Le Quattro Volte (The Four Times)
Dir: Michelangelo Frammartino
2010
*****
Le Quattro Volte (The Four Times) quite simply and quite beautifully explains or at least, symbolizes the four stages of life. The four stages; Birth, Life, Death and finally the reabsorbing back into the earth/nature (not quite reincarnation though) are shown here in the life of a few individuals (and Goats) in a medieval Italian village. A lot of people have read various different things into this film, I'm going to go with what Michelangelo Frammartino has said it's about (seeing as he wrote it) and that is that it's about different chapters in nature and the likenesses and contrasts between man and nature, touching on religion briefly along the way. When you view it in those ways, and simplify it, it is so much easier and pleasant to sit back and watch. If, like me, you enjoy the simple pleasures in life, this film is for you. If you don't believe silence is golden then you need not apply (watch 'Goats screaming' on youtube instead). Beautifully filmed, simple and simply beautiful.