The Hunt

("Jagten" in Danish & English)

Rated R. Our ratings: V-5 ; L-5 ; S-5/N-1 . Running time: 1 hour 33 min.

My friends and companions stand aloof from my affliction,

   and my neighbors stand far off. 

Psalm 38.11

He was despised and rejected by others;

   a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;

and as one from whom others hide their faces--

   he was despised, and we held him of no account. 

Isaiah 53:3

So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits.

How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! 

                                                                           James 3.5

Lucas is a gentle kindgarten who is plunged into a nightmare

world when a little girl accuses him of exposing his privates to her.

(c) 2012 Magnolia Pictures

Directed by Thomas Vinterberg, who also wrote the screenplay with Tobias Lindholm, this film, set in a small Danish town, unfolds between the months leading up to Christmas, ending sometime in the following year at the beginning of hunting season. There is a crucial church scene on Christmas Eve that is a masterful combination of the Nativity and crucifixion, making this a marvelous film for people of faith to discuss.

Lucas (Mads Mikkelsen) is a middle-aged schoolteacher frequently battling over his cell phone with his divorced wife about the custody of their teenaged son Marcus (Lasse Fogelstrom). Unhappy with his mother, the boy badly wants to live with Lucas. Although the messy divorce cost him his teaching position, Lucas has been able to find work at the local kindergarten where the children adore him. When he arrives they enjoy hiding and then attacking him en mass, clinging to his legs and arms, and piling atop him when he falls to the ground and plays ”dead.” One of the assistant teachers also adores him, the Polish immigrant Nadja (Alexandra Rapaport), the two soon entering an affair initiated by her.

Lucas has a circle of hunting buddies with whom he enjoys drinking, though he is the one who stays sober enough to take the inebriated home. His best friend Theo (Thomas Bo Larsen) is one of these, the man’s wife Agnes (Anne Louise Hassing), gratefully appreciating this. In another scene Lucas rescues a friend from drowning when the man develops a cramp while swimming in a cold pond (it is November). Thus it is no wonder that Lucas is popular with adults as well as children.

Little Klara (Annika Wedderkopp), a kindergarten pupil and daughter of Theo and Agnes, develops a crush on Lucas, often showing up at his house so he can walk her home. During one of the pile-ups at kindergarten, he rebuffs her when she kisses him on the lips. Miffed by this, she repeats to head teacher Grethe (Susse Wold) some pornographic penis talk she has overheard on her older brother’s iPad.  She lies that Lucas exposed himself before her. Shocked at what she hears, Grethe, without informing him of all the details, including the child’s name, orders Lucas to take a leave while she brings up the matter with the other staff, with Theo and Agnes, and then that night, at a scheduled meeting with the all the parents.

Thus, as James observed, the little tongue, or we should say the tongue of a little one, starts a fire that blazes out of control, ruining the reputation of a good and kind man. Only Nadja and Brunn (Lars Ranthe), the godfather of his son Marcus, stand by him—and of course, Marcus also, although his alarmed mother tries to break off the boy’s contact with his father. Also, little Klara, becoming aware that what she now calls “a stupid” remark has caused Lucas much pain, tries to see him, showing up at his door to ask if she can walk his faithful dog. He sends her back home, all too aware that her parents would be very upset at any further contact between them.

Klara recants her story, but Grethe and the others believing in the innate goodness of children will not accept this. Lucas is banned from the kindergarten and also from the local supermarket (even Marcus is ordered not to come back when he shops for his father—the boy refusing to stay away from his dad). The staff at the supermarket beats up Lucas when he keeps coming back demanding to buy groceries; someone hurls a rock through Lucas’s window, injuring him; and worst of all, his constant companion, his gentle dog loved by all the children is killed. The police do arrest and interrogate Lucas, but they have to release him. You will enjoy the reason because it is part of the group hysteria that seems to envelop most of the characters.

Although set in a modern Danish town, the story reminds me of the Massachusetts town of Salem in the 17th century. The Salem girls who initiate the mass hysteria are older than Klara and the effects of their delusions and lies about their neighbors being witches are far more deadly. At least the Danish authorities do not convict and hang Lucas, but the persecution he suffers is severe by 20th century standards. A likeable guy respected by all becomes in the eyes of almost everyone the ultimate outsider of the 21st century, a child molester. Lucas becomes so stressed out that he drives away Nadja when she tries to stand by him, and he even tells Bruun to leave him alone.

Matters come to an explosive head on Christmas Eve, just as much a cultural event centering on children in Denmark as it is on this side of the Atlantic. Most of the congregation has gathered for the service when Lucas shambles in, finding the only pew with room for him almost at the front of the sanctuary. The woman sitting there gets up and moves to another pew. All disapproving eyes are focused on the outcast, including Agnes and Theo. The pastor offers a warm welcome, and this time we gather that the “welcome to all” is not ceremonial----after all, this is a small city and the pastor must know something of what has transpired. The kindergarten children have been formed into a choir, and as they file in we see the radiant little Klara. She spots Lucas and is obviously pleased.

