Out Walking

Expelled: See It Now

Don't wait.  Run to the theatre to see Expelled, Ben Stein's documentary exposing the reasons why the Academy thought police will not allow scientists to teach about intelligent design.  It's well-produced, entertaining, and informative.  Stein travels all over the world speaking both to the many scientists expelled from teaching for even mentioning "intelligent design," as well as to committed atheists like Richard Dawkins, who essentially believes religious believers are idiots.

Running through this movie is a comparison of what is happening to academic freedom with the Berlin wall, with those who want to wall out free-thinkers who want to follow the evidence where it leads.  This is not some Bible-thumping fundamentalist propaganda piece, nor is it Creation Science, a movement I always had some difficulty with because of its quite literal interpretation of the Genesis account (aka six 24-hour days), meaning it is treated as simply historical narrative with no poetic component, and in its attempt to fit the Bible to science.  These are scientists, some Christian, some not, who simply want to follow the evidence where it leads, and who are quite honest about their biases and presuppositions, something you can't say about many Darwinists.

See it now.  This movie is playing in major theatres, but films like this don't hang around if people don't buy tickets.  Better yet, take a skeptic. Take your kids. Take anyone who simply wants to think.  Find a theatre and time here.

Once: A Movie About What We Really Want

On the recommendation of a friend, I finally watched Once last night. This is a beautiful, sweet, beguilingly simple yet powerful movie that has deeply affected many people. Shot with what appears to be a single camera, it unfolds like a home movie, offering an intimate portrait of two people and their developing friendship around the music they share together. I’ll warn you now --- I can’t comment on the movie without revealing its plot line, so turn back now if you can’t handle a spoiler.

The movie begins with actor Glen Hansard playing and singing his heart out on the streets of Dublin, guitar case open for contributions.  Marketa Iglova, a Czech flower girl, stops to listen, and they strike up a conversation.  Now here's the other quirky thing --- these folks are known as Guy and Girl in the credits, so we never actually find out their names.  I never actually notice this while watching until the credits rolled.

With a tagline of "How often do you find the right person?" you're all set up for romance.  You figure that after some awkwardness, maybe some standoffishness, that eventually this budding relationship must result in a sexual liaison, all the more so because Hansard is lonely, missing his girlfriend who he is still deeply love with and who has gone ahead of him to London, and Iglova is separated from her husband, living with her mother and her little girl, and wondering if he would ever come.  I mean, it has to happen, right?  Wrong.  The refreshing surprise of this movie is that a deep friendship develops between a man and a woman, a real phileo love with nary a bit of eros love.  Now that, in this time, is a miracle, and this is a good part of the reason people have gravitated to this film.  We deeply desire a true friend, someone who understands us, and this Girl and Guy grow to understand one another and help one another.  Marketa gives Glen the confidence he needs to continue his music, and Glen befriends Marketa who is trying to survive in a alien place without her husband.  Just friendship.  No sex.

The other thing that's refreshing about the movie is its tenderness, its humanity.  When a street person steals Glen's bit of change in his guitar case, Glen chases him down, but not to pummel him but, in the end, to give him the money.  Then there's the community of the musicians, all having a good time just paying and singing, as even a skeptical engineer in the studio comes to join in.  Another deep desire --- community.

And what about the music?  Enchanting, passionate, lovely.  These are moving melodies that stick to you and follow you around all the next day, and in this day when music bombards us from all over, this is quite a feat.  I have to have this soundtrack!

No nudity.  No violence.  No sex.  Very little profanity, really.  So why's the movie rated R?  Because of the inclusion of a half dozen or more uses of the F word, no doubt, though the inclusion of this language adds nothing to the film and its deletion would not affect it in the least.  It's there, no doubt, to push this movie over to an R rating so we will all know that it is a serious movie for adults and one that probably belongs in art houses (which is mostly where it ended up).  Otherwise, this would be a PG rated movie.

