Wild ~ Jean-Marc Vallee
I'm writing this about two minutes after watching this film. There are a lot of thoughts buzzing around my brain after viewing the adapted story of Cheryl Strayed's trek along the Pacific Crest Trail. This is a hard entry to push through as the film left me feeling depressed, frustrated, inspired, peaceful, confused, and anxious.
I loved that movie. And I also hated it with a passion. And seeing as I'm not entirely sure how to convey my thoughts, here goes nothing.
Cheryl Strayed, played by Reese Witherspoon, lost her mother tragically to cancer. To deal with her grief and perhaps push through the torturous time of life, she begins the 1000 mile hike... all by herself. There's the most basic summary I can possibly think of.
The entire movie was rather New Spiritualist and hippy, but profound in every way. While the directors attempted to make it as raw and rugged as possible, the quiet nature of the film and the frequent flashbacks and montages and quotes served to direct the emotions of the audience, despite the lack of soundtrack. It was like every single line in the movie had some double entendre, or some deeper meaning. I'm not at all complaining about that, but it did make for two hours of deeply investing my heart and mind in the storyline.
"My mother used to say something that drove me nuts. There is a sunrise and a sunset every day and you can choose to be there for it. You can put yourself in the way of beauty."
While the hype over the movie probably lent temporary ideas of adventure and excitement to the hearts of people who watched it, it gave me something else. I already long for adventure. I've longed to travel and trek and hike and swim and fly and drive and sail and run for years and years. This movie didn't awaken in me some deeper sense of courage or wanderlust. It actually made me feel depressed. And tired. To see this woman so lost and crazed and done... it made me more resolute. I never want to get to that point. But if I ever reach that point, I am so thankful I have a God that I can turn to.
There may come a day where I don't want to talk to Him and I don't want to admit that He's even there, but I will never be able to deny the encounters I've had with Him already in this short life of mine. I don't need to swear at the heavens from the top of the mountains or cuss nature as I hike through 1,000 miles of wilderness. I don't need to do that because I have the answer, whether or not I choose to acknowledge it.
I have His Word and I have a testimony and I have the knowledge. I have no need for fear or stupidity or impulsive craziness. It's the thought of having no purpose and no meaning and no destiny that can send people over the edge and into the wilderness in hopes of finding something. But I know I have a purpose. I know I have a destiny. I know my life has a blueprint- the only catch is that I don't have access to it on my own.
I get to see it unfold only as much as He allows me to. Yeah, that's the kicker. But it's also half the fun. In this crazy journey called life, He's my Driver. My Pilot. My Hiking buddy.
Life of Pi ~ Ang Lee
And it was an amazing experience to watch it on the big screen... but the very end is what ruined it for me. After Pi Patel shares the story of his incredible journey, he mentions how not many people believed it, and gave another story. It was vaguely similar, but very different, and far less exciting. He concluded with the question, "So, which story do you prefer?" The writer, who is listening, replies, "The one with the tiger. That's the better story." And what really let me down is Pi's response: "And so it goes with God."
In other words, we are free to choose the version of God that we prefer. There is not simply one right answer. There is not one Truth, but many truths. Earlier in the film, Pi also declares, "Faith is a house with many rooms." Meaning: faith is the umbrella term that covers all religions. Take your pick.
This obviously has never sat well with me. While the movie is remarkably made and excellently thought out, the clinching letdown of the original story is hard to admit.
It sounds dangerously similar to the tale of the blind men and the elephants. When asked what the elephant is like, the man touching the trunk said, "The elephant is like a snake!" The man touching the leg said, "The elephant is like a tree!" The man touching the tusk said, "The elephant is like a sphere!" The man touching the elephant's side said, "The elephant is like a wall!" The man touching the ear said, "The elephant is like a fan!" And since none of them could agree, they fought. Violently. Of course, the parable goes to say that all the men were right, only none were completely right. They are blind, and unable to see the whole picture, but they are all touching the same elephant. The lesson attached is projected to mean that all religions are partially right, but none can be completely right. All paths lead to God, and we all serve the same God. We simply call him different names and know different things about him. The parable is used to show that faith and belief should be subjective. Truth is relative to the culture and time and person, so there is no need to argue. We should accept all theories and respect all religions, because we are all right.
However, there is one fundamental flaw to this parable. The author. The author/narrator of the parable claims that no religions has an objective view. By claiming that nobody has a bird's eye view, the author is claiming that he has a bird's eye view! He is claiming to see the whole elephant, while nobody else can. How can this be? How can he claim that no truth is full and complete, except for his? This is the oxymoron of the Postmodernist. "There is no absolute truth, except for the statement I have just made."
Secret Window ~ David Koepp
It's old but it's gold. No, my choice to include it has nothing to do with the fact that it stars Johnny Depp. Okay, well it doesn't have much to do with that.
