Category Archives: Film

Identity Theft – Living into Who We Are

09 Monday Nov 2015

Posted by in Brave, Faith, Film, Guest Blogger, People I Admire

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You guys are in for a treat today. Meet my friend, Jill Richardson. She is a pastor, speaker, blogger, fellow FTL Launch team sister, mom of daughters, and a fabulous storyteller. She is funny, smart AND a Lord of the Rings nerd. As you can see, we have lots in common and I simply adore her. As I am off traveling this week, I have asked Jill to share her extremely relevant and powerful message with us today. The first paragraph got my attention, as our family enjoys the same LOTR marathon tradition each year during the holidays. Please enjoy this inspirational word from Jill and then go check out her blog for more great stuff. 

Welcome, Jill!!

aragornBy Jill Richardson

Every New Years our family has a tradition. We watch the same movie. But when the Richardsons do anything, hey, go big or go home. We don’t watch just any movie. We watch The Lord of the Rings, extended versions, all three films. It’s a long day.

If you are as good at nerding out as we are, you know that the character Aragorn is the man destined to be king. Yet for several hours worth of film (and the first 86 years of his life), he hides from that destiny. He’s kind of the Robin Hood of Middle-earth, swooping out of the woods to do good things for helpless people, then going back into hiding. He’s a Ranger, a lone Ranger, uninterested in the responsibility of being a king.

Until he is told quite succinctly (and when an Elf-Lord speaks, it’s usually succinctly) to stop it. No one else can do this job, he’s reminded. It’s yours whether you will or not.

“Put aside the ranger; become who you were born to be.”

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For Your Protection

13 Sunday Aug 2006

Posted by in Film

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My husband often travels to the West Coast and has found the long flights pass more quickly when he takes along rented movies to watch.  Generally, he tries to pick movies that I don’t care about seeing…you know, those violent "guy" films where I cover my eyes for half the film.  Occasionally, however, we misjudge a particular film and he comes home saying "you would love this one."  Since we have been together for almost 26 years, he knows me pretty well.  Because of that, I trust him when he says I will like it…so far, he hasn’t been wrong.V_for_vendetta_01

V_for_vendetta That is exactly what happened with the film we watched last night.  I had absolutely no interest in seeing the movie "V for Vendetta," assuming it was a violent revenge movie.  However, once again, he was right.  It was incredible!  In fact, it may be one of the best films I’ve seen in a long time.  It is a political thriller with frightening overtones from current events.  It is all about the politics of fear and about the freedom that comes when fear is overcome.  There is certainly violence in it, but violence is not the heart of the movie.  The story is about control; specifically, what we allow to control us.  As I said, there are elements within the story that are especially terrifying because of how they resemble some of the trends we have seen in our world in recent years.  The line that I used to title this post was especially chilling…I won’t tell you more!

Anyway, I would highly recommend this film.   For those of you who, like me, don’t care for violent films, I promise the bit of violence in this film is worth it because of the quality of the story.  And, Natalie Portman deserves an Oscar for her portrayal of Evey.  She was brilliant!  If you have seen it, or when you see it, let me know what you think!

Glory Road…we’re not there yet

26 Monday Jun 2006

Posted by in Film, Justice

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I have watched the movie “Glory Road” twice in the past week.  I watched it with part of my family the first time and thought it was so good that I insisted the rest of my family watch it before it was returned to Blockbuster.  In case you are unfamiliar with the film, it is based on the true story of the 1966 NCAA champion basketball team…a team of 5 white players and 7 black players…a racial mix never seen before in NCAA play.

I was two years old in 1966…a lifetime ago, yet only 40 short years.  The world that we saw pictured in the film was very different from today.  In 1966, only white players were considered “smart” enough to play at the highest levels of collegiate basketball.  Obviously, times have changed.  In 1966, the black players were spit on and called horrible names as they entered the stadiums, particularly in the South.  Obviously, times have changed.  At the end of the movie, we watched the bonus features in which they interviewed some of the actual players from that 1966 team.  I was moved to tears by one of the gentlemen, probably in his late 50s or early 60s now, get choked up while talking about what they had to endure just to play basketball.  Humiliation and degradation because of the color of their skin…just boys who wanted to play basketball.

