In the Bhagavad Gita, when Arjuna refuses to fight, and questions the logic of killing, Krishna explains to Arjuna that the central philosophical question is: why do anything? Why not just do nothing?
Krishna's answer to this questions comprises the bulk of the Gita, and his basic argument is: because you can't do nothing. To do nothing is to die. To be alive is to struggle, to do, to try.
As a filmmaker, there are days when you ask yourself: why make films at all? Why not just not make them? God knows it's a pain in the ass, and there are days when it all seems like it's just not worth it. Today was one of those days.
I Am A Sex Addict opens in 4 days. The film's box office will determine not only the fate of the film, but my own fate as well. Whether it will become easier to make films, or harder. Whether the drawbridge over the moat will come down or stay up. And I'm finding myself on edge.
Krishna says to Arjuna: You have to fight because that's your job. You are a warrior. That's who you are. And whether you fight or not, your enemies will die today, because it is I who decide who gets to live and who must die. You are just the instrument of my will.
Well, for better of for worse, we are in the same boat as Arjuna. And we too have a job. Our job is to make films. And to make them as well as we possibly can. And to get them seen as widely as possible. And God knows we're trying.
Sometimes we stumble. Sometimes we fuck up. Sometimes we can't remember why we're even doing it. But we have to trudge on. Because that's our job. And, fortunately or unfortunately, we have no choice.
posted by Caveh Zahedi at
8:19 PM
