Entry 3.2 - Scenes of Macbeth

The video I chose is the scene of the film "Macbeth" of 1971, directed by Roman Polanski. He directed this film after the loss of his pregnant wife and his close friends by a tragic murder. It was filmed in Northwest Wales of U.K.

This scene I chose is the beginning of the movie where the three witches meet at the deserted place. Three of them with creepy and weird looking faces gather around and one of them draws a circle on the ground. Then they start to dig the ground with their hands. One of them take out a rope that looks like it was used to hang a person, the other one bring a man's hand that was cut in the arm. The last one put them inside the hole they dug, put a knife in the hand and then all of them sprinkle some dry leaves onto it and buried them. When they finished burying the oldest witch take out a small bottle and pour blood on the ground. Three of them put a spell on it and then spitted around them. When the "official" ceremony is done, they discuss about when they are going to meet again, while the youngest one prepares for all of them to leave. It all happened after a night before dawn.

I haven't read Macbeth yet but if I judge from this video, the three witches represents minorities. They don't belong to the society, yet they gather together to put a spell on someone who does for some reason that's not showing in this short clip. The action of burying a hand represents a grudge, and also a plan that they couldn't see the result right away. The sword held in the hand means power that the witches were praying for.

The reason I chose this scene is because it is a very simple scene with no special effects and minimal words. It seems so real and surreal at the same time because of it. It is the beginning of the movie and without any explanation it makes the movie seems very interesting.