A Clean, Undarkend Place

Author's Note: This is my response/comparison piece for "A Clean, Well Lighted Place" and it's movie version. Comments appreciated.

In Ernest Hemingway's "A Clean, Well Lighted Place" we find a seemingly inane story of a two waiters and an old man. In the movie adaptation we find a nearly identical story. However while the movie is able to show some of the writers intended symbolism, some of it is lost in translation.

First I feel it is my duty to speak of the good things we find it the short movie. For example you see the waiters dressed in white and the old man in black. While this may be typical garb for any person it serves to emphasize the old man being lost to the darkness and the waiters perhaps not so. However looking closer we see the older waiter bathed in light, not a shadow around him to be found. On the other hand the younger waiter has shadows gathering around him, as if he himself is about to fall into the darkness. And indeed these are the ideas Hemingway has put into many a mind who bothered to think about the deeper meaning in his stories.

However just as it is my duty to report the good I must also bring to light the bad, or perhaps simply contested, elements of the movie. First I must point out that in Hemingway's writing things are repeated for a reason. For example it is repeatedly mentioned the seating of the old man as in the shadow of the leaves. However in the movie he is shown in bright relief, no shadows even near to him. This was rather off-putting as the darkness was a readers first clue into the nature of this old man.

While there was good and bad in the movie adaptation of "A Clean, Well Lighted Place" was far from perfect I believe that it was close enough to satisfy. Perhaps a few more tweaks, another read over of the story, and it could have been perfect.