VSFX 406 Blog 8: Interviews

I have gone through about 30% of my interviews with my Nonno and extracted two important pieces.

Here are the audio files, I've cut them down somewhat, but not to the extent that I would for the film.

"Patsy Story" is about his childhood rabbit who disappeared. What I have yet to pull from the interviews are several stories about my nonno's family being stolen from or taken advantage of when he was young. In this clip you can hear how many times he insists the rabbit was stolen and eaten, never even entertaining that it could have run away because, at that point in his youth, he had already learned to interpret the world through the cruelty of others. His spirit has already been broken and the rabbit who he loved and took care of had been taken from him and turned into food. So, the rabbit represents his (lost) innocence.

"God, Death, and the Universe" is him talking about how the universe is infinite and wondering where we go when we die. To him, the outer bounds of the universe and heaven are part of the same mystery. It's the only thing he's at peace with not understanding. That place is where the rabbit is stranded. A place that is beyond human comprehension, as imagined by my Nonno.

His innocence is trapped in the deepest corners of his mind, the only place where he still has an imagination. It's the only part of his reality that isn't affected by his deep mistrust in the world.