analyzing eyes
The twin eyes and the eye patch of Odin. The hidden blade within a metal cross and the scars of the priest. Timing is everything, especially in a world where budgets are monumental. Both films have one central theme, and that is penance. Paying for one’s past mistakes. Thor did not truly know what it was to be a god…until he felt the frailties of mortality. Not only then could he do something more than merely redeem himself. He had to earn his right to stand by his father. And even though the transition was rather quick. Thor made it clear that he had much to learn. Thor was a film about sight. While Priest was a film about blindness. In Thor, Heimdall played by the exceptional Idris Elba had the power of all-vision. His sight extended beyond the crystalline core of Asgard and penetrated deep into the mortal realm of Midgard. Yet, Loki could obfuscate things through his trickery and magik.
In Priest, the Vampires quite literally had no eyes. This was except for the vampire lord who was the main antagonist for the film. Yet despite this obvious reference, there was the weakness of the main human city in, “Priest” and that was that the sun did not shine upon the human city. Was this because of the pollution of the city? That is doubtful. The heavy dirt that fell from the black clouds in the film was not some kind of environmentalist plead. It was symbolic of how faith unpracticed and untested is as murky as the blackest sea.
To have faith without the will and conviction to wear it as a pair of boots in treacherous path that lies ahead…well, that is a boon unused. And any boon that lies unused is no boon at all.
The hero in Priest sacrificed his pleasurable existence because he was taken to another calling. Was it higher? Maybe…was it necessary? Absolutely.
Like Thor, the Priest had a purpose. And yet that purpose did not become clear until the commitment to engage the unknown was already set in blood and stone. That is the way of things. Choice is less of a controller of fate and more like the active form of accepting it. By choosing, we accept that we actually have zero control, but rather a sense of duty to fulfill an unknown part.
Similarly to how the Priest’s true power did not come from any drug or mechanical technology. Thor’s strength was infused in him by his valor, but more importantly his kindred and extended family that outstretched beyond nebulae and asteroid belts alike.
The Priest’s penance was strange because it seemed to just have begun in this first film. We don’t really know what horrors he is going to face without the support of the establishment. But one thing is clear, the allies that he had cultivated will stand strong throughout the night.
Thor’s penance was to be human. Yet in those moments, he found a shred of humility that would help to balance his pride and arrogance. His inability to pull Mjolnir from its Earthly cradle. That was difficult to watch. But it made it clear that he had not yet been right for the tool. Because that is what Mjolnir is…a tool for the good, to do good. In Thor’s frailty, he attempted to bargain the only way he could with the only thing he had, which was his mortal life.
You can never be slain, Thor…only silenced for a short time.
You can never be banished, Thor…only blocked as boulder blocks a strong river.
You can never be forgotten, Thor…for Kenaz burns in the hearts of all whom hear you.
-Tyler