Seeking out Redemption in the Beautiful World of Film. or My Excuse to Write About Movies

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter has long been a source of conflict and controversy among Christians. I will gladly skip over all of that by saying that by this time you are either a Potter fan, or you aren't. I am, big time.
The fifth installment of the Potter series picks up the narrative just as things are starting to get really dark, and Voldemort is beginning to muster his forces. At Hogwarts there is a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher (like every year), but this time she is a nightmare. Her name is Dolores Umbridge, and her greatest pleasure in life is to make up more rules for the students to follow. Thus, the students' hands are tied over and over again. Meanwhile, Harry and his close friends know that Voldemort is back, but no one else believes him. So Harry, Ron, Hermoine and others realize they need to learn defensive skills to fight against the Death Eaters (bad guys). Since Umbridge has turned Defense Against the Dark Arts into pure theory, the students are not learning basic self-defense. Thus, they form Dumbledore's Army, which is a secret "club" which meets to learn the secrets they are not getting in class. I couldn't help but see a parallel between Dumbledore's Army (DA) and the disciples during the first years of the church. Both needed to sneak around the authority who was preventing the students/disciples from doing what was right. Both were fighting for their right to do things that they saw as much more important than every day life, things which the establishment had deemed wrong and immoral. We are intrigued by the figure of the righteous rebel.
Another aspect of the Potter franchise that impresses me is its use of younger people. The kids in the films/books are the main characters, the most impressive movers and shakers if you will. It reminds us that young people have incredibly important roles to play, even while they are maturing. When I was their age I had a desire to change the world, as do the Hogwarts students. And I work with kids every day that are the same age. My students have a role to play in God's mission, not just when they grow up and become "better and more mature" Christians, but also right now! God works through all kinds of people, and we don't have to wait until we are a finished product (whatever that means) to jump in.
Order of the Phoenix also places a gigantic spotlight on the war between good and evil that has, up until this point in the series, been going on behind the scenes. As so many films do so well, Potter awakens us to the spiritual battle that rages on throughout every hour of every day. We must not be so naive to think that humans can just ignore it, not take a side, not decide to follow good or evil. There is right and wrong.
Order of the Phoenix delivers just as well as any of the other Potter films. It recreates an imaginative world of adventure that completely engrosses the audience. The adaptation cannot include everything, but the filmmakers capture the spirit of the books very well. Another great addition to the Potter library.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

The Bourne Ultimatum

Jason Bourne is a machine. How can anyone do the things he does? In third installment of the trilogy, The Bourne Ultimatum, Paul Greengrass (United 93, The Bourne Supremacy) delivers a shot of adrenaline straight to the heart of the audience. We have followed Bourne from the day he lost his memory until now. We know he is a super-agent/government assassin trained to do pretty much anything. But we, like Bourne, don't truly know how it all started, and who he really is. So Bourne is on the trail of his identity.
This film is non-stop intensity. As with all the films, Bourne hops from exotic locale to exotic locale, always one step ahead of those on his tail. And who is on his tail? The government. What a cast, along with Damon the film has Joan Allen, Julia Stiles, and the great David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck). And Ultimatum is fun, lots of fun. I am a big fan of the films, and this is a great ending to the trilogy. There is no disappointment at all in this sequel (which is usually the case). This has got to be the greatest spy franshise in film history by far. Sorry Bond, but Jason Bourne kicks the crap out of you.
Ultimatum plays with the idea of identity. Who is Bourne, and why does he act the way he does? We all have struggles with identity, and why we do the things we do. It is just a little more extreme in Bourne's case than for the rest of us. Bourne has to deal with things popping up inside of him that he doesn't understand. He acts without thinking. Like I said before, he is a machine. Sometimes we all act without thinking and do things we don't necessarily want to do (usually "bad" things). And what about Bourne's moral dilemma? He was trained to kill people. Does he have to take responsibility for that, or can he get a free pass because he was sort of brainwashed into doing it?
Bourne is also a quintessential American "loner," the rugged individualist who can do it all by himself. Yet even he needs help sometimes. America has long revered individuality, and that can be a good thing but most of the time it causes destruction and isolation. What we need instead is community. On the other hand, in Bourne's case, the fewer friends you have, the fewer chances you have to get stabbed in the back.
What makes Ultimatum such a great action film is that it is unpretentious. There are no patronizing nods to the audience, preparing them for what will happen next. Bourne thinks of what to do next before most people know there is even a problem. Therefore, Bourne starts doing things to solve his problems instantaneously. It's go, go, go, all the time, at full speed. Great car wrecks, high-speed chases, and shootouts. There is intrigue, mystery, and suspense. And the ending is fantastic. This is what action movies should be. Ultimatum is every bit as good as the other two films, and caps off the trilogy with style and greatness.

