boon? We are in pain, because the normal state of mind seeks mutual connections and mental issues takes away a pleasure of significant social communication.  A loving heart of  the father is broken because  he cannot experiences any positive connections with the son; biological subjectivity imprisons us in our bodies leaving for suffer, thirst of the love and without power.

    Philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer had stated: ‘To live means to wish, to wish means to suffer.’ This idea is shown trough the scene in the train.

      The man goes by a train and a ghost of boy follows him asking to help to find his hanged sister in WW2 by Nazis, because he suffers not giving apologizes for his guilt. The man is not able to help as his inner pain grows in time. That creates disconnections of surroundings and total inner isolation. As the results our personal pain creates repulse, rejection and by that we treat others negatively following by subconscious mind. We hurt each other and we hurt ourselves. There should be more compassion,  the love for others… Having such kind of dilemma, we do not know how to love masses. Accordingly to last lines of the film, the man is trying a lot to do and doing a lot to have just a little bit on the table, and to enjoy himself a bit.

        Eventually, the movie says, ‘(…) you cannot do anything what belongs from you; you are in hopeless situation’.  And the film ends leaving the mind be poisoned by its sad meaning. The life is… a deadlock.  Though let’s look at a reverse side: what is the purpose of the pain escalation taking away the part of life that we were left to live? I believe that the Greek philosopher Aristotle was right saying that every question has an answer. All is need is to think.

        After watching the movie, I have an idea that to be happy (what is a state of mind), we should to forgive for ourselves individually; for what had happened with us in our life, because results cannot be changed and we should try to live further. When we forgive for others, the pain  goes away and we have our life back.