Question About A Georgian Film
January 29, 2011 12:46 PM Subscribe
This is a question about the ending of a Georgian film titled Street Days. SPOILER ALERT, of course . . . .
OK. The movie ends with Checkie sitting in his living room, having decided to kill himself rather than betray a friend to the police. The camera alternates between shots of the old-school black-and-white communist propaganda he's watching on the TV in front of him and shots of a beautiful young girl doing her nails at her windowsill.
We hear the gunshot. Checkie has done the deed.
There's a fade and then a shot of schoolchildren gathered around in a classroom singing a song. There are no subtitles for this scene and, not being all that familiar with Georgian culture, I have no idea what it is -- the song, the lyrics or the symbolism of the song itself. I would very much like to know what they're singing because the director made the choice to end this movie on this note --literally and figuratively -- and I feel as if I'm missing an important part of the movie by not knowing the song.
If you know what song the kids are singing, and could share that knowledge with me, along with perhaps a sense of the cultural weight of that song, I would be forever in your debt.
Many thanks in advance!
OK. The movie ends with Checkie sitting in his living room, having decided to kill himself rather than betray a friend to the police. The camera alternates between shots of the old-school black-and-white communist propaganda he's watching on the TV in front of him and shots of a beautiful young girl doing her nails at her windowsill.
We hear the gunshot. Checkie has done the deed.
There's a fade and then a shot of schoolchildren gathered around in a classroom singing a song. There are no subtitles for this scene and, not being all that familiar with Georgian culture, I have no idea what it is -- the song, the lyrics or the symbolism of the song itself. I would very much like to know what they're singing because the director made the choice to end this movie on this note --literally and figuratively -- and I feel as if I'm missing an important part of the movie by not knowing the song.
If you know what song the kids are singing, and could share that knowledge with me, along with perhaps a sense of the cultural weight of that song, I would be forever in your debt.
Many thanks in advance!
Response by poster: Holy Crap! There is the exact clip I need! Right on YouTube! I didn't think it would be there.
It's at 4:57 (roughly) of this clip.
posted by jason's_planet at 1:50 PM on January 29, 2011
It's at 4:57 (roughly) of this clip.
posted by jason's_planet at 1:50 PM on January 29, 2011
Response by poster: Deeplink to the exact spot in the clip.
posted by jason's_planet at 1:52 PM on January 29, 2011
posted by jason's_planet at 1:52 PM on January 29, 2011
Best answer: Jason, I still have a lot of friends in Georgia, both as Peace Corps volunteers and native Georgians. I'll ask around to see what the reaction is.
posted by piratebowling at 3:36 PM on January 29, 2011
posted by piratebowling at 3:36 PM on January 29, 2011
And I just realized it's 1AM over there I don't expect answers anytime soon.
posted by piratebowling at 3:58 PM on January 29, 2011
posted by piratebowling at 3:58 PM on January 29, 2011
Best answer: from my beautiful Georgian friend, Nino:
"they are singing it's raining nice.. rain drops will alive gardens with cleen water of the sky"
and
"this is only part of it, but unfortunately i don't know the whole song... the Idea is that raindrops bring alive gardens.. the person who died didn't gave drugs to that young boy.. hope it was helpful :))"
posted by tarvuz at 2:47 AM on January 30, 2011
"they are singing it's raining nice.. rain drops will alive gardens with cleen water of the sky"
and
"this is only part of it, but unfortunately i don't know the whole song... the Idea is that raindrops bring alive gardens.. the person who died didn't gave drugs to that young boy.. hope it was helpful :))"
posted by tarvuz at 2:47 AM on January 30, 2011
Best answer: The reaction I got was similar to tarvuz's:
"the song is about the rain. "ckap-ckup' is the sound of the rain...i couldn'r get all well distinctly enough, but it said that rain moves the brunches of the trees and that kids are happy having it (rain) :)"
I'm thinking it's not a very well known song, based on the fact that both tarvus and my friend mentioned not being able to hear all of it, or gave any hint of being familiar with it outside of the clip. But, it's clearly about the regenerative properties of rain. That's all I got.
posted by piratebowling at 8:52 AM on January 30, 2011
"the song is about the rain. "ckap-ckup' is the sound of the rain...i couldn'r get all well distinctly enough, but it said that rain moves the brunches of the trees and that kids are happy having it (rain) :)"
I'm thinking it's not a very well known song, based on the fact that both tarvus and my friend mentioned not being able to hear all of it, or gave any hint of being familiar with it outside of the clip. But, it's clearly about the regenerative properties of rain. That's all I got.
posted by piratebowling at 8:52 AM on January 30, 2011
Response by poster: Yes! This is what I'm looking for.
I didn't necessarily need a word-for-word, blow-by-blow translation of the entire lyrics, just a sense of what the song meant and why the director chose to use it as the ending for his film.
And now I know! Life is good.
Thanks, guys!
posted by jason's_planet at 6:55 PM on January 31, 2011
I didn't necessarily need a word-for-word, blow-by-blow translation of the entire lyrics, just a sense of what the song meant and why the director chose to use it as the ending for his film.
And now I know! Life is good.
Thanks, guys!
posted by jason's_planet at 6:55 PM on January 31, 2011
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posted by Nomyte at 1:41 PM on January 29, 2011