Monday, August 6, 2007

Rescue Dawn

Acclaimed director Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man) brings to the screen the harrowing tale of Dieter Dengler, an American pilot shot down in Laos just before the war became official in neighboring Vietnam. Dengler is played by one of the best young actors around, Christian Bale. Dengler, after crash landing, tries to run and hide from the Laotian militias, who are eager to grab American prisoners. Eventually, Dengler is captured and taken to a makeshift prison camp. He soon finds out the other five prisoners have been there not for days, but for years. Will the rescue attempts find them? Will they survive?
One of the prisoners, Gene, is bent on the hope that the guards will release them any day now. When Dengler suggests an escape, Gene threatens to yell and alert the guards. Gene wants no one to ruin his chances at being let out. He has been there two years. This is an example of a false hope that destroys instead of gives life. Gene's hope is in the wrong thing. Although dangerous and far from certain, he should place his hope in an escape, which has a far greater chance of success. Hope is a great thing, but it is not enough to simply have hope. We must place our hope in the right things. Hope keeps us going, but false hope keeps us going in the wrong direction.
Torture plays a prominent role in the film; a rather timely subject. What should the Christian response to torture be? Obviously we are against it, but what if that torture brings about essential information to save lives? What if we captured an Al-Qaeda operative on September 10th and could only obtain information about the attacks through torture? Should we always be against it? In the film torture is used to incite fear and repress strength, a horrible human practice. But we must remember that torture is not only used by our enemies, but often by our own government as well.
The community of prisoners is an interesting study in human behavior. Why is it that we tend to forge the strongest relationships when under extreme stress and danger? Why don't we usually care deeply for each other under normal circumstances? In the film, the prisoners grow extremely close. The trauma catalyzes great comradery, but it also heightens the tension and brings about ridiculous infighting. They are all on the same team, why would they fight against each other? Maybe duress merely accentuates how we already feel about each other, taking it to the extreme. That's one of the main reasons I love war films, they capture humanity strained to the breaking point and revealing the truth of who we are.
At one point of extreme desperation, Dengler mutters an interesting plea: "God, why won't you help us when we need you most?" Sometimes we feel a deep sense of need for God because of our utter hopelessness. We turn to Him when we have nowhere else to run. But the fact is that we probably haven't realized the need for God at "good times" in our lives because He has been helping us in those times. If we never felt desperation, would we ever feel a deep dependence on God?
Rescue Dawn is an unassuming war film; though influenced by classic POW films like Bridge on the River Kwai and The Great Escape, it is vastly different. It is unique in that it does not try to overdramatize the events. Herzog usually makes documentaries (in fact he made a documentary of this story 10 years ago), and this film sometimes takes on the watchful eye of a spectator. The scene of the crash near the beginning is stunning and surreal. We the audience watch Dengler run across a field with the militia following him, but it is one continuous shot with no music or effects. This shot, as well as many others, takes us to East Asia and put us in the place of a prisoner of war. I know it's cliche, but Herzog made me feel like I was there. A truly remarkable story of human frailty, strength, desperation, and hope. Christian Bale is utterly breathtaking as Dengler. He should (and probably will) be nominated for an Oscar come Awards season. It was a pleasure to watch such a master at work. A beautiful and disturbing work, Rescue Dawn is the first truly great film of 2007.

Thursday, August 2, 2007

The Constant Gardener

[Because of a lack of great films to talk about right at the moment, I will be digging up films from 2005 that are well worth your time. This is the first.]
"Love. At any cost." The tagline from The Constant Gardener sounds like a vitally important ideal. So how does it play out in this new film from Academy-Award nominated director Fernando Mereilles (City of God)? This "Love" is both small and large, both individual and corporate, both personal and political, and it does come at great cost.
The story is set in Kenya, and centers around the lives of Justin (Ralph Fiennes) and Tessa (Rachel Weisz) Quayle. When Tessa is murdered, Justin is driven to discover the reason, and uncover his wife’s past. What begins as a murder-mystery soon becomes much more. A vast political conspiracy was being investigated by Tessa when she died, and now it is up to Justin to tell the truth.
Everyone on the planet is now well-aware of the health epidemic in Africa, but what are people doing about it? Well, in the film a handful of drug companies and financial opportunists decide that there is a vast wealth of money to be made. How? By using the Africans as guinea pigs. Is all human life sacred? What about people who will most likely die very soon? What if their sacrifice, unbeknownst to them, saved money and lives out in "the Western World"? Would anyone care if "expendable" Africans died for a "greater good"? How far would you personally go to do something about it? Would you sacrifice your reputation, your relationships, your career, your life? These are the questions raised by the film.
Fiennes performs convincingly, as usual, but Weisz steals the show. The passion for truth and justice in Tessa’s life shines through Weisz’s words. By the end of the film women, and men too, want to be more like Tessa, to make a difference in a real and powerful way.
Mereilles’ talent is evident throughout the film. (By the way, Mereilles’ first film, City of God, is fantastic, in case you were wondering). Not only is the story and acting intriguing, but the film is beautiful and visually stunning. The colors jump off the screen, and the exposure of the film almost burns your eyes. The film starts at the death of Tessa, and from there moves both forward and backward, filling in pieces along the way and confirming or abolishing our presuppositions about the truth. At times, the plot seems to have too many confusing details, but stick with it. Not every little piece has to make sense, because life is complicated, and often does not fit together perfectly in our minds.
The Constant Gardener does a great job of balancing global humanitarian activism with the sacred love between a man and a woman. It inspires us to seek out justice on a large scale, and love those who are next to us passionately. It takes a great deal of talent and hard work to pull this off. Though a "murder-mystery," the film does not linger in the well-trod ground of predictability; though a romantic film, it does not get sappy. The emotions are raw, and though not "based on a true story" the script is perfectly plausible.
Christ calls us to love all people, at any cost. We are to take care of the poor, the sick, the needy. Whether there is a pharmaceutical conspiracy or not, there are very real and pressing opportunities to help those in desperate need throughout Africa. Christ is calling us to action, let us not be silent. Jesus also desires us to live lives of righteousness, acting with love and truth in all that we do. Gardener does a great job of investigating both personal righteousness and political justice at the same time. A film this broad has to be good to pull this off.
In the end, the only thing in the film that is lacking is the title (which doesn’t really tell people anything about the story). So if it is not about gardening, what is it about? Love, plain and simple. Along the way, we learn about all the complexities of the lives of the characters, but in the end (literally) we come back to love. Love. What is love? What does "Love at any cost" look like? Great films leave us with more questions than answers. So, see the flick and talk amongst yourselves.