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Patience after Sebald - Film on walks in Suffolk

By Roger Jones

Currently under doctor's orders to rest a damaged ankle I have been unable to spend my time walking and photographing in East Anglia, however I had a chance at the weekend to explore the Suffolk Coast of my childhood vicariously via the medium of film, seen at the ICA in London.

The film is "Patience (After Sebald)" LinkExternal link by Grant Gee based on the book "The Rings of Saturn" by the late Norwich based German writer WG Sebald.

The film itself is quite an arty film: shot mostly in grainy black and white, it has some very evocative shots of walks mainly of the Suffolk Coast - Benacre, Covehithe, Southwold, Dunwich, Orford, at one point it does go inland via Saxmundham and Yoxford to Bungay. It also features some "talking heads" from the fields of literature, film, history and art including Iain Sinclair (London Orbital) and Robert Macfarlan (The Wild Places).

There is a somewhat whimsical section regarding the Southwold Railway, which features a few historical shots of the old Southwold Railway. The whimsical part is that Sebald tells a tale that one of the old SR loco's once had a dragon painted on it, and spins a yarn about the loco coming from China.

I think the film will appeal to those familiar with walking in East Suffolk and those who enjoy literature, art, psycho-geography and moody black and white films. It is probably not going to appeal to those who count rivets on Southwold locomotives.

I really enjoyed the film, possibly because I recognized most of the locations. It also got me to think about experimenting more with black and white shots. I'll also go out and get a copy of Sebald's book.

Update: The film is now out on DVD with EAN: 5060238030779


When
Tue, 31 Jan 2012 at 11:30
Chosen Photo

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