Sarah Clementson- Northfork -Post # 3

The concept of angels is something that I have never taken the time to try and pin down. In the Bible, Jacob wrestled with God through an angel. Also, angels are shown throughout scripture specifically in coming to Joseph in a dream and the angel, Gabriel, brought news to Mary that she was going to carry God’s Son. In these situations specific humans had contact with angels. As I sit and think about that, I wonder if other people had been around, would Mary have been the only one to see the angel or would all of the people be able to see Gabriel. This matters because in the film Northfork there are about three different plot lines going on in a town named Northfork. The town is being evacuated due to a dam being built and the town is going to be covered with water. One of the plotlines is based on Irwin. Irwin is a very sick orphan boy being taken care of by a priest. Irwin is in and out of consciousness throughout the movie, and the most action takes place in his dreams, focused on his interactions with four very odd angels. The angels are all lacking something, vision, hands, etc and are taken from Irwin’s imagination concocted from the items located on the side table adjacent to his bed. Although I am not sure that I have ever believed angels only have wings and have to be all in white and majestic, the way they are portrayed in the Bible is as tall and beautiful beings. In Northfork, the angels were almost human in their depiction because they had limitations and flaws instead of being ethereal. I doubted as to whether they were real because I thought they were just a part of Irwin’s sick dreams. Yet, when a boy and his father come to get the house where the angels reside, the father sees the angels and the snow but the son does not.
In this situation, I am beginning to see that wisdom or experience in the difficulties of life open people’s eyes to new perspectives. The dad, along with Irwin, have seen and almost tasted death first-hand. They are able to have a different perspective on life in contrast with the son who is so upset about scratch on his Ford and does not even think about the eternal. The visibility of these four eccentric angels, Happy, Cod, Cup of Tea, and Flower are uncertain of many things, learning and yet supposedly God-inspired. I do not understand if the father had lingered at the house if the angels would have behaved in the same manner. If so, would the angels only be a figment of each individual’s imagination if they can fathom something eternal past the here and now? Irwin was sick and created the angels in his imagination, and yet the father saw them too. I do not understand how any of that is possible, except that there must be an alteration in thinking, perception and understanding of the meaning of life when forced to deal with the realities of death.