Monday, December 20, 2010

Adam and Eve, Bono and Ali

I really enjoy Catanzarite's  Achtung Baby: Meditations on Love in the Shadow of the Fall (see the  U2 sermons review, several links related to the book here, and "a little leitmotif lite")


He takes a risk and offers an intriguing interpretive grid through which to view the narrative flow and arc of the "Achtung Baby" album: the  story of a man and woman, expelled from Eden after the fall (I particularly love his description of the couple getting off the train from Eden at Zoo Station..)

Then, more recently, a poster bu the username OnlineOnTheHorizon 
posted a fan video  (below)for the newer U2 song, "Mercy," explaining:


... I do not consider myself a very religious person, but the idea to take it in that direction sort of appealed to me.

The footage of Bono and his wife Ali is taken from an advertisement for fashion designer Louis Vuitton (check the link below) and they talk a bit about their own clothing line Edun as well. Then it occured to me; imagine Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, a place were everything is perfect and it all
makes sense and all they have or need is each other's company.
What we then have is quite the opposite, Bono in the rain, away from his beloved, and it's cold and wet whereas Africa is warm and nice - I thought of it sort of as a metaphor for being expelled from paradise.
I find a beauty in that idea of lasting love, friendship, trust and faith in one another and I wanted to somehow honour and reflect that with this piece of video. In the end, this is a tribute to Bono and Ali, my role models for what I think a relationship should be like  -Link:
OnlineOnTheHorizon 



See the video excerpt from "The Heart of Africa"viewable at http://tinyurl.com/368npgd
I love the way Bono smiles appreciatively/romantically  as his wife as she talks about their call to serve Africa,
That the couple were filmed leaning on a tree was no accident.

Outtake from the same day:



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