DRIFT x De Uitkijk: Ordinary People (1980)

The annual collaboration between De Uitkijk and Wijsgerig Festival DRIFT is back! This time, Film & Philosophy explores the space between dream and deed. On four consecutive Monday evenings, we invite you to map out and climb, or even tear down, the mysterious wall that separates ideas from reality. From violent murder to meditative reflection, everything is explored as we cover the distance between dream and deed. And all this while you sit back and relax in the comfortable seats of the old De Uitkijk cinema.

The word is put into action by a philosopher who gives a short lecture before each screening.

The last screening in the Film & Philosophy series is Ordinary People (1980) by actor-director Robert Redford, with an introduction by Sophie Saddington. Starts at 9 p.m. 

Sophie Saddington on Ordinary People (1980):

In this short lecture, Camus’ philosophy of absurdism is linked to the realistic drama Ordinary People (1980, Robert Redford). This Oscar-winning film tells the story of teenager Conrad Jerrett, who is tormented by guilt over his failure to save his brother in a tragic accident. The film’s title refers to how the family, ‘ordinary people’, cope with the stress and its psychological impact as a symptom of this tragedy. What exactly in our response to the absurdity of life makes us human? To what extent is our humanity intrinsically linked to the experience of discomfort? Could absurdity then be the dream, and being human the act?