Ira Holmes Memorial
On Oct. 29, the CF Ira Holmes International Film Series hosted a memorial ceremony, dedicating Building 8, room 110 to Ira Holmes, renaming it the “Ira Holmes Classroom”. Ira Holmes was a devoted CF humanities and social sciences professor, founder of the Ira Holmes International Series, which was renamed in his honor after his passing, and served on the Ocala Historic Preservation Advisory Board.
The president of CF, James Henningsen, started the dedication with a speech about Holmes and his experience with Holmes. Amanda Holmes, daughter of Ira Holmes, followed up Henningsen’s speech with her own, speaking about her father and the person he was that many admired. Wendy Adams, director of the Ira Holmes International Film Series, invited friends, family and former students of Holmes to go around the room and share their fond memories and great moments with him.
“The Seventh Seal” review
Following the memorial, the CF Ira Holmes International Series hosted a screening of “The Seventh Seal” at the request of Ira Holmes who saw a message of hope in the film according to Wendy Adams, the Film Series director. A 1958 Swedish film about the journey of a medieval knight, his squire, his squire’s forced companion, a family of actors, a smith and his wife on their way to a castle as the knight searches for his wife and the rest attempt to wait out a plague.
At the beginning of the film, Antonius Block, the knight, meets with Death, knowing he had come to take him. However, Antonius challenged Death to a chess tournament to prolong the inevitable. After his interaction with Death, him and his squire Jons travel to a town. At this town, there was a group of travelling performers, Jof, Mia, their infant, Mikael, and their manager, Jonas. When Jof first appeared on screen, he saw a hallucination of the virgin Mary with her baby, Jesus. This scene marked the beginning of his hallucinations, and the family’s eventual reason for survival.
After a performance by the group, an interruption by a group of flagellants and Jons making a woman join them after saving her life, Mia meets Antonius. The family and Antonius enjoyed strawberries and milk with Antonius stating that he would remember that day, describing the environment around them. A short, happy moment amongst the chaos and darkness. Antonius offered a haven from the plague to the actors by going to his castle where he was expecting his wife. The performers agreed and they set out through the woods. Before they got far though, another man, the smith, Plog, and his wife, Lisa, met them. Jof recognized him as a man who had attacked him previously after being wrongly accused of stealing his wife.
They all set out together to the castle. Antonius tries to confide in a woman, who’s about to be burned for being associated with the Devil and causing the plague. He wants to know what she saw, trying to confirm the existence of an afterlife and God, trying to understand his fate after his game with Death.
Eventually, they all set up camp for rest when Antonius continued his game with Death. Jof, who had been seeing “hallucinations” as they were described by Mia, saw Death and his game with Antonius. He wanted to leave and, although she was reluctant at first, Mia agreed to leave so they packed up and began to go. Antonius saw this and purposefully knocked over his chess pieces to distract Death as they escaped. That was his final act of kindness after the Crusades, knowing he would not be able to beat Death.
The rest of the group travelled the rest of the way to the castle where Antonius finally reunited with his wife. They sat down for a meal and prayer when a storm rolled in. There was a knock at the door. Death had arrived for Antonius but took the rest as well. Death was the symbol of the plague that had been running from, and it finally met them when Antonius lost his match. The family, who had escaped due to Jof’s vision, left the woods. Jof turned to see the castle group dancing on a hill, all bound to each other.
Upcoming events from the Film Series
The Film Series will be hosting another screening on Nov. 12 with a 2006 film, “Long Flat Balls”. A Norwegian comedy directed by Harald Zwart and Bjorn Nagell about six men working in a garage, traveling to the soccer World Championship to save their garage. The first screening will be from 2-4 p.m. at the Appleton Museum of Art, 4333 E. Silver Spring Blvd., Ocala. The next screening will be at 7 p.m. at the College of Central Florida, Ocala Campus, in the Ira Holmes Classroom, 3001 S.W. College Road. Learn more about the Film Series, Ira Holmes and upcoming events at the Ira Holmes International Film Series Website.
