Miel Emile (2019)

Directed by: Peter van Houten | 145 minutes | documentary | With: Emile Raaijmakers, Rilke Raaijmakers

‘When you are really in love, you see the beauty of poppies; when it’s over, you can’t tell the poppies from the gravel’. A beautiful wisdom of life; that we call poetry — mystical poetry. If God reveals Himself in creation, He certainly does that for Miel. The eighty-year-old Flemish priest, living withdrawn from life in the Pyrenees, wants to be open to experiences. The monastic silence of nature is preferred for this man to everyday reality and religious dogmas.

‘Miel-Emile’ is slow food in the field of filmmaking, with a direction that is embedded in the life pace of the main character. A mystical documentary that zooms in slowly on the essence. You can make Miel talk, most of the time it is a pleasure to listen to the enthused loner. Then you should not portray the man against a wide panorama, but visually touch him when he talks about things you cannot see; that makes this documentary worthwhile. Otherwise it will be ‘Man Bijt Hond’.

Miel (nickname of Emile) is not only a bird of paradise. You will probably also find mystics among the people who have filled their entire house with porcelain figurines. But this man has found the pure simplicity. When Miel eats a bell pepper, it is with complete abandon, and it does not look compulsive but serene. At times he looks like a medieval monk, at other times a monochrome character by photographer Stephan Vanfleteren. The nature in the background is timeless.

There is a story about a dictatorial father, but that is distracting. Not necessary, this pure human being has freed himself, although the mountain on which he lives was once bought by that father and there are less good memories. A child’s soul in an old body also has its flaws, and sometimes Miel’s looking back is repetitive. It also shows that people have to detach themselves from the past, but that they never quite succeed. Living like God is recommended, but impossible.