As the children lead the people in a carol about the birth of the Child, the crucifixion of a good man stands in juxtaposition. Theo, fixing his gaze upon his erstwhile friend, remarks to Agnes, “I can see it in his face,” indicating that he now is aware of the innocence of the friend he has abandoned—at that moment I thought of the disciples at Gethsemane who during Jesus’ prayer could not stay awake to watch with him, and then ran away when their master was arrested. The anguished Lucas breaks down. Rising from his pew, he walks back toward Theo, and---.

I don’t know how much director Thomas Vinterberg knows of the church fathers who never sentimentalized Christmas, treating it as we do as a Hallmark moment to glorify children. They never separated the Nativity from Good Friday, often asking in their sermons and their writings, “Why did God become man in order to die?” Medieval artists also sometimes combined themes of Nativity and Crucifixion in their paintings. An artist in Cincinnati a few years ago did this in a mural that he created on the wall of the fellowship hall of his church, as you can see below.

Fred Burnett's "Holy Night"

There is in this film not only the Nativity and the crucifixion (of Lucas); there is also a type of resurrection. I will leave this for you to see, though this is perhaps not as convincing as the depiction of crucifixion, with Lucas obviously welcomed back into his circle of friends. I am not suggesting that Lucas is a complete Christ figure, as in such movies as Cool Hand Luke or Babette’s Feast, because Lucas does not seek crucifixion, it is imposed on him. In the four gospels Jesus is not just the victim, but also the victor who, apparently inspired by the Suffering Servant poem in Isaiah 52 & 53, voluntarily lays down his life. By no stretch of the imagination does Lucas, who is struggling just to get by with his life, seek out the opprobrium he suffers. His suffering is for himself, but it is still a type of crucifixion.

The film’s title comes from the next to the last scene depicting a ritual in which Marcus is now initiated into his father and Bruun’s group of male hunters, a sign of his “becoming a man.” The film ends on a jarring note, which calls into question what seems to be a movie “happy ending.” Maybe “all that ends well is well” doesn’t apply after all here.

The full review that includes 12 discussion questions will be included in the Sept/Oct issue of Visual Parables, available on September 9.

The Attack: A Review

 (Arabic with English subtitles)

Rated R. Our ratings: V -5 ; L-1 ; S/N-1 . Running time: 1 hour 42 min.

Secular Arabs Shamin and Amin seemed like

a happy couple accepted b Israeli society.

(c) 2012 Cohen Media Goup

The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful,

    a puzzle that no one can figure out.

               Jeremiah 17:9 (The Message)

In this adaptation of the novel by Yasmina Khadra (pen name of Algerian author Mohammed Moulessehoul) filmmaker Ziad Doueiri’s immerses us in an alien culture, leaving us at the end pondering why someone unexpectedly does the inexplicable. Co-written with Joelle Touma, this is a dark and troubling film about a dark and troubling situation—the hostile relationship between Israelis and Palestinians.
Dr. Amin Jaafari (Ali Suliman) is a Palestinian surgeon who has chosen to live and work in Tel Aviv because there are greater opportunities there than in his Arab homeland. He has put aside his Muslim heritage, so he feels very much integrated into Israeli society. Most of his friends are secular Jews. He is about to be given the highest honor for a surgeon, but he is disappointed that his wife Siham (Reymond Amsalem), a secular Arab Christian, is not with him on the night of the award ceremony, she insisting instead on visiting her grandfather in Nazareth.

In the darkened auditorium, moments before the presenter calls out his name, his cell phone rings. Annoyed at the intrusion, he says that he cannot talk, and hangs up. In his acceptance speech he points out that he is the first Israeli Arab to be so honored, proof that integration of the two hostile cultures is possible.
The next day he and his colleagues, hearing a bomb blast at a near by café spring into action when the victims are brought into their hospital.  One bloodied man insists on a Jewish doctor when he sees Amin standing over him. Seventeen people, most of them children attending a birthday celebration, are killed, and even more are wounded and maimed.

In the wee hours of the morning, summoned back to the hospital, Amin is shocked when he is told that his wife was killed in the attack—and that she is accused of being the bomber. Already devastated by the sight of her half-blown away body in the hospital morgue, he collapses for a moment. He refuses to believe that such a loving woman could have blown up herself and so many children and adults. He is certain, he tells Captain Moshe, his harsh Shin Bet interrogator, that she kept no secrets from him—and she is a Christian, not a fanatical Muslim. He himself neither practices his religion nor is engaged in any political cause.

