The Edge of the World
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:30:01
which is there were no telephones,
:30:03
and probably mail was only
delivered maybe to the harbour,

:30:07
and everyone went down
to meet the mail boat,

:30:09
so therefore you had to
go yourself and announce it.

:30:13
And out of that comes
this terribly moving moment

:30:18
of Peter Manson and his daughter
:30:21
verbally announcing
the day and time of his funeral.

:30:26
Hovan, hovan, hovan eerie
:30:31
Scorsese and I have always loved
this funeral sequence,

:30:34
the editing of some
very beautiful shots

:30:39
and then the combination, obviously,
:30:41
of the music and the images
is so important.

:30:44
The beautiful idea that
the coffin is carried on oars

:30:47
which, for those of us
who are not islanders, is stunning.

:30:52
And then this moment
when the oars are raised

:30:55
just sends chills through you.
:30:57
Again, beautiful up-angle
across the waving vegetation,

:31:03
to be used again
:31:07
after another strong shot
of the boots marching on the...

:31:11
on the wooden causeway.
:31:13
The up-angle underneath the coffin
revealing Peter Manson,

:31:17
so movingly.
:31:19
Again, repetition
of the same shot here,

:31:22
probably because the editor felt
it would be stronger to have that

:31:26
and then cut to
this reverse shot of the men

:31:29
carrying the coffin.
:31:39
(Christie) There is a real sense
of the physicality

:31:42
of standing in the driving rain
at a funeral.

:31:44
In that sense it looks forward to
the importance of footage like this

:31:49
in Italian neorealism,
in the 1940s.

:31:54
That's exactly the kind of feel
:31:57
of working men
having to stand in the rain


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