Nevertheless, if you can tolerate the word, you'll love this enchanting movie and its music.  The day after, you'll forget the word, but you will not forget the story and music for a long time.  Highly recommended.

[See more about the movie, including a trailer, and listen to the soundtrack here.]

Amazing Grace: A Reaction

Kudos to Walden Media for their role in bringing the story of William Wilberforce to the screen with excellence. I was able, courtesy of our local newspaper, to see a preview of the movie tonight, before its general release tomorrow. It was excellent --- well acted, accurate as any movie can be, and inspiring without any preachiness.

My test of a good movie with Christian themes is to consider whether a nonChristian would think it well done even though they may not embrace some of the beliefs. Amazing Grace passes that test. The obvious message of the film is the equality of men, as Wilberforce fought his fight for the abolition of slavery. But deeper messages abound --- perseverance in the face of seeming hopelessness, patience (incremental change, if need be, rather than the violence of revolution), adherence to God's call upon your life (even when it's very difficult and unrewarding), and, of course, faith.

Early in his lfe Wilberforce came to faith. On that coming, he felt that he should go into ministry, that that call and the call of politics were mutually exclusive. He stands as a great example of the now apparant fact that one can serve God in politics as well as in a number of legitimate vocations.

Albery Finny excellently played the part of John Newton, the slave trader turned pastor and friend of Wilberforce's who penned "Amazing Grace." He uttered the famous line " I may not remember many things, but I do remember two: that I am a great sinner and God is a great Savior." He is convincing in his role, as are all the actors.

These are the kind of excellent films that we should support. And here's the important thing: the box office receipts of the premeire weekend of a film are the most important, as they can make or break a film. So? Go see this film this weekend. Take your family (kids 12 and up). Make it a success. Not because it's a film by Christians, but because it's an excellently made film that happens to also resonate with Christian themes. Bottom line: it's a great story.

To see a more detailed review, go here. And to read about the philosophy behind Walden Media, read this.

Facing the Giants

I do not often comment on films, as I am not a particularly astute critic of the medium. However, I was pleasantly surprised by an overdue viewing of Facing the Giants this past weekend. Though many friends had encouraged me to see this film, I declined, convinced that it would not be worth the watching. An indie production with a low-budget made by a church with a Christian message about football? Sad to say, all those were strikes against it for me. I don't care for football, nor do my kids (who initially refused to watch it). Low-budgets usually mean low-quality. A Christian film made by a church? That means hokey, corny, preachy, and definitely just preaching to the choir, right?

Almost all wrong. This is a surprisingly good film. True, it won't win any Academy Awards, but then the judges there wouldn't understand the film anyway. And yes, the plot is predictable and the acting not top-notch -- but wait a minute, none of these people are even trained actors! And yet they are very believeable. Finally, while there is a message in this film, the story wins out. After a half-hour forced viewing, my kids were hooked, as were we. Good stories always win out. And they do not have to be morally ambiguous, complicated, and be left painfully unresolved at the end to earn the status of "art."

The basic plot runs like this: In six years of coaching, Grant Taylor has never led his Shiloh (Christian School) Eagles to a winning season. Everything is going wrong for him. He and his wife Brooke face infertility, his team is losing, his car won't start, there's a putrid odor in the house (a dead rat), the stove won't work, and then he discovers that a group of fathers are secretly organizing to have him dismissed as head coach. After what seems like too, too long, he cries out to God in desperation. It's the beginning of charting a new purpose for his life, his team, and his school. Essentially we watch a spiritual revival occur in Grant, his football team, and the school as a result of his surrender to God.