However, the relentless policeman marshals the evidence, while at the same time interrogating the doctor as if he were a part of the plot. After the suspicious police confirm that he was not involved, Amin is released but quickly finds his life up-ended.  Dismissed from the hospital where he had been so recently honored, now only two friends stand by him, Kim Yehuda (Evgenia Dodina), a hospital colleague and Raveed (Dvir Benedek), a police official. The vandalization of his apartment is symbolic of his new status. Then comes the letter written to him and posted from Nablus in Palestine by his wife the day before the bombing.
As a result of that letter Amin sets forth on his parallel spiritual and physical journeys back briefly to his wife’s hometown of Nazareth where he learns that she had not gone there after all. He then pays an unannounced call on his family in Nablus where he intends to confront the person responsible for convincing his wife to commit her terrible deed. The taxi driver transporting him disturbs him by playing a cassette tape containing a tirade of anti-Jewish hate by a Nablus Moslem cleric. Arriving in the Arab city, Amin is disturbed to learn that Siham is considered by the people as a heroic martyr to their cause of liberation from the Israeli occupation. Large posters with her picture are plastered on all the walls, and children are selling postcard-size pictures of her.

His sister is glad to see him, though she reminds him that it has been a long time since he has visited or written to the family. His brother-in-law at the supper table says he is very proud of Siham, and his niece wonders what it is like to live among “them.” His elusive nephew Adel, who admits to being with Sahim on her last night, says, “Something snapped in her head.” They and others whom Amin subsequently meets think that he might be working with Israel’s Shin Bet. Thus Amin is a stranger in his own land, caught between the conflict between the two peoples. In between all this there are flashbacks to happier days with Sahim. In one of these they are on a motorcycle, she sitting behind him in her white wedding dress clutching his waist. He is all the more puzzled at how this seemingly loving woman could have committed such a hateful act.
At the local mosque he tries to talk with the Moslem cleric whose diatribe he had heard on the taxi radio/cassette player, but the security guards stop him. Later in the night, when he manages to catch the sheikh on the street, the man says, "We are a ravaged people fighting for our dignity with whatever we have." He also warns him to leave town.

Amin expects that from a Muslim radical, but even an Orthodox Christian priest, admiring Sahim’s deed and wishing that he had met her, tells him, "We're not Islamists and we're not fundamentalists, either. We are only the children of a ravaged, despised people, fighting with whatever means we can to recover our homeland and our dignity." Even his visit to the ruins of Jenin, a Palestinian refugee camp where the Israeli Defense Forces in 2002 fought a bloody battle with PLO militants, resulting in rumors and claims of “a massacre,” does not explain Siham’s double life that he now realizes she had led. She had never talked about politics or expressed criticism of their Jewish friends.

Amin confronts a truth so terrible that it will scar him forever, making him an outsider to both Israelis and to his Arab family. His fall from grace with his Jewish friends—even Kim is exasperated because he will not go and tell the Shin Bet what he has learned in Nablus—and his anguish that he did not really know the person whom he loved the most will haunt him forever. Did his obsession with his career lead him to neglect his wife and thus caused her not to confide in him her deep concern for their people? Or could his apolitical withdrawal from the conflict raging around him have prevented her from raising her concern over the suffering of their people at the hands of the Israelis?

One of the most spiritually challenging films of the year, Lebanese-born Ziad Doueiri’s film is as helpful for understanding the Palestinian viewpoint as was the 2005 film about two friends preparing to become suicide bombers, Paradise Now, a film in which Ali Suliman co-starred as one of a pair of friends volunteering to become suicide bombers. It would seem that the conclusion of Jeremiah and of our searching surgeon is the same; the human heart is a puzzle with no answer sheet. The film is somewhat like Steven Spielberg’s Munich in that its maker tries to be even-handed, condemning neither one side nor the other—and yet is attacked by both sides. The Arab League was so upset that Doueiri shot the opening scenes in Tel Aviv that the members banned the film in all 22 of its member nations. Thus the tragic conflict goes on and on, with not even the movies able to bring the two sides together. (We will have to see if Secretary of State Kerry’ peace efforts can begin to bridge a gap wider than the Grand Canyon.)

For Reflection/Discussion
1. Most Americans know only the Israeli version of the birth of Israeli, so movingly told in the novel and its movie version Exodus. It is well known that a coalition of Arab countries attacked Israel as soon as it became independent in 1947, but less known are the terrorist acts of Zionist groups against the British occupiers in the 1930s and 40s, as well as against Palestinians. For more information on the troubled past go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irgun.
Also for an article on Zionist terrorism directed at the British during their Palestine Mandate from 19222 to 1948 see “Kidnappings, Beatings, Murders and Hangings: Attacks by the Irgun and Stern Gang.” This is part of a site called Exodus and Outrage dedicated to telling the story of British soldiers in Palestine and many other nations.
http://www.britains-smallwars.com/Palestine/kidnap.htm
2. As an Arab living in Israel what has Amin had to do in order to be successful? How might this not have set well with his wife? In what ways is this another tale of an outsider?
3. How does he view his journey back to his hometown? How could it be considered a journey into darkness?
4. Were you surprised that the people of Nablus considered his wife a heroine? What suggestions are there for her reason for deceiving her husband?
5. Amin visits the site of the Jenin Refugee Camp where many people, Arabs and Jews, were killed by both sides in April 2002 when the Israeli Army moved in and put it under a round-the-clock curfew. Given all the biased, exaggerated reporting by Palestinians as to the number of casualties, how might this have affected Siham? For a report on the camp and the fighting see the UNRWA report at: http://www.unrwa.org/etemplate.php?id=118
6. Do you think there can be a rational explanation for Siham’s behavior? What about Amin’s friend Raveed’s statement: "It can fall on you like a tile or grow in you like a worm. Then you don't see the world in the same way. You're just waiting for the moment to cross the threshold."
7. There is more to the Jeremiah quote. Reflect upon it in regard to the film:
But I, GOD, search the heart
    and examine the mind.
I get to the heart of the human.
    I get to the root of things.
I treat them as they really are,
    not as they pretend to be.”
8. The impasse between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland once seemed as intractable as that between Israelis and Palestinians: what happened there that led to the cessation of terrorist attacks by the IRA and the brutal reaction of the British forces? Do you think that can happen in the Middle East? What do you know about the peace movement, among Jews and among Palestinians? (Note that in the documentary film The Power of Forgiveness and its accompanying book there are several sections exploring this.)
9. There is a video of Charlie Rose’s good interview of the director at:
http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi4204112153/

