Dante's Inferno, 1911

Watched the 1911 Italian version of Dante's Inferno. 100-years-young!

It was strangely refreshing----filmed entirely static camera, in long shot. They would have a title explaining what was happening, then we'd see it happen. Strangely, it made it seem more naturalistic. They just told you what was happening. No montage or pantomime to reveal information.

http://youtu.be/zyeDtwbACgg

It's all there on You Tube. There's part one of five.

Near death experiences then and now

I heard some lecture which was being used as background noise an alternative music record. The guy talked about how, today, when people have near-death experiences, they almost always imagine themselves going to heaven running toward the light. But he said that, in medieval times, when people had these experiences, they always found themselves in Hell. They would come back trying to live better lives.

I've had atheists who must have had some doubts about their atheism because they said they thought that, if it turned out that there was a God, He would understand their disbelief.

But this movie----people went to Hell for pretty much anything. Gluttons were in hell. And, oddly, spendthrifts and misers both suffered the same fate. Harpies were there. Is that a sin? There was a man who committed suicide after being tortured and blinded---he was in hell. And there were heretics and blasphemers, of course. Oh, and hypocrites. Pretty much everybody went to hell in those days.