The cynic in us cries out that it can't be so neat and nice. Things never turn out so well. Isn't this idealistic rubbish? But ask yourself this (I did): Are we so jaded that we can't simply be inspired by a film that encourages us to trust God and praise him, "whether we win or lose?" And doesn't God sometimes answer prayer with a resounding "Yes?" Sure He does. We simply live in a cynical time when such stories -- stories of miracles and happy endings -- are dismissed and mocked. I even hear that attitude of dismissal in some "scholarly" Christian reviews I read -- the critics too sophisticated to simply say they enjoyed a good story and seeing how God can work in the life of a people. In fact, isn't the problem that sometimes, deep down, we really don't believe the very true "fairy tale" of the Gospel, that wild vision of Heaven, is really true? Sure doubt comes to all of us at one time or the other, but persistent doubt tends to make one suspicious of any happy ending.

The movie led to some productive discussion in my family about what "giants" we face in our own lives. And we asked each other for prayer that we might stand up to those giants. That is another good result of such a film. No, we know it's not easy, and we know that sometimes God allows trials to go on and revival to tarry (someting implicit in the film, as they were a losing team for six years), but it's no crime to focus our attention on times that He does not tarry but answers prayer in miraculous ways.

The backstory to this film, some of which is explained in some extras with the DVD, is just as much a story. The film was produced by Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia. Two brothers in the church, Alex and Steven Kendrick, expressed the desire to their pastor to produce Christian films. He and the church supported them, raised the money, and made the film. Now that right there is amzing enough. Only after it was completed did Provident Distribution pick it up. All the actors came from the church, the church school, or the community. Only five professionals were used, all technical people. And this is precisely what a church should do for artists -- support them! No, it's the way they should encourage the giftedness of every person. The church should support them and not put roadblocks in their way. These Baptists got it right.

I want these brothers to make more films like Facing the Giants. They will get better. They will master the craft. Let's support them. Don't rent the film, buy it here. And next time, when a film like this comes out, go see it on the opening weekend. That can make or break a film.

Now, back to my own giants. . .

The Nativity Story

Tonight I went with my family to see The Nativity Story, a new movie about the Birth of Christ.  I found it faithful to the story and helpful as well in giving us a sense of the reality of the story.  Nevertheless, seeing this true story come to life on a screen where countless other fictional works have played, and all the while munching on popcorn and drinking soda, was a bit incongruous.  It almost had a leveling effect, putting the story on the same level as all the other stories that have played on these screens.  I don't know if I like this.  I much prefer a telling of the story (albeit later in Jesus's life) in prose, as in Anne Rice's Christ the Lord.  I feel less entertained and less marketed to.

Nevertheless, there is good in the film telling of the story.  We gain a sense of the perilous and difficult situation facing Mary, and even Joseph, as the child was born out of wedlock.  We have an appreciation for what it meant to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem, a long and difficult journey and yet one tersely covered in scripture by the words "So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David" (Lk. 2:4).  The film provides the possible back-story to this terse account, filling in the interstices of scripture.  That's helpful.

The bottom line, though, is that I have to keep reminding myself that this is reality.  This wild tale of supernatural beings appearing to humble human beings, of God Himself taking on human form through a miraculous birth to a virgin, happened.  It really happened.  It can't simply be dismissed as a beautiful legend.  And that's why I can't quite abide seeing it on the screen.

I recommend the movie.  Find out more about it here.  But I recommend reading the account of Scripture even more.

The Boy Ten Feet Tall

I'm still old enough to remember Circle K movie matinees.  These were movies shown on Saturday morning at our local theater, a beautiful old style cinema, with an orchestra pit, balcony, eerie looking statutes in boxes overlooking the stage, and a huge chandelier in the middle of the ceiling.  That theater, the Carolina, in Greensboro, has now been restored, after it fell into disrepair in the 1970s.

But then, in the mid-Sixties, it was a fine place.  My family saw every John Wayne movie there, and I believe the last movie I saw there was Patton, starring George C. Scott, on its premiere.