Fruitvale Station: A Review

Rated R. Our ratings: V-5; L-5 ; S/N-2 . Running time: 1 hour 25 min.

The Weinstein Company

I say to God, my rock,

   ‘Why have you forgotten me?

Why must I walk about mournfully

   because the enemy oppresses me?’

                                  Psalm 40:9

Even though the opening cell phone video shows us the tragic outcome of a scuffle with San Francisco transit police, director/writer Ryan Coogler’s film, based on a true story, is a fascinating study of the last day in the life of 22-year-old Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan). We are taken back twelve hours earlier when Oscar and his wife (or girl friend?) Sophina (Melonie Diaz), are in their apartment at the beginning of New Year’s Eve 2009.  Burdened with a history of run-ins with the law, Oscar is trying to turn his life around—although in this scene he is trying to placate her because she is upset that he has had an affair with another woman. Obviously adoring their  4-year-old daughter, Tatiana (Ariana Neal), he is able to convince Sophina that he will not betray her again.

We follow Oscar through a series of ups and downs. He takes Tatiana to school; meets friends; shops for food for the party his mother will host that night; helps a clueless young woman at the supermarket with a recipe by connecting her to his grandmother; tries but fails to get his job back at the grocery from the manager, who had fired him for being late too often; texts his friends about getting together that night; talked over the phone with his sister who badly needed some cash; been tempted to acquire money by selling the bag of weed he had hidden away, but, genuinely wanting to go straight, dumps it into the Bay. Interspersed are flashbacks to his prison days, two low points being his fight with another prisoner and the day his mother Wanda (Octavia Spencer) tells him she cannot bear to come and visit him any more.

That night at his mother’s house in Hayward, a suburb, everyone, young and old has a great time. When he is about to set out with Sophina and their friends to go out to celebrate the New Year by watching the waterfront fireworks, his mother suggests they take the BART instead. She is worried that their drinking would impair Oscar driving. It is a suggestion that will haunt her all her days.

The group has an enjoyable time, even when the train stalls, delaying their arrival for the fireworks display. In the crowded train car an inter-racial harmony prevails—whites, Latinos, and blacks all laugh and exchange greetings together as the New Year. But this is soon swallowed up in the mayhem that ensues when Oscar’s prison past catches up with him.

The film leaves viewers saddened and upset that even though we have elected a black president, racism is still a strong force in our society. It is bad enough when it exists among the general population, but among police officers it can be deadly, as we see by the way in which the young blacks are treated when they are dragged off the train following Oscar’s attack by a man he had known in prison. It would, of course, have been wise if the ill-treated black men had not protested their abuse, but it would have taken more discipline than any of them possessed to have suffered in silence.

As the aftermath of the  Trayvon Martin shooting lingers, this film will add fuel to the debate over the way blacks are viewed and treated around the nation. The film makes clear that even in the 21st century we are far from Martin Luther King Jr.;s vision of the “beloved community.” If black males in America accept the faith of their mothers, well might they recite the words of the anguished psalmist any time they venture beyond their ‘hood, “Why must I walk about mournfully/because the enemy oppresses me?”

For Reflection/Discussion 
1. Despite claims that this is a nation of “equal opportunities,” what burdens does Oscar carry that few white males his age do? How do we see that he is trying to overcome them? What do you think of the claims of some that he is pictured in too positive of a way?
2. Had he not met with such an untimely end, what hope do you see that he might have been successful going straight—especially in light of his family needs and his lack of employment?
3. What do you think of the manager’s turning down Oscar’s request to get his job back? How is his firing the consequence of his own behavior? And yet how is the matter of punctuality also a difference in cultures?
4. What do you think of the blended black and Latino families? How well do we see them getting along?
5. In what scenes do you see grace in operation? (Sophina’s acceptance of Oscar despite his betrayal; Oscar helping the woman at the supermarket;
6. How is the moment of celebrating the New Year on the subway train a foretaste of the kingdom of God (or MLK’s “beloved community”)?
7. How did you feel in the sequence when the BART police officers took the black men off the train? Did they look for the white man who started the fight? Was there any sign of the officers listening to either the blacks or the passengers? Do you think this is because their minds were closed, accepting the basis of racial profiling, facts be damned?
8. Have you or someone you know seen such treatment? What does this suggest that Americans need to do to eliminate such treatment? What similarities, if any, do you see between Oscar and Trayvon Martin? What have you and/or your church done to foment racial understanding?

