Philosophy For All London

Meetings are held every third MONDAY of the month at the Two Chairmen, 39 Dartmouth Street, SW1H 9BP, at 7 pm. After the film there is a brief discussion about the issues raised.

Nights of Cabiria (plot summary from Wikipedia)

A happy, laughing Cabiria is standing on a river bank with her current boyfriend and live-in lover, Giorgio. Suddenly he pushes her into the river and steals her purse which is full of money. She cannot swim and nearly drowns, but is rescued by a group of young boys and revived at the last possible moment by helpful ordinary people who live a little further down the river. In spite of their just saving her life, she treats them with disdain and starts looking for Giorgio.

Cabiria returns to her small home, but Giorgio has disappeared. She is bitter, and when her best friend and neighbor, Wanda tries to help her get over him, Cabiria shoos her away and remains disgruntled. She continues to work as a prostitute. One night, she is outside a fancy nightclub and witnesses a fight between famous movie star, Alberto Lazzari and his girlfriend, as she dumps him. The difference between the glamorous girlfriend, in a mink coat, and the short and scruffy Cabiria are stark. The jilted Lazzari takes the starstruck Cabiria to another club and then to his house, where Cabiria is astounded by its opulence. As the two are finally becoming closer after a rather standoffish few hours, Lazzari's girlfriend returns and Cabiria is shuffled off to the bathroom, unable to make love with the movie star.

Later, a church procession passes the hangout area for the town prostitutes. As her associates mock the Church, Cabiria is drawn to the procession. Just as she is about to join the procession, another john comes and she gets in his truck instead. As she heads home later that night, she sees a man giving food to the poor people living in caves near her house. She has never seen this man before, but she is impressed by his charity toward others. When she goes to church with her friends, she prays for a chance to better her life.

Cabiria goes to a magic show, and the magician drags her up on stage and hypnotizes her. As the audience laughs, she acts out her desires to be married and live a happy life. Furious at having been taken advantage of for the audience's amusement, she leaves in a huff. Outside the theatre, a man named Oscar is waiting to talk to her. He was in the audience, and he says he agrees with her that it was not right for everyone to laugh, but believes that fate has brought them together. They go for a drink, and at first she is cautious and suspicious, but after several meetings she falls passionately in love with him; they are to be married after only a few weeks. Cabiria is delighted and sells her home and takes out all her money from the bank. The sum of more than 700,000 lire in cash represents her dowry, and when she shows it to Oscar in a restaurant he advises her to keep it in the purse. However, during a walk in a wooded area, on a cliff overlooking a lake,[2] Oscar becomes distant and starts acting nervous. Cabiria realizes that just like her earlier lover, Oscar intends to push her over the cliff and steal her money. She throws her purse at his feet, sobbing in convulsions on the ground and begging for him to kill her as he takes the money and abandons her.

She later picks herself up and stumbles out of the wood in tears. In the film's famous last sequence, Cabiria walks the long road back to town when she is met by a group of young people riding scooters, playing music, and dancing. They happily form an impromptu parade around her until she begins to smile through her tears.

Meet up fortnightly with Anja and other philosophers at midnight (UK time) for a candlelit hour of thinking about life, the universe and everything. All meetings are free, light a candle and join us on Zoom! Topic for this session is above in title. Come in from 23:45, event starts at midnight. See you then!

Kant's Cave has moved, both physically and temporally. We are now holding meetings upstairs at the Two Chairmen, 39 Dartmouth Street, SW1H 9BP, but are still on Zoom too. AND we have moved to the first Monday* of the month, as since the pandemic Wednesday has become the busiest night for a lot of pubs. Join us for more great talks and discussion! All welcome, link available when you sign up.

• If Monday is a bank holiday Kant's Cave will be held on Tuesday.

Meet up fortnightly with Anja and other philosophers at midnight (UK time) for a candlelit hour of thinking about life, the universe and everything. All meetings are free, light a candle and join us on Zoom! Topic for this session is above in title. Come in from 23:45, event starts at midnight. See you then!