In a movie by a Dutch filmmaker, the central protagonist
declares one morning: it is time to die. The film has been
described as a feminist fable, because the woman Antonia
is so strong and stands up for the marginalized and down-
trodden in her village. She takes them in and celebrates
community at a long table in her garden, where they eat
bread and cheese and pass hot covered casseroles around.
Though she's had a long life, is not unwell, and believes that life
wants to live, she's decided. Nothing dies forever, she tells her
granddaughter. Which must be true, because the grandmother
they're burying has the uncanny ability to sit up in her coffin and
belt just a few bars of My Blue Heaven. The sureness of her will
is a marvel—she seems to know exactly how to touch the mystery
of the universe, and wrap it like a curtain sash around her hand.
Purveyors of fine poetry since 2003.
