An account of an endangered ritual of woodchopping.
The film is divided into two parts: the first captures the very beginning of the woodchopping, whereas the second focuses on the very end of it. Upon splitting the very final block, it came to me to recite Robert Frost’s poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, though little did I know that my voice was absorbed by the background noise, leaving only untrustworthy lip sync.
Preservation is not the footage’s only function, since it also plays out as an improvisational one-act play. In a sense, it echoes the soundscapes of The Necks, the Australian trio known for their vertiginously mesmerizing music, reminding that it is only through repetition, through the monotonous, a miracle sprouts.
The phrase Ora et Labora (Pray and Work) serves as the spiritual foundation of the monastic rule written by Saint Benedict. This formula is central to the life of a Benedictine monk, who seamlessly interweaves contemplative prayer with physical labor.
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II
Shown afterwards, the stills serve as a summary, or rather, an extract of the film, leaving an irreversible sense of finality.
