Latin in the film Torment

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Alatius
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Latin in the film Torment

Post by Alatius »

In the Swedish film Hets (named Torment in English), written by Ingmar Bergman no less, there's a scene from a Latin class room, made famous for its portrayal of the very rigid teacher, "Caligula". If you haven't seen it already, you can find it on Youtube (with English subtitles) here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EimkXIW47ME

While teachers such as Caligula hopefully are rare nowadays, I fear that the method of "reading" Latin by translating is still fairly common...

I was wondering though, whether it would be possible to reconstruct the supposed Latin text they are translating from, and if so, if it is from an ancient author, or maybe a paraphrase of one. I first expected it to be something from Livy or the like, but I now am afraid it is all made up by Bergman; primarily because I have been unable to find any mention anywhere else of an "Igas" river. However, if you have any other idea, I'd be very interested in hearing it.

Note by the way, that the pronunciation is restored classical -- it had, I belive, replaced the traditional Swedish pronunciation of Latin in schools several decades before the film was made. (The traditional method would have <C> pronounced as /s/ before front vowels.) However, it is only classical on a phonemic level, without any attempts at reproducing sounds not found in Swedish. The student Karlsson uses a Scanian dialect, and hence has an uvular /r/ in his Latin.

Interaxus
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Post by Interaxus »

I didn't see any subtitles in the YouTube excerpt. But here's the script in English if anyone's interested.
http://www.bergmanorama.com/films/torment_dialogue.htm

Alatius, perhaps you could reconstruct a Q text for us...? :) (I'm sure you're capable)

Cheers,
Int

Alatius
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Posts: 278
Joined: Mon May 14, 2007 11:21 am
Location: Upsalia, Suecia

Post by Alatius »

Interaxus wrote:I didn't see any subtitles in the YouTube excerpt.
You will probably have to enable them. There is now a button on the bottom right of the player, where you can select which subtitles to show. (See http://www.google.com/support/youtube/b ... wer=100078 )
Interaxus wrote:Alatius, perhaps you could reconstruct a Q text for us...? :)
Well, I'm a bit tempted, but only under the assumption that there is no actual original Latin text.

Interaxus
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Post by Interaxus »

Learning is wonderful! Now I know how to enable subtitles in YouTube. Thanks a million for that, Alatius.

Can't wait for that reconstruction (plus audio?) ...

Cheers,
Int

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