Wow! This is the first time I’ve written something like this! Welcome to Kaylee Likes Things where I will be writing about - you guessed it - things I like. It will probably be full of grammatical and spelling errors but also LOVE! I will also include a fun little album pairing at the end to annoyingly force my music recommendations on you.
Last week I decided that I should watch a silent film every Sunday because this is the era I find myself the most behind in. In the theme of October, this week’s choice is the 1911 adaption of Dante’s Inferno, L’Inferno. Not only did this film take over three years to make, but it was the first full-length Italian feature film EVER. The entire film is an otherworldly hike through strange special effects and naked people writhing on the ground.
In one of the first scenes of the film, we meet Dante. He is on a hillside and is greeted by three wild beasts, a panther symbolizing avarice, a lion symbolizing pride, and a wolf who is very clearly a domestic dog symbolizing lust. This is probably just the one time that the choice of special effects does not blow me away. The rest of the film is full of just absolutely breathtaking moments that I just don’t know how they were able to capture at the time. Although it’s in black and white for the most part, monochrome color film often jumps in to enhance these moments, bathing them in a cyan color.
I wish I could cover all of my favorite visual moments in the film but it would include far too many so I’ll share a few below. Bear with me, there’s not an incredible HD version of this film online:
Virgil guiding Dante through a bunch of sinners buried from the neck down! Wicked!
A parade of maimed sinners walks past, the final presenting Dante and Virgil with his head.
There’s a pretty awesome scene at the very end that shows in the final circle of Hell, Cassius and Brutus are forever being devoured by Lucifer. A six-winged Lucifer holds their naked bodies and eats them as bodies float around him.
Looking at depictions of Hell through the years is always something I enjoy so I’d love to show you a few of Charon, the ferryman of the recently deceased.
First up here is a fresco painting by Luca Giordano. If you look at the right-hand side, you can also see our friend Cerberus. Giordano presents a really colorful look at Hell. I would not mind hanging out here.
Not only is Gustave Doré’s 1857 lithograph of a lonesome Charon filled with turmoil and detailed linework but it’s also the cover of my favorite Thou album, Heathen. This album captures that turmoil and rage and bottles it up into something beautiful and chilling to the bone.
Of course, next, we have to show L’inferno’s depiction of Charon! This one seems like Charon is a very popular guy in Hell because he has to slap away naked and dead souls with his oar. I would not like to hang out here.
Last up, here is a poster from Lars von Trier’s 2018 film, The House that Jack Built, that includes a shot from the film. In said film, this is an incredibly slow shot. The classic von Trier slow-mo that is also seen in Melancholia and Antichrist. We return to a more colorful depiction of Hell and in this one, the naked recently dead guide Charon’s ferry along, Jack and Virgil in tow.
One of the first things that popped into my head while watching L’inferno is how much it reminded me of the 1960 film, Jigoku, directed by Nobuo Nakagawa. I would not be surprised if he was influenced by the 1911 film. Monochrome color shots even make a few appearances in this film.
Now before I leave you to your thoughts about Hell, Dante, and the like, I’d like to drop an album pairing for this movie. Hell’s 2017 self-titled record is a wonderful doom metal record that feels like it’s an army of 10,000 demons pushing through the depths of the Earth. Listen to it before, after, or whenever you feel.
Thank you for reading this! If you have any comments, suggestions, or favorite depictions of Hell or Dante’s Inferno, let me know.
L’Inferno is available on Youtube. Several scores of it exist but I watched the one below.