The Wolverine

Reviewed by Markus Watson

Note by Ed McNulty: I am happy to welcome back to Visual Parables, Markus Watson, the pastor of Northminster Presbyterian Church in San Diego.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
John 11:25-26

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.  I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
Revelation 21:1-4

(c) 2013 20th Century Fox

The Wolverine is the sixth movie featuring Hugh Jackman as the mutant, Logan, also known as Wolverine (though his appearance in X-Men: First Class was a mere cameo).  In this latest—not last—installment in the world of the X-Men, Logan finds himself in Japan at the deathbed of Yashida (Hal Yamanouchi), an old friend whose life he saved when the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and who has now become a wealthy man.

At this point, it is important to understand that Logan’s mutation essentially makes him immortal.  Logan, who was born in the 1800’s, heals from any injury almost instantly.  Additionally, his entire skeleton has been coated with a virtually indestructible metal called adamantium.  One would think Logan would love being immortal.  But he doesn’t.  He has lost more loved ones than he cares to think about.  And he himself has brought death to Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), a woman he loved in the original three X-Men movies (and who makes appearances in Logan’s dreams in this movie).

Now Yashida, at the hour of his death, has a proposal for Logan.  He says he has discovered a way to take away Logan’s mutation, to make him mortal.  But Logan says to Yashida, “You don’t want what I have,” and walks away.

The next day, Yashida dies.  It is at this point that the action really begins, leading to a climactic battle between Logan, another mutant named Viper (Svetlana Khodchenkova), and an adamantium samurai mech.

Throughout the film, Logan wrestles with his immortality.  When Yashida first makes his offer, Logan briefly considers it.  How he has longed to be mortal!  But he can’t let go of his mutation.  Not long after that, Logan begins to realize he is not healing from his wounds like he normally does.  He’s not sure what to do with that.  Should he embrace his seeming mortality?  Should he resist it?

In the end, he finds a way to restore his immortality, only to nearly lose it again in the final battle.

It is an ironic twist, to see a man with a gift so many of us long for.  The 80’s band Tears for Fears sang, “Everybody wants to rule the world.”  But I think it’s even more true to say, “Everybody wants to live forever.”  Here we have a man who seems to be able to live forever, and yet that very gift is his curse.

How is this different from the eternal life described in the scriptures?  Jesus tells us that those who believe in him will “not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).  Sounds like what Logan’s got.

But it’s different.  Logan must live his life of immortality in a world that is broken and ruined by violence and death.  Logan’s immortality has, in a sense, become his hell.  And yet, he can’t seem to let go of the hell in which he lives.

The eternal life of the scriptures, on the other hand, is one that is based in “a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1).  It is an immortality to be lived in the presence of a God who is light and life.  It is an eternal—and abundant—life in a world made whole, in which “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

It makes one wonder—what would Logan do if he were offered that kind of immortality?

For Reflection/Discussion:
1. Have you ever thought to yourself, “I wish I could live forever?”  Why is that something people generally long for?
2. When you think of your own eventual death, what kinds of feelings does that bring up for you?  Fear?  Frustration?  Peace?  Relief?  Etc.  Why do those feelings emerge for you?
3. Even though Logan hates his curse of immortality, he can’t give it up when given the chance.  Why do you think that is?  Have you ever struggled with letting go of something that is painful for you?  Why or why not?
4. As mentioned in this review, Logan’s immortality is not the same thing as the “eternal life” that Jesus talks about.  What do you think Jesus meant when he said that “whoever believes in me will not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16)?
5. Look at the “eternal life” mentioned in Revelation 21:1-4.  How does this description of an eternal kind of life differ from the kind of eternal life Logan is trapped in?  What kind of “eternal life” would you prefer—the kind Logan has or the kind the scriptures offer?  Why?

New ROMEO & JULIET Film

Hi,
 I have just been alerted that there is a new version of Shakespeare's ROMEO & JULIET coming out.

Here's where you can see the trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp9yaZcrtnU

ROMEO & JULIET in theaters October 11^th!