But back to matinees. . . . I don't remember a single matinee I saw except one called The Boy Ten Feet Tall, one I remember distinctly to this day.  I suppose it's because this movie would appeal to every young boy.  The plot is this: A young boy living in Port Said, Egypt narrowly escapes a bomb blast (having to do with some unexplained violence in 1956) that destroys the apartment block where he lives and kills both his parents.  He decides to travel on foot to Durban, South Africa, to be with his only living relative, an aunt.  During his 4500 mile trip he falls in with different people, good and bad, has an experience with the slave trade, poachers, criminals, and wild animals.  It's an incredible journey.

I have thought about this movie every now and then, but it has never been released on DVD or VHS tape.  In fact, I don't recall it ever being released on television.  This is sad, because I'd love for my own children to see it.  However, a movie released this year on DVD, Duma, bears some resemblance.  In Duma, a young South African boy loses his father and on his own journeys across the Kalahari Desert to return a cheetah they raised to the wild.  It's an adventure, but not quite as long or exciting as the one for Sammy in A Boy Ten Feet Tall.  I recommend it, though.

A Boy Then Feet Tall was actually based on a book by W.H. Canaway entitled Find the Boy, and then reissued under the name of the movie title.  I found a used copy a couple years ago, which was released in 1961.  The price?  50 cents.

I credit the movie with my love of travel.  At 10, it for the first time fueled my interest in the world outside my hometown, outside my neighborhood.  The feeling I had watching that movie could not be elicited now, with special effects and sensationalistic movies standard fare for kids.  But then it was really something.  When I came out of that theater, I wasn't quite the same.  It gave me a dream of something heroic.

Blog Church, Lion in Babylon, and Rabbit Fur

Ever have times when you just have too many things you're thinking about?  Today's the day for me.  This is a bit random, but perhaps there is some connection here:

• Though I will not dwell much on the topic of why I blog (can you imagine a more boring topic?), I do think the phenomenon of blogging is interesting.  So does Jeremy Huggins, a blogger who devoted quite a lot of time to an analysis of the movement in an article called "Blogging Our Hearts Out ," found in Critique, the newsletter of Ransom Fellowship.  He is particularly interested in how the emergent evangelicals champion the movement as ushering in a more communal, less hierarchical church, and he questions this.  As Huggins says, "Because the emergent bloggers feel that they have been let down, to some degree, by the church, they are seeking to circumvent traditional church structures and authorities, feeling that true community comes through collaboration and shared community rather than top-down through select individuals."  He asks, "Will the abuse of blogging lead the church back to a gnostic, disembodied spirituality?  It's something to consider.
• Speaking of Ransom Fellowship, in the latest issue (sorry, not online), Denis Haack asks if all the cheering by evangelicals about the Chronicles of Narnia film, while understandable (as in, "finally a film about Christianity in the media!"), is really a good thing.  Before you dismiss him as a curmudgeon (I met him, and he's not, much), consider these comments: "Consider what our response [to the film] would be if the gospel, not the culture war, is our primary concern.  Remember that America is both clearly post-Christian, and increasingly pluralistic, and that much of the postmodern generation thinks it has seen and heard what we stand for, and finds it wanting.  That our desire to evangelize is primarily a power play, a way to gain political and cultural influence until we are able to impose our standards on society." Ouch.  Is that a bit harsh?  He asks "[W]hy not let the film (and book) stand on its own? Why not trust God enough to allow the Holy Spirit to use a great, subtly creative and powerful story to awaken non-Christians to the Story of the gospel?  It's something to consider, right?
• To me the most intriguing new release today is an indie album by Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins called Rabbit Fur Coat.  Twenty-something Jenny's life is sadly representative of many young adults who have grown up in a tide of brokenness from dysfunctional families and relationships.  The pain is evident in her songs, though she has a beautiful voice and can pen a very human if sad song.  Here's a sample: "What are you changing?/ What do you think you're changing?/ You can't change things./ We're all stuck in our ways./ It's like trying to clean the ocean./ What do you think, you can drain it?/ Well, it was poison and dry/ long before you came."  Not too much hope there.  You can read a bit about her in a cover story from Harp, and listen to her here.

Enough said for now!