Post view task: The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter

Hello readers,

                      This blog is a part of post viewing task of the play "the Birthday Party" written by Harold Pinter in 1957 and directed by William Friedkin, a 1968 film in which our Professor Dr.Dilip Barad sir gave us task to interpret the movie. Here is the blog link of the given task click here

Post-Viewing Tasks:

• Why are two scenes of Lulu omitted from the movie?

Ans. I think director do not want to change the tone of the genre of the play in the movie. "The Birthday Party" is a comedy of menace and it means a dangerous or threatening quality. So, if director show Lulu's scene then it seems somewhat romantic but here, in the movie director shows us a very threatening scene of rape in blackout so this genre keep its quality so two scenes of Lulu omitted from the movie.

•    Is movie successful in giving us the effect of menace? Where you able to feel it while reading the text?

Ans. yes, the movie giving a successful effect of menace. While we are reading the play at some level it creates that kind of effect but not that much like film does because the audio and visual effects are more effective that reading text. In the movie, we find the effect of menace clearly in the interrogation scene where the number of the question asked and through the loud sound effect and Stanley was sweating in fear and frustration and when Stanley hears about the two strangers he runs in a fear.

•         Do you feel the effect of lurking danger while viewing the movie? Where you able to feel the same while reading the text

Ans. Yes, throughout the movie we can find the effect of lurking danger when door knocking and in the interrogation scenes. Furthermore, we can find the lurking danger when Mccain tears news paper in pieces. In the play we can find when we think who drive the car where s/he going and interrogation scene of text.

• What do you read in 'newspaper' in the movie? Petey is reading newspaper to Meg, it torn into pieces by McCain, pieces are hidden by Petey in last scene.

Ans. There are various interpretations of the news paper. In the first scene we see that Petey read news paper and Meg doing household work so in this we can say that newspaper stand for intellectual personality and in other way we can say that Petey is more connected with current scenario of the outside world when Meg is limited to the house. Another interpretation is when we see the Mccain torn the news paper into pieces it shows the ill motive of him that he wants to destroy Stanley as newspaper.

• Camera is positioned over the head of McCain when he is playing Blind Man's Buff and is positioned at the top with a view of room like a cage (trap) when Stanley is playing it. What interpretations can you give to these positioning of camera? 

Ans. Camera is positioned over the head of Mccain when he is playing blind man's buff and view of the camera from the roof of the room like a cage or trap. When Stanley is playing the game, it shows that Stanley can't escape from the trap created by two strangers.

"Pinter restored theater to its basic elements: an enclosed space and unpredictable dialogue, where people are at the mercy of one another and pretense crumbles." (Pinter, Art, Truth & Politics: Excerpts from the 2005 Nobel Lecture). Does this happen in the movie?

Ans. yes, some extent it happens in the movie. Everyone has love and care for each other for instance Meg, lulu and Petey show care for Stanley but at the end when Stanley is in problem no one can helps or even care. So, we can connect this with America and and other countries for example, when many Muslim countries have care and love for other Muslim countries but when America opposes any country like Iran and Iraq then Saudi Arabia can not do anything like Petey, Meg can not do for Stanley because power make them underdog.

How does viewing movie help in better understanding of the play ‘The Birthday Party’ with its typical characteristics (like painteresque, pause, silence, menace, lurking danger)?

Ans. Some rightly quoted that an image worth than thousand words, so obviously viewing movie help in better understanding of the play. We can not understand the silence, pause, pianteresque, menace and lurking danger through text but we can understand through visual images and pictures. So, camera angle helps us a lot to understand this kind of play.

With which of the following observations you agree:

o “It probably wasn't possible to make a satisfactory film of "The Birthday Party."
o “It's impossible to imagine a better film of Pinter's play than this sensitive, disturbing version directed by William Friedkin”

Ans. I agree to the second point that "It's impossible to imagine a better film of Pinter's play than this sensitive, disturbing version directed by William Friedkin" because it is very loyal to the text and in so many years other directors couldn't not make this kind of movie.

If you were director or screenplay writer, what sort of difference would you make in the making of movie?

Ans. If I was director or screenplay of this movie I also make similar movie because I can't find any mistake in settings or in any characters.

Who would be your choice of actors to play the role of characters?

My choice of actors are:

Stanley- Nawazuddin Siddiqui

Goldberg- Irfan Khan

Mccain- Saif Ali Khan

Lulu- Kubra Sait (Kuku)

Petey- Nasruddin Shah

Meg- Kirron Khair