For those who unthinkingly skipped today’s HE Sink-In piece (“Birdman‘s Inarritu and The Soul Cages“) on the suspicion that it’s just another Birdman suck-up piece…well, it’s not. It’s a pretty decent piece of writing if I do say so myself. But for those who blew it off, check out a video clip from the jump page and a corresponding explanation:

“Before Inarritu was honored at the gala for the recent Palm Springs Film Festival, they showed a video clip of him leading the cast and crew of Birdman in a kind of prayer on the first day of shooting. It involved the throwing of rose petals and shouting ‘Abba, Eli,’ which is basically a chant of praise to God or fate or whatever luck can be found.

“Since Amores Perros and in every film since then, I have led a ceremony on the first day of shooting,” Inarritu explained a day after the Palm Springs event. “We all make a circle holding hands and keep silence for some minutes to meditate, pray or just be present and aware of the energy we all conform. I give a red rose…the blood color meaning effort and passion…to each member of the crew and after the silence, we take off the petals and throw them to the air as we say out loud ‘Abba, Eli!’

“These old words have different meanings in Hebrew and Aramaic, but they are basically about an access to wisdom or a wish, a recognition of a higher power in control.

“My grandmother Mama tita, or Mom of my Dad, used to put me in bed with these words and every morning. So I am just following her instructions. I do the same at the end of the shooting but with white roses, white being a color of peace.”