''Everything old Is new again,' the adage says, and
that was our experience when we 'channel-surfed'
onto the 1964 movie version of Tennessee Williams'
play, "The Night of the Iguana"; starring Richard
Burton, Deborah Kerr, Ava Gardner, and others.
While the whole story was a sojourn into a sense
of
surrealness, it's 'right-in-the-gut' reality rose up and
out through the heart of 'Hannah Jelkes', a
self-described spinster from Nantucket, who travels
the
world with her 97-year-old grandfather - "the world's
oldest living and practicing poet" - moving from one
hotel to the next, while Hannah picks up money doing
sketches of the guests, and grandpa recites his
poems.
Endurance
At one point, 'Hannah' and 'Shannon,' (Rev. T.
Lawrence Shannon) an Episcopal clergyman who,
having been locked out of his church for "fornication
and heresy," and has been reduced to shepherding
cut-rate bus tours through Mexico, share the truth of
their current experience: Shannon speaks of
his "panic," and Hannah her "Blue Devil," whom she
has learned how to "endure."
This idea of endurance is interesting: a 'grin and
bear it' stoicism, combined with optimistic
perseverance. Unfortunately for Shannon,
he 'medicates' his panic with alcohol, while heroic
Hannah "takes breaths." She says: "Some people
take a drink, some a pill, I take breaths."
The Way of Endurance
Intrigued and inspired by Hannah's bold simplicity, I
wanted to gaze some more through her window to the
world, so I "took some
breaths," followed my thoughts inward, and
asked myself, what are a few things someone can do,
to
ward off the "Blue Devil," or at least endure it?
Here's what I came up with:
Practice Chi Kung and Tai Chi and cultivate the
power of breath.
Use Oriental Medicine to balance the Kidneys to be less
susceptible to fear and anxiety.
Keep in mind Joseph Campbell's wisdom
on 'transcendence": Know it's there, and then don't
worry about it. Simply behold the radiance
everywhere."
Vincent Canby reviews The Night of the
Iguana.