Director: Carlo Carrel

Writers: Julian Fellowes

Cast: Hailee Steinfeld, Douglas Booth, Damian Lewis, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Ed Westwick, with Stellan Skarsgard and Paul Giamatti

Producers: Ileen Maisel, Lawrence Elman, Julian Fellowes, Nadja Swarovski, Simon Bosanquet, Alexander Koll, Dimitra Tsingou, Doug Mankoff, Andrew Spaulding

SYNOPSIS: Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare’s epic and searing tale of love, is revitalized on screen by writer Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey) and director Carlos Carlei (The Flight of the Innocent).  An ageless story from the world’s most renowned author is reimagined for the 21^st  century.  This adaptation is told in the lush traditional setting it was written but gives a new generation the chance to fall in love with the enduring legend.  With an all-star cast including Hailee Steinfeld, Douglas Booth, Paul Giamatti and Stellan Skarsgard, it affords those unfamiliar with the tale the chance to put faces to the two names they’ve undoubtedly heard innumerable times: Romeo and Juliet.  Every generation deserves to discover this lasting love. 

A Review: Unfinished Song (Song for Marion)

Rated PG-13. Our ratings: V-0 ; L-3 ; S-4/N-0 . Running time: 1 hour 33 min.

”…let the field exult, and everything in it.

Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy.”

Psalm 96.12

          

                             

                               Marion loves singing with her friends.                    But husband Arthur resents her absence.

All pictures courtesy of The Weinstein Company (c) 2012

Stephen Sondheim is quoted as saying, “If I cannot fly, let me sing.” That is certainly Marion’s view in Paul Andrew William’s London-set film about an elderly couple devoted to each other. Even though she has terminal cancer Marion Harris (Vanessa Red grave) refuses to stop going to the eccentric choir made up of seniors and led by the perky young Elizabeth (Gemma Arterton). Marion is still filled with the joy of life even though death is just around the corner. Husband Arthur (Terrence Stamp), however, somehow, for reasons unspecified, checked out of life years ago, so he refuses to sit in on the choir practices, preferring to sulk outside the choir room while smoking a cigarette.

The crux of the story is the slow, painful transformation he undergoes after Marion passes away in her sleep, a process that might well get you to sing about the immeasurable possibilities of life. The film is made memorable by the three principal actors, backed up by a fabulous group of senior singers. Also important to the story are James (Christopher Eccleston) and Jennifer (Orla Hill), the Harris’s single parent son and charming little granddaughter. All their lives a seemingly unbridgeable gap had made Arthur rude to and unappreciative of his son. We gather that it is only Jennifer who keeps the two speaking to each other, and for a while after Marion dies, Arthur breaks off all contact with them, so bitter and aggrieved is he.

James and his daughter Jennifer.

The tormented Arthur is similar to the apostle Paul in that he is aware of his plight but unable to do anything about it: “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do… Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:19 & 24) In this thoroughly secular film (the choir sings pop and hip hop songs, not hymns or sacred choral music) it is not Christ but Elizabeth who comes to Paul’s aid and sets in motion his transformation. (Of course, believers might see the hidden Christ working through this sensitive young woman, so devoted to others!)

At first upset and frustrated by Arthur’s cold rejection, she persists, eventually breaking through the high wall he has erected to defend himself from the pain of the world. What happens to the sad-faced Arthur and his relationships with James is worth singing about! The character of Elizabeth adds depth to the film. At first she seems to be the typical perky young adult, ably reaching out to and inspiring the senior members of her choir, and eventually to Arthur. Then we discover that she is a wounded healer, showing up suddenly late one night and pouring her heart out to Arthur, of all people. Perhaps it is her revelation of her vulnerability and need that touches something deep in Arthur so that he is able to give the support she needs at that moment. This, and his unsuspected talent for singing, leads to a series of events that neither of them could have imagined earlier on.

Elizabeth leading the choir of seniors.

Paul Andrew William, who directs from his own script, has given us a remarkable parable of love, transformation, and the power of song. Arthur reminds me of the uptight Englishman Basil (though in a more extreme form) in Zorba the Greek, with Marion and Elizabeth being his Zorba who lead him to embrace life. The film draws back from the brink of sentimentality (the death scene is very understated—no tearful farewells or sweet last words), although depictions of some of the senior singers are almost too cute. So too is the choice of the song for the choir to sing for their festival tryout, "Let's Talk about Sex.” If you explore this film with a church group, be sure to give advance warning of this song. Although this one is played more for cuteness, the singing of two other songs will have you reaching for a handkerchief. Marion sings Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colours” for Arthur, and later Arthur sings Billy Joel's “Goodnight My Angel.” Wow! On the whole this is a film filled with joy and goodwill that says that it is never too late to mend a wounded spirit and restore broken relationships.

                       

                                        

     

                                  Of course there is a competition!                                   All's well that ends well!

For Reflection/Discussion

1. Compare Marion and Arthur. Despite their vastly different temperaments, how do they relate to each other? What couples do you know like them?

2. What might have led Arthur to become the negative person that he is? Which of the two understands the need for others in one’s life?

3. What do you think of James and the way he is depicted? How has his father’s treatment of him apparently affected him? Despite this, what kind of a father does he seem to be?

4. What did you think of Elizabeth in the first part of the film? Of her rapport with her choir members? Were you surprised at her revelation of her past and of her need? Would you have thought that she would have turned to Arthur for help, rather than to one of her choir members? What other surprises do we see in Arthur?

