Thinking at the Movies
There is movie theater near my house that also feeds you more than popcorn while you there. You can get a basket of wings, some tacos and other similar selection delivered to your seat by the wait staff of the theater. It's not overly expensive and you can literally have "dinner and a movie" at the same time. They only problem is I can't get them to pause the movie if I want to take a bathroom break. In as much as we are enjoying the experience more, Toni and I are finding ourselves at the movies more often.
This week Toni and I availed ourselves to two movies. I really can't say that I enjoyed either one, not because they were not good movies, in fact both were excellent, but because they were disturbing with the stories they told.
One was the film "Just Mercy." The film tells the true story of an African-American man wrongly convicted of murder in a small town in Alabama and sentenced to death row. The film pointed out to me very strongly the fact that our system of justice, no matter how noble its intentions, is only as good as the ethics and morality of those who operate it.
The brutal truth this movie conveys is that not only our system of justice but the whole of our government is dependent on two things. One is the character of those who inhabit our public offices, and the second is the character of those who elect them.
The movie also gave me pause for hope. Without spoiling the movie for those who might wish to see it and haven't, there is a minor character in the movie that tells a great story. There is a prison guard that undergoes a small subtle transformation in the film. It is a reminder that there is hope and that our world can change, one heart at a time.
Toni and I also took an evening to see the film "1917." As a former history teacher I was drawn to the film which tells the story of a two British soldiers in World War I who are entrusted with a very special mission. The movie is a graphic depiction of the horrors of war.
It was a brutal reminder that often times the decisions about going to war are usually made by those who do not have to do the fighting. During the film I recalled that John Wesley felt that war was the ultimate evidence of human depravity.
In fact, Wesley said, "And surely all our declamations on the strength of human reason, and the eminence of our virtues, are no more than the cant and jargon of pride and ignorance, so long as there is such a thing as war in the world."
While there are certainly times in a nation's life that the sword must be unleashed there must also be regard for the horror the sword visits, not only upon the enemy but upon those who are called upon to fight the battle.
So it was that we made our way to the movies this week. On both occasions I was not allowed to park my mind in the lobby when I walked into the theater. There are times that our entertainment does only that, it entertains us. Yet, I am also grateful for the times it makes me think.
The brutal truth this movie conveys is that not only our system of justice but the whole of our government is dependent on two things. One is the character of those who inhabit our public offices, and the second is the character of those who elect them.
The movie also gave me pause for hope. Without spoiling the movie for those who might wish to see it and haven't, there is a minor character in the movie that tells a great story. There is a prison guard that undergoes a small subtle transformation in the film. It is a reminder that there is hope and that our world can change, one heart at a time.
Toni and I also took an evening to see the film "1917." As a former history teacher I was drawn to the film which tells the story of a two British soldiers in World War I who are entrusted with a very special mission. The movie is a graphic depiction of the horrors of war.
It was a brutal reminder that often times the decisions about going to war are usually made by those who do not have to do the fighting. During the film I recalled that John Wesley felt that war was the ultimate evidence of human depravity.
In fact, Wesley said, "And surely all our declamations on the strength of human reason, and the eminence of our virtues, are no more than the cant and jargon of pride and ignorance, so long as there is such a thing as war in the world."
While there are certainly times in a nation's life that the sword must be unleashed there must also be regard for the horror the sword visits, not only upon the enemy but upon those who are called upon to fight the battle.
So it was that we made our way to the movies this week. On both occasions I was not allowed to park my mind in the lobby when I walked into the theater. There are times that our entertainment does only that, it entertains us. Yet, I am also grateful for the times it makes me think.
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