C.A.B.
3rd Level White Feather
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2010
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Being an old curmudgeon, I'll be the first to admit I am not at all up to speed on pop culture. So every once in a while I stumble across something that slices through my old jaded hide and makes me believe in creativity again. And this video I came across this morning is precisely an example of these rare occasions for me. In my opinion, the perfect storm of lyrics, music, imagery, cross-culture mythos, cinematography, and story telling.
I really can't quantify why this video sticks with me; perhaps the haunting lyrics, the melancholy, the surreal familiar yet alien nature of the setting, the ingenious vehicle of the video for the song and vice versa. To top it off, there is also reason behind the imagery. Based on an oral Bolivian folk tale about an abused boy that sets off on his own and discovers he has the ability to spot people's sorrows and heal them with his scream (or chant) he sets off on an Oz like journey, healing those he comes across, such as man that was stoned to death (in this case, a brow-beaten, hen-pecked man) by giving him a new heart, and so forth. Eventually the boy, with the aid of the friends he has freed from the woes of their life, comes to a mountain where a demon (El Tio) lives that has been tormenting all the miners that toil there. The boy sacrifices himself, using his magical chant to keep the immortal demon's evil spells in check, presumably, forever.
This is classic storytelling; the rise of the unlikely hero, the journey of discovery, the acquisition of companions, and the triumph over evil, but only a great personal cost and sacrifice.
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I really can't quantify why this video sticks with me; perhaps the haunting lyrics, the melancholy, the surreal familiar yet alien nature of the setting, the ingenious vehicle of the video for the song and vice versa. To top it off, there is also reason behind the imagery. Based on an oral Bolivian folk tale about an abused boy that sets off on his own and discovers he has the ability to spot people's sorrows and heal them with his scream (or chant) he sets off on an Oz like journey, healing those he comes across, such as man that was stoned to death (in this case, a brow-beaten, hen-pecked man) by giving him a new heart, and so forth. Eventually the boy, with the aid of the friends he has freed from the woes of their life, comes to a mountain where a demon (El Tio) lives that has been tormenting all the miners that toil there. The boy sacrifices himself, using his magical chant to keep the immortal demon's evil spells in check, presumably, forever.
This is classic storytelling; the rise of the unlikely hero, the journey of discovery, the acquisition of companions, and the triumph over evil, but only a great personal cost and sacrifice.
<object width="853" height="480"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/3O1_3zBUKM8?hl=en_US&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/3O1_3zBUKM8?hl=en_US&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="853" height="480" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>
