Waiting for Godot was truly a blast from the past. Years ago, I watched this film for History of Film and the first shot of the film instantly grabbed my attention and held on tight. So, it pains me to say that watching this again was a little underwhelming in that I did not recall it being this long and redundant in some parts. However, the overall quality more than makes up for a few flaws.
There is only one setting for Waiting for Godot but this simple set had several tones ranging from haunting to comical depending on the way actors used the stage. The notion of the dead tree, a seemingly endless, pebble road, a cold winter morning and two figure waiting for someone who they do not know. If there is something that could leave an impression on the viewers it, it would definitely be the vivid imagery.
Whether you are seeing Waiting for Godot live or on film, another impressive element of this drama are the actors. The two protagonist converse in ordinary topics while waiting for the mysterious Godot and often times these conversations would go on for 20 minutes. That's got be hard to memorize. And yet, the actors don't make the conversation feel force, after a while you really believe that these men are just having a normal exchange about their day. That is, of course, until the conversations start to become boring to the viewers.
One question that is often asked of Waiting for Godot is: Is there a meaning? In the end, our two main protagonist does not meet Godot and thus nothing happened making all the waiting meaningless. The debate of whether or not everything should have meaning is rather complicated, and can last for an eternity. (Fortune for me, I only have a few sentences to explain.) To me, Waiting for Godot is like life it contains small moments of meaning that paints a bigger picture. Our two protagonist might meet Godot the next day and we'll never know for sure because that is the next moment, which the original screenwriters did not want to share with us.
