Monday, September 01, 2008

Genji Monogatari: Butterflies

Little plot, not much
action. Forty seven
epiphytes, grown up
in vitro, soliloquize
in turn on how to
seek revenge for the
death of a host they
never knew. A chorus
onstage with them,
eight little girls in
costume, four dressed
as birds, the rest as
butterflies, chanting the
sutras interwoven with
items from the latest
CNN news—a ban
on the use of soya
grown in deforested
areas of the Amazon, the
privatisation about to
rescue the airport from
bankruptcy, how rainforest
mahogany is currently
being imported into the
U.S. in clear violation of
international agreements.
Rain has always been
used in Indian cinema to
portray rejuvenation. The
butterflies seemed to fly
higher than the birds.

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