5. What do you think of Henry Nouwen’s concept of “the wounded healer”? (If you haven’t read his book yet, by all means get hold of it.) How is Elizabeth a Christ figure despite her own needs?

6. Check out Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colours” with it’s opening line, “You with the sad eyes/Don’t be discouraged.” How is it the perfect song for Arthur?

http://www.lyrics007.com/Cyndi%20Lauper%20Lyrics/True%20Colors%20Lyrics.html

7. In turn read and discuss “Lullabye (Good Night, My Angel.” What of Marion and Arthur and their relationship do we see in the lyrics?

Note: these are available on YouTube, so if your discussion takes place where Wi Fi is available, you might play them as the group is gathering, or during the discussion. (If you do, keep that box of Kleenex handy!)

http://www.billyjoel.com/music/river-dreams/lullabye-goodnight-my-angel

8. What does the film say about the process of transformation? Is this a do it yourself matter, or are others needed? (See the Letter to the Romans passage cited above.) In your own life how have others contributed to the changing of your outlook, beliefs, or prejudices?

9. How does James’ rejection of his father’s attempt to mend their broken relationship show that reconciliation can be a difficult task? In the apostle Paul’s discussion of reconciliation what was the cost? See 2 Corinthians 5:11-21. Why does he say to Arthur, “It’s too late”? Is it ever too late?

10. This is a thoroughly secular film about thoroughly secular people—no mention of God, even by Marion who faces imminent death; no singing of church anthems or hymns. And yet would you agree that it is a deeply spiritual film? Why or why not?

11. Much has been written about the power of music, and we certainly see it in the lives of Marion and Elizabeth. Reflect upon/discuss the following observation by singer Josh Groban

“Some people don't realize the healing power in song. True listening to a song can cause a good cry or help you to relieve that tension that might have been building up. But the listener is not the only one who benefits. Often times the singer finds most of their freedom when letting a song out of their heart. A singer who really loves to sing carries a song in their heart all the time. Singing might sound pretty and may be a beautiful art but for the singer, it is so much more. Don't ever let that passion die if it is something you love to do.

There’s no half-singing in the shower, you’re either a rock star or an opera diva."

This and other good quotes on music can be found at:

http://voices.yahoo.com/encouraging-quotes-singers-5702332.html?cat=9

Film Capsules July 2013

I am posting my latest set of Film Capsules, prepared for the leaders of Cincinnati Presbytery, because of the first film, THE ATTACK. Relegated to the art house circuit because it is an Arabic film with English subtitles, it is not attracting much attention--4 others were present when I caught it--but it should. Any film that sheds even a little light on the complicated issues of the struggle for the Palestinian people against their occupiers and the equally compelling desire of Israelis for their security against terrorists deserves a wide audience.

Film Capsules July 2013

The Attack (Arabic with English subtitles)
Rated R. Jeremiah 17:9
This is one of those rare films that immerse you in an alien culture, leaving you at the end with a little more awareness of why someone unexpectedly does the inexplicable.
Co-written and directed by Ziad Doueiri, this is a dark and troubling film about a dark and troubling situation--the Israeli-Palestinian relationship. Dr. Amin Jaafari, a Muslim surgeon who has chosen to live and work in Tel Aviv where he receives its highest honor for a doctor, is devastated when his wife, killed by a suicide bomber at a café, is accused of being the bomber. After the suspicious police confirm that he was not involved, the rest of the film is his parallel spiritual and physical journeys back to his hometown of Nablus in Palestine where he confronts a truth so terrible that it will scar him forever, making him an outsider to both his Israeli friends and to his Arab family. One of the most spiritually challenging films of the year, Lebanese-born Ziad Doueiri’s film is as helpful for understanding the Palestinian viewpoint as was the 2005 film about two friends preparing to become suicide bombers, Paradise Now. Every peacemaker should see this film, available thus far only at art house theaters.

Despicable Me 2
Rated PG. Ezekiel 11:19
It’s the summer movie desert time of year when all the boom-boom, chase-chase, hit-hit blockbusters are dominating the screens, so it should come as no surprise that at this moment two of the best films, at least for those who love good films, are two children’s animated films. The once villainous Gru has become the doting foster father of three little girls when he is recruited by a curvaceous agent of a spy agency to investigate a super villain who has a serum that can change the loveable little minions that serve Gru and others into vicious little monsters. Lots of fun and laughter here.

Monsters University
Rated G. Ecclesiastes 4.9; Proverbs 18.24
This prequel shows how Mike Wazowski and James “Sulley” P. Sullivan started out as enemies before forming their staunch friendship in their first film. Disliking each other from the start and winding up in the same fraternity of losers, the pint-sized Mike vies with his big furry rival to lead the fraternity in a series of games that could earn them the right to enroll in the schools famous Scare Program. Ever since a child, Mike has wanted to be able to scare people. As with other Pixar films, this is filled with funny scenes and dialogue and a lesson about what to do when we fail to achieve our dream. Adults will enjoy this as much as children, so do not send them—go with them and share a delightful experience.

