Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed

Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed

            In the sweet, slow-moving Spanish  film Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed

 I like the main character, who teaches English and uses Beatles songs in his lessons.  His students repeat lines, and he explains what they mean in Spanish, the old translation method.  But he has his heart in it. He's very kind and gentle, so it's a little bit surprising that he hasn't become a family man although the examples we see of all heads of the household shows them slapping kids around.  The fact that he is a dedicated teacher who may not always be successful makes it easy for me to identify.  Of course, I associate "Living Is Easy" with the song "Summertime" from Porgy and Bess, but the title comes from "Strawberry Fields Forever."    I associate the Beatles with my brother David, who loves their songs--one of his pleasures (or escapes?) in his life at a neurobehavioral facility, where he's kept under lock and key twenty-four hours a day--except when we take him out to lunch, and yes, he would like to escape with us and go on a road trip far from the facility.  David used to sing along with the Beatles more than he does now.  He'd love this teacher's lessons provided the music, not just the English words,  was part of them.  The teacher, Antonio, is in his mid-forties, pushing fifty, but he lives poor and he lives alone in an apartment where he can't get the gas stove to work, so he heats his soup on an overturned iron.  He starts out on a road trip to see John Lennon, who's filming How I Won the War with director John Lester in Spain in 1966.  His dream is to speak to John Lennon and tell him about his students and get Lennon's help with lyrics he can't pick up from just listening, so in a sense he's traveling with his students, too, but the only people who get a ride with him are two runaways, ready to learn.  So what are the lessons?  You should get on the road to fulfill your dream (or to keep it from being dashed), and on the road, you should welcome the unexpected into your car, which will often break down, and  you will need HELP!    Juanjo and Belen are the two he meets at separate stops.  Juanjo has run away from home because his father insists he get his Beatles-length hair cut.  Belen has run away from a home for unwed mothers because she wants to decide what she's going to do with her body and her baby. 

            This  2013 film won the 2014 Goya Award for Best Film and Best Director, but it took another year for it to arrive here, where it was submitted into the category as Best Foreign Film but wasn't nominated.  Now I read it's being sponsored by Honorary Consulate of Spain in Seattle, Consulate General of Spain in San Francisco, Cultural Office of the Embassy of Spain, The Tourist Office of Spain, Dragados USA, Bellevue Club.

            If Andrew Crocker-Harris had taken a road trip to meet the Beatles, I'm not sure whether he would have had two passengers.  He might have failed even at getting someone to accept a ride--unless a Taplow happened along. 

            John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote this when they were young, but the words conjure up someone who's older, so it seems reasonable that the English teacher in Spain would identify. 

Help, I need somebody
Help, not just anybody
Help, you know I need someone
Help!

When I was younger, so much younger than today
I never needed anybody's help in any way
But now these days are gone I'm not so self-assured
Now I find I've changed my mind and opened up the doors

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you being 'round
Help me get my feet back on the ground
Won't you please, please help me?

And now my life has changed in oh so many ways
My independence seems to vanish in the haze
But every now and then I feel so insecure
I know that I just need you like I've never done before

Songwriters
LENNON, JOHN / MCCARTNEY, PAUL

Published by
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC