Man on Fire I
The man on fire is uncredited. Used again and again but relegated to stunt. Old prop in the loose parts of the toolbox. Though he is state change. The man on fire cannot come back from that moment. He becomes coal or scar and rage or ascends. Sublimation. The water that is his bulk vanished. The immediacy of smoke and cloud. we understand that he is revenge or will have it.
Watch his trajectory. Over decades it never wavers. Though he ambles. Searching for a wind. What feeds or extinguishes him. We see him in profile. Violence must be featureless. He cannot put his arms down. Heat lifting him to flight. The man on fire has always been on fire. Editing doesn’t allow us to know this. But he is there. Practicing in the background.