The Lone Ranger
Rated PG-13. Psalm 34:16
This rebooting of the once popular franchise is definitely not the Lone Ranger that my father and I eagerly listened to at 6:30 PM on our old Philco radio. Part camp, and more Pirates of the Caribbean (or should we say Texas), this remake is such a mess of anachronisms (a toy electric train in 1869!) and CGI enhanced action scenes that are both too long and too unbelievable, it is no wonder that it came in third to Despicable Me 2 on its opening week. The cartoon is actually far more realistic! The humor, with Johnny Depp’s Tonto given the best lines, does make this fun to watch, but I recommend that you wait and catch this at a cheap seats cinema—as they say on TV, “Don’t waste your money!”  

The Way, Way Back
Rated PG-13. Matthew 10:31
Poor Duncan, a 14 year-old boy with an unfriendly older teenaged sister and a newly divorced mother (Pam) who is so enamored with her snarky boyfriend Trent that she cannot see the hurt he inflicts on her son, is dragged along to a beachside cabin to spend the summer together. He would much rather be with his dad, but the latter claims his circumstances do not allow this. On the way Trent tells the morose boy that on a scale of 1 to 10 he rates Duncan as a “3.” Real paternal skills here! Fortunately at the cabin Duncan meets a friendly girl slightly older than he and, best of all, Owen, a crazy-talking guy who works at the Water Wizz Park and takes a shine to the lonely boy. This is one of the best coming-of-age films that I have seen, certainly one of the best of any kind of film this summer. It is devoid of the juvenile humor of the usual Hollywood film about teens. There are adults who are jerks, but also some who have the wisdom of experience to impart, and the compassion to pass it on. Treat yourself and take this one in.

White House Down
Rated PG-13. Psalm 55:20-21; 1 Thessalonians 5:15
How we love our adult fairy tales in which the unlikely hero gets pummeled, shot at by a hundred goons unable to shoot straight, falls unwounded (even crashing through windows) from great heights, and is able to save the day. As in Olympus Down, the White House gets shot up a lot, but this time the President (played by Jamie Foxx) also gets into the action, overcoming his peaceful ways to blast away beside our hero, a Washington cop just turned down by the Secret Service. The villains are a little more believable than the North Koreans of the previous film. This time they are homegrown goons out for a huge stash of cash, and whose backer is convinced that the President’s Middle East Peace Plan will lead to the destruction of America—there also is another secret scoundrel. Entertaining hokum that should be seen on a big screen to take full advantage of the special effects, but wait till it comes to a cheap seat theater.

T. Internship
Rated PG-13. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson are fun to watch as the bumbling Odd Couple who manage to con their way into the internship program at Google. Though fish out of water amidst the 100 or so brilliant college grads—they are both in their 40s and know little more about computers than how to turn them on and off—they bring life experience and a knack for team cooperation that stand them in good stead. The interns are divided into teams—no one wanting to work with the “old guys,” they wind up with the other lone rejects—and engage in a series of games and tasks designed to show who is the most creative. Only the winners will be given a chance to work at Google. It is fun to see the Google campus and a little bit of its workings. If it were not for an unnecessarily vulgar sequence set in a pole dance club (a few years ago this film would have been rated R!), this would be a good film for a church group to discuss teamwork and mutual respect.
Showing now at Danbarry Dollar Saver Cinemas

The  Heat
Rated R. Hebrews 10.24
This cop buddy movie stars two outstanding actresses—Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy—who demonstrate that women can equal the guys in the foul mouth department. It’s the old formula of two guys—er, gals—starting off on the wrong foot, and this sequence is really hilarious, especially on the part of the rotund McCarthy’s trying to squeeze through the window of her car. Of course, as they hunt for a drug lord flooding Boston with drugs, they slowly come to respect, and then to like each other. Amidst the raunchy humor are several poignant moments of the women arriving at a sense of sisterhood.

World War Z
Rated PG-13. Exodus 4:13; Jeremiah 1:6
Still another man saves the world from zombies tale, this has some good CGI effects, especially when thousands of zombies attack the walls of a besieged Jerusalem by piling atop one another. These are not the silly slow-shambling zombies of most of this deplorable genre, but fast running critters in more hurry than a New York taxi driver to sink their fangs into an uninfected victim.

T. Purge
Rated R. Psalm 10:8-9.
This dystrophic film would be a little more believable if it were set more than twenty years into the future, a time when the US Government has set up a program of catharsis that allows everyone one night a year to let loose their violent impulses. There is no indication of churches and other groups, especially peacemaking ones, ever objecting to such a barbarous system—but then so many sci-fi tales fall short by pretending that religion and the church have faded away under the onslaught of the new religion, science.
 During the period of The Purge murder and mayhem are not punished, the result supposedly being that during the rest of the year crime has decreased to less than 1 % of the population. Oh, sure. The story is about the family of a successful home security salesman whose family comes under attack when his young son takes pity on a stranger under attack outside and allows him entry into their house. A very violent film with a dubious take on Aristotle’s teaching of catharsis, the film at least offers opportunity to discuss the issue.