Saturday, October 24, 2015

Reading Diary A: Peter Brook's Mahabharata

This week, I am watching the second half of Peter Brook's Mahabharata.

Amba visits Bhishma in the night.  It now makes since how he could know Amba's new form.  In the previous version we read, it seemed strange that Bhishma knew that Shikhandi was Amba reincarnated.

What I don't understand is why Bhishma tells the Pandavas how to kill him.  If he wanted the Pandavas to win, then he did not have to fight for the other side, but it seems reckless to tell the enemy how to defeat you.

I'm still a little confused about Shikhandi(Amba).  Did he even shoot his arrow?  It seems like he was unable to kill Bhishma, and instead Arjuna fired the arrow.

I thought it was very interesting how Krishna guided Arjuna's arrow.  Krishna carried the arrow until it his Bhishma, which I suppose is how the filmmakers showed that Krishna influenced the flight of the arrow and made it fly true.

Arjuna shoots an arrow into the ground to produce water

I really like Karna's interaction with Kunti.  It is a very emotional scene.  You can see that Karna is deeply hurt that his mother abandoned him and that he longs for a mother.  My favorite quote from the interaction is, "After the battle you will keep the same number of sons."

It seems very cruel that Krishna, knowing that Karna possessed the celestial weapon, sent Bhima's son to die in order to destroy the weapon.  However, I suppose it was a very effective tactic.

Brook's film also give a lot more detail about the death of Arjuna's son.  Arjuna breaks through the enemy's defenses, but he does not know how to escape.

Arjuna's Son
Image from Film


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