Cold Fever By: Jack Long

In the film “Cold Fever,” the main character is a Japanese man who encounters a journey both physically and spiritually. Initially, Hirata is a non religious businessman who travels to Iceland for a month to perform a ritual for his diseased parents who died in a car accident in Iceland. Hirata must travel to the spot of their death and carryout their burying rights so that his parents souls can be laid to rest.

Lane’s first axiom states that place is not chosen it chooses. An example of this in the movie “Cold Fever” would be when Hirata is traveling on a bus when he first arrives in Iceland and the tour guide tells the passengers that fairies live in the chimney like rock structures off to each side of the road. Hirata is not a superstitious or religious man but when he sees the fairy that appears as a young girl yelling into the night he becomes more open minded. Another instance would be when he buys the beat up old sedan from the strange woman. The woman tells Hirata that it was his destiny to purchase the car. This makes me wonder whether the woman was a fairy because of the mischief associated with the breaking down of the car. It makes me ask the question was that supposed to happen the way it did? Or was it meant to be just another obstacle that Hirata has to overcome.

The second axiom tells us that place is ordinary ritually made extraordinary. Hirata meets a woman in a diner who goes and takes pictures at many funerals. She has what she refers to as a “funeral collection” and teaches Hirata that ritual is very beautiful. The woman scrapbooks pictures of mourning that she takes from funerals of people that she has never met before. She convinces him that his parents would be proud to have a son like him to make such a perilous journey. When he performs his ritual on the ice towards the water the old man watches Hirata. The man is fascinated by the Japanese customs and in every culture it is true that ritual s extraordinary.

Lane’s third axiom states that sacred place can be tread upon without being entered. When Hirata arrives in Iceland he views it as a baron wasteland. He doesn’t see much sanctity in a wilderness full of blizzards, obstacles and strange people. When he arrives at the tavern at the climax of the movie he drinks with an old man who is willing to help him on his quest. They both venture form the lodge on horseback to the bride that leads to the river where his parents die. The old man has a dream and in this dream he see Hirata traveling alone among spirits. In a sense he is treading sacred place witout physically being there.

The fourth axiom of sacred place dictates that sacred place is both local and universal. The river when Hirata’s parents died is local to Iceland but is universal in spirituality because of what took place there. Perception is what determines topos and chora as well as the sanctity of place. God is never confined to a single local, therefore holiness can be focused in a particular place of divine encounter s well as the rest of the universe at the same time.