Dead of Night, 1945 British anthology horror film, made by Ealing Studios. The individual segments were directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden and Robert Hamer. It stars Mervyn Johns, Googie Withers, Sally Ann Howes and Michael Redgrave. The film is most remembered for the concluding story, which features Redgrave and concerns a ventriloquist’s malevolent dummy.
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Casa Mérida, Mexico – Ludwig Godefroy
Deep Space Nine 1×19: “In the Hands of the Prophets”
Commander Sisko has a conversation with his son about respecting the power of faith, even when you don’t hold it yourself.
When so many science fiction stories depict religion with one shallow brush of “primitive” and inherently at odds with science, I appreciate DS9′s willingness to depict religion in all its complexities. This episode, for instance, doesn’t shy away from showing the uglier side of religion – Winn’s extremism that causes her and her followers to pull Bajoran children from a multi-species, secular school and proclaim “Bajor for Bajorans.”
Yet Sisko, who has come to respect his second-in-command Kira’s faith as something vital, understands that this extremist side does not negate all the good that the Bajoran faith has brought. And, a grade-A father as always, he explains this to his son without talking down to Jake, knowing that Jake trusts and respects what Sisko has to say – just as Sisko always respects what Jake has to say.
ID: a gifset of Benjamin Sisko and Jake Sisko sitting side by side with a gray wall and a window showing the stars behind them. They hold the following conversation:
JAKE: The same thing is happening now with all this stuff about the Celestial Temple in the wormhole. It’s dumb.
SISKO: No, it’s not. You’ve got to realize something, Jake. For over fifty years, the one thing that allowed the Bajorans to survive the Cardassian occupation was their faith. The Prophets were their only source of hope and courage.
JAKE: But there were no Prophets. They were just some aliens that you found in the wormhole.
SISKO: To those aliens, the future is no more difficult to see than the past. Why shouldn’t they be considered Prophets? JAKE: Are you serious?
SISKO: My point is, it’s a matter of interpretation. It may not be what you believe, but that doesn’t make it wrong. If you start to think that way, you’ll be acting just like Vedek Winn, Only from the other side. We can’t afford to think that way, Jake. We’d lose everything we’ve worked for here.The bonus gif shows Sisko and Jake still next to each other; Sisko has taken Jake’s hand in his and holds it as he speaks, then places his other hand on top of their clasped hands. / end id
The funny thing is that Jake really takes it to heart- the idea that you should respect the beliefs and culture of others and that you can be friends even if you disagree- and applies it to his friendship with Nog. And Sisko doesn’t like it at first. He has his own prejudices he’s not aware of, but Jake acts like a mirror, reflecting back the values his father taught him.
I was bathing with my monkey, then the Bony came to the bathroom, and we chased her out for being too nosy.
Mexico, August 28, 1979
Margarethe Heubacher-Sentobe – Haus L (house for a composer), Tirol 1996. Via Margherita Spiluttini.
I’m going to be thinking about LandLocked for a while. Director Paul Owens has made a haunting and strangely prescient movie that compels the viewer to peer into the forgotten corners.
https://watch.eventive.org/nightstream2021/play/615267b878a2b700a82bbe96