Secret Window is a thriller, and rightly so. I remember watching it for the first time and being on the edge of my seat- horrified but still so invested in the plot. It's brilliantly written. The best kinds of stories are the ones that are unpredictable. The ones that befuddle the brain and make you slap your head in disbelief. The twist endings, the hidden messages, and the moment of comprehension at the end is what makes a good movie, in my opinion.
Spoiler Alert - If you've never seen it and have any desire to do so in the future, do not read on.
What makes this story so brilliant is the unexpected twist: the protagonist for the entire story not only becomes the antagonist, but actually is revealed to be the antagonist from the beginning. The truth is, Mort, played by Johnny Depp, is a writer. A sick, twisted writer that appears to be perfectly normal. However, his dual lifestyle is bursting forth from underneath. He hides his second self so well, that even he doesn't realize it. The entire time, he believes there is a real villain out there murdering people, and coming after him. By the end of the movie... the truth is revealed. The murderer is him. The last choice to make is whether he is willing to fully become this man, or remain a dual-natured freak. By choosing to put on the hat of the villain, Mort switches completely to the side of his antagonistic character from his book-in-progress.
This film's "thrill" factor leaves nothing wanting. And while on the surface it may seem like nothing but a fun thriller to watch with friends, the truth is, it also is very profound.
I've found that quite often I will be feeling off. I'll be angry, exhausted, and be unable to find motivation... and I'll blame everybody else. I'll tell my siblings and my parents what they're doing wrong. I'll fume over the people at school that are aggravating me. I'll try to solve everybody's lives except for my own. It's crazy how often I'll miss the problems in my own life. I'll be so busy concentrating on what everybody else needs to do, that I'll sink further and further into my own patterns of bad habits. Just like Mort, I am the antagonist. I just don't realize it.
These are the masks we hide behind. We know they're there, but we convince ourselves and we convince everybody else that they belong to somebody else. If that somebody would just 'fess up and start acting properly, things would be solved. We are so good at disguising these masks, that even we don't realize we're the ones wearing them. In Secret Window, Mort hides behind the mask of Shooter, but convinces himself and everyone else that he's out to get Shooter. Unfortunately, when they finally collide and Mort understands the truth, he does not fix it. He does not own up to his mistakes and try to change... he simply becomes the mask. All memory of his former self is gone, and now he is just one thing: the antagonist.
Christ commands us to get rid of our old selves. That's the point of accepting him- He transforms us into new creations so that we no longer have to rely on the mask for protection. We no longer need to put the blame on the mask. We can accept that we have sinned, and then receive infinite forgiveness and grace.
P.S. I Love You ~ Richard LaGravenese
I'm really not a sappy person. I tend to stay away from chick flicks and cheesy romances. In fact, I only came to watch this movie on a good friend's orders. I'm not even ashamed to admit how much I loved it.
Of course, the fact that during our tour of Britannia back in March helped- it was so sweet to see the Irish scenery filmed in the movies, and I positively melted when it got to the Galway Girl song in the movie- which was the song that the Irish Belvedere Nights Show played when we were in Dublin. It brought back incredible memories of such a magical night when we got the chance to dance with the Irish performers to the live Irish music behind us. My heart sang along with the movie characters, just like I sang along with the performers back in Dublin.
But the nostalgia isn't the only thing that made me adore the movie. It was also the sheer chivalry of the men! Call me crazy, call me idealistic- but I want to find a man like Gerry or William. I want to find a true gentleman. I want to find a man whose goal is to serve others, and who expresses his love vividly through service and sacrifice.
I don't want to have to tone down my passion for anybody. I know I'm a very passionate person. Sometimes I get over-enthusiastic. (Okay, most of the time.) I would never want to marry a man who causes me to come down from my excitement, or to whom I have to dial down my passion to fit their apathy or laid-back nature.
Balance is important, yes. I firmly believe, however, that God planted these desires and passions in my heart for a purpose. I get giddy when I think about the future. I get excited when I think of all the options and all the uncertainty. I get so riled up when I find new possibilities and new opportunities and just can't believe that my whole life is still ahead of me!
I want to find somebody who is as excited about life as me, if not more so! God is the number One priority. If I could find somebody who looked at the future with my eagerness and anticipation, and does not wish for "normal," "common," or familiar," I would find my guy.
I admire the main protagonist in the movie, Holly, but whenever it portrayed her late husband, Gerry, or her new admirer, William, I got giddy and nervous as I thought about where my guy may be. I believe he's out there, but I'm alright if he's not. All I know is that I am going to run wildly towards the passions and dreams that God's given me, and if I meet some guy along the way who's already running in the same direction, we'll go together.
I'm not going to dial anything back for any man. I'm going to be me. Wild, ecstatic, spontaneous, crazy, passionate transient that I am.
