Cold Fever- Ben Stewart

When the japanese man starts his journey he does not believe in ritual and sacred space whatsoever. He is talking to his grandfather and refuses to go to iceland because he says it is dumb and he would rather go to hawaii on vacation where he can enjoy himself. His granfather tells him that he needs to to do it to honor his parents. He is still not going to go until he is shown supernaturally that he must. He is show shocked by the tv turning on and seeing his parents that he realizes that he has no choice. He begins his journey to iceland and as he gets there he has nothing but distain for the place. He hates everything about it and it does not speak to him at all. As the plot begins to unfold however Lanes 4 sacred axioms begin to act on him without him really trying. The first axiom is that a sacred place is not chosen it chooses. This man obviously did not choose for this sacred land to happen to him. He wanted absolutely no part in it. It however chose him and he began to experience it as he continued through the plot. Like the different things that happened that he had nothing to do with. For example how he was led to the religious gathering by the taxi driver or how he sees the lady that can do supernatural things. The second axiom is that sacred space is ordinary space ritually made extraoridinary. Obviously iceland is a ordinary place that is very cold. The spot where he conducts his ritual is not special at all until he does his ritual. It is then that it becomes special to him. The third axiom is that sacred space can be tread upon without being entered. He obviously treds upon a lot of land in iceland before any of it becomes sacred to him. In fact he absolutely hates the area at first. The fourth axiom and final axiom is that sacred space is both local and universal. Hirata was in the local area and tried to become accustomed to it. As he performed the ritual however the place became universal to him as he felt like he was connecting to his parents who had passed away and gone so long ago. Basically this movie is about how Hirata manages to go from not caring about anything ritual and sacred and is then shown how amazing it can be. He did not really try that hard to find it, i think that it more found him.