I received this issue of Film Capsules by Dr. Ed McNulty as an EMail from the Presbytery of Cincinnati and thought it interesting to pass along as information for all who did not have an opportunity to see it. ~ R.Lowry
in this issue
Pirate Radio
T. Invention of Lying
The Informant
Bright Star
More Than a Game
Where the Wild Things Are
Workshop
Pirate Radio
Rated R
Hard to believe that the homeland of the Beatles and The Rolling Stones once banned rock music from the airwaves. But until the latter part of the Sixties that was the case, except for a 45 minute segment on the BBC. Thus enterprising entrepreneurs stepped into the breech by operating illegal radio stations from ships that stood just outside Great Britain's territorial waters.
The Ship That Rocked
(the film was renamed for US distribution) tells in a farcical style the story of eight rebellious music loving DJs who broke the law and agreed to live aboard the ship. Their story is told through the eyes of a young man whose mother, worried because he has been expelled from school for smoking weed, has been sent to her friend who owns the "pirate radio" ship. The British government does everything it can to shut the operation down. An audience of 25 million rock devotees hope and pray that they will not succeed.
The film is fun to watch but, from a Christian standpoint seriously flawed, with scenes of its lecherous crew engaging in sex with the "birds" who are brought out on a periodic basis, and especially by making the young hero's loss of virginity something to be celebrated and shared via radio with millions of approving listeners. Be forewarned also that there is a scene, admittedly funny, in which a DJ (wonderfully played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) manages to get around the ship owner's order not to use the "F" word over the air.
T. Invention of Lying
Rated PG-13
Imagine a world in which everyone tells the truth--sort of a world in which humankind has not suffered a total fall from grace. Several amusing scenes show this, such as when people really tell each other what they think of the other. Our hero's first date with the heroine is unpromising in that she tells him that he is too short and fat for her to love because his genes would provide a less than satisfactory sperm source for children. Then by chance he tells what he considers a lie and is believed. He is with his dying mother (the name of the nursing home, which in our would might be called "Happy Haven," is "A Sad Place Where Homeless Old People Come to Die"). To comfort her he tells her that there is an afterlife where they will one day be reunited. People clamor to hear more about this, and our hero reluctantly complies by declaring that there is a Man Up There, thus launching something akin to a religious movement.
The film's premise that religion is possible only by lying about reality might make you bristle, but the film is genuinely funny and offers a great opportunity for church groups to explore truth and its consequences, the nature of faith, and the age old attempt to explain the goodness of God and the existence of evil.
The Informant
Rated R
Although played for its comedic elements, this film is based on a real life whistle blower at Archer Daniels Midland, among the top fifty of US corporations. He aspires to become the CEO of his company by informing on his superiors' long time practice of price fixing with international firms. He agrees to become an FBI informant, wearing a wire to record business meetings.
At first Stephen Soderbergh's film seems like another version of The Insider, a film based on an executive's revelation of the tobacco industry's deceptions, but the latter half of The Informant is far more complicated. As the months and years pass by, the FBI try to make sense of the conflicting stories that their spy tells them, and eventually discover that he has had an agenda that he has kept hidden from them. Brad Pitt is delightful as Mark Whitacre, the executive who eventually, due to his nefarious machinations, served a longer prison sentence than any of the crooked executives whom he brought down.
The psalmists, decrying "the wicked" who become ensnared in their own traps, would have enjoyed this film, though, as we see at the end, there is more than just a moral lapse to the story.
Bright Star
Rated PG
Poet John Keats could be the poster boy representing the popular cliché of the starving, short-lived artist (he died at the age of 25). Jane Campion brings the story of star struck lovers beautifully to life in a film that deserves to reach an audience beyond the art house circuit. Keats lives with his friend and fellow poet Mr. Brown, the latter becoming jealous when Keats and the daughter of their landlord Fanny Brawne fall in love. However, as Fanny's rather liberal-minded mother observes, the poet has "no living and no income," thus making marriage impossible. Although the poet's first volume has been published, few have bought it, even though its first poem begins with the immortal line "A thing of beauty is a joy forever. " Both adhering to the strict moral code of the early 19th century, they are unable to consumate their love, making one believe that the lines from his "Ode to a Grecian Urn" grew out of their bittersweet experience:
Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal -- yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!
More Than a Game
Rated PG
Kristopher Belma's well-edited documentary follows the incredible 9-year journey of five Ohio basketball players known as "The Fab Five," among whom is the future NBA superstar LeBron James. Coached in Akron, Ohio by the father of one of four boys who have played basketball together from the sixth grade, they are joined in high school by transplanted Chicagoan James LeBron, the five playing so well together that they lead their team to a national championship. The director has assembled interviews, newsreel footage, home videos and photographs into a seamless film that should appeal not just to basketball fans but to anyone interested in the small and improbable winning out over great odds.
Where the Wild Things Are
I have yet to catch Where the Wild Things Are, but friends (and reviewers) have reassured me that filmmaker Spike Jonze has not spoiled the ultra-short Maurice Sendak original story, unlike those who spoiled How the Grinch Stole Christmas with their bloated adaptation.
Workshop: Finding God at the Movies
Ed McNulty will be leading a workshop exploring religious values in film at a national conference called "Navigate" at the Florence United Methodist Church next month (Nov. 10-12).
Part of the emerging church movement, a number of national speakers will explore "Outfitting the Church to navigate the waters of changing culture." For further information on this go to www.outfittingtonavigate.com
McNulty's workshop is "Navigating Between Theater and Scripture: Finding God at the Movies." The goal is to show that a significant number of films now playing at the local theater or awaiting take-out at your DVD store are more than just entertainment. Participants will find help in discovering biblical/theological themes in feature films, so that the theater and video store will become resources for teaching and preaching the gospel.
Film Capsules is the Rev. Dr. Ed McNulty's synopses of current films plus suggested scripture readings with similar themes. Ed, an honorably retired member of the Presbytery of Cincinnati shares his work at the request of those who attended the Ministers Retreat held in October 2008. Fuller descriptions and discussion questions are available by subscription at www.visualparables.net.
