I found myself thinking: We ask the world to show us who we are, and it does–but we don’t see it even when it hits us in the face. Owen has hit the dirt face first: we are born and almost instantly hit the dirt, but our lives writhe with patterns that are bigger than we are–that we keep trying to see more clearly by way of rituals and journeys. But you can’t go looking to fall in love, and you can’t find enlightenment by way of a map and a train schedule.

Some of the things I want to think more about are:

–The many metaphors of transport

–the many illustrations of proverbs ( as in the old Chinese proverb: In the course of a long life a wise man will be called upon to abandon all of his luggage more than once. Also, the shoeshine boy running off with one of Owen’s shoes calls to mind many Zen koans and proverbs (“The thief tries to get ahead, but steals one shoe,” and James Richardson’s aphorism: “What you give a thief is stolen”); and other more generally applicable proverbs, as in– “A donkey gone a’traveling never comes back a horse.”

–metaphors for cycles ( including the belt that keeps changing hands)

–the relation between the three brothers and the three boys (brothers?) swept away when the raft overturns.

–the importance of the scene in which a series of train cars is shown as sequential (part of the same train) when each car and even the location visible from each window is different.

–the relation between the three brothers and the Hindu gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva.

Anyway–maybe I won’t write about it, since I have said so much here! But it will be fun to talk about it with those of us who are interested in such things.

“Look at those assholes.”

almost perfect, in my estimation. I’m still letting my sense of the last of it sink in.

Amy pointed out a few moments that added to my appreciation of the last third, but I echo your sentiments.

Wonderful performances.

“Look at those assholes.”