At the end of the movie, as I was thinking about how our world has changed, I thought of this picture that I took at my youngest daughter’s birthday party.  She made friendship bracelets for herself and her three best friends and she wanted me to take a picture of them wearing their bracelets.  Brookes_soccer_and_sleepover_056 As you can see, the yellow and orange of the bracelets looked beautiful against all the shades of skin represented…none quite like the other.  Our world is different because my children are free to play with the children who make them laugh, the children who have similar interests, the children who live next door, the children who stick with them through thick and thin…regardless of the color of their skin.

That all sounds really wonderful, doesn’t it?  Yet, the very night that I watched “Glory Road” the first time, I saw a story on the news about a group of white supremacists who were distributing newspapers throughout one of our local communities…newspapers espousing the same kind of garbage those young men had to endure 40 years ago…the same kind of hatred that I would like to believe we have overcome.  Sure, it is better.  But, as much as I would like to ignore it, that hatred is still there.  While sometimes more subtle, that prejudice still exists.

My husband warned me against writing this post when I told him what I was thinking.  He says, and I agree with him, that we “white folks” have no right to write about or comment on racial relations.  We can notice, but we cannot understand.  We can say what it is that we see, we can say what is wrong, but we can’t say whether or not it is better.  We can hurt for the young men in that story in 1966 or for the thousands forgotten in the Superdome in 2005, but we don’t really get it…not really.

Perhaps the message of “Glory Road” is to remind us of what we as a society accepted as OK just 40 short years ago…perceptions that seem unspeakably barbaric today that were simply accepted as truth then…accepted by many without question.  I wonder which perceptions and attitudes that we blindly accept today will be questioned 40 years from now?

Aslan is on the Move!

10 Tuesday Jan 2006

Posted by in Film, Grace, Recommended Reading

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Narnia_3 I have been meaning to talk about the movie “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe” since we saw it back in early December.  Since this idea for a post has been floating around in my noggin the longest, let’s start there for today.  First of all, you should know that the Chronicles of Narnia are some of my all- time favorite books in the world and C.S. Lewis is one of my favorite authors.  While the books were written for children, I first read them as an adult and I have re-read them several times.  Steve has read them numerous times as well, and both my girls read the whole series (seven books, in case you aren’t a Narnia fan) in November and December before the movie came out.  So, with that background, you can imagine that we were at the movie theater the very first weekend it opened!

It is simply a beautiful movie.  Although it can be disappointing to see your favorite book brought to life, this was not the case for us with this movie.  In case you aren’t familiar with the books, the Narnia tales are meant to be an allegory of the Gospel message.  In the magical land of Narnia, there is a battle between good and evil, a downward spiral into betrayal, and a sacrificial death followed by a glorious resurrection.  There are talking animals, valiant warriors, and reluctant monarchs. The Lord of Narnia, the Christ figure in our story, is Aslan the Lion.  The inhabitants of Narnia have long suffered under the cruel reign of the White Witch when they hear that Aslan is back in Narnia; the word soon spreads, “Aslan is on the move!”  Aslan ultimately conquers eternal winter in Narnia through a sacrificial gift of love.  As the kingly and innocent Aslan willingly surrenders to the White Witch to pay the debt for someone else’s betrayal, he never once seems weak or powerless.  The depth of his love for the children and for all the inhabitants of Narnia is apparent as he bears the humiliation of having his magnificent mane shaved off.  As the majestic lion allows himself to be shaved, bound and ultimately killed, we sense that he would only have to raise one powerful paw to have stopped it all.  Yet, he knows what we don’t know at that moment…that through his death, he will conquer evil once and for all.  When he comes back to life, springtime comes to Narnia….the long winter brought on by the White Witch is over and goodness and truth reign once again.

Clearly, even if you haven’t read the books, you can see the connection to the Gospel story.  Again, I can’t recommend highly enough that you read the books…my description doesn’t do the story justice.  During the scenes of Aslan’s death and resurrection, I wept and wept.  In looking back on my experience later, I realized something that I thought was very interesting.  Like many of you, I also saw the movie “The Passion of the Christ.”  While I won’t go into a lengthy discussion of my opinion of that movie now, the observation that I had after seeing the Narnia movie was this: my experience of the scene of Aslan’s death was much stronger and much more personal than my reaction to the cruxifiction scene in “The Passion of the Christ.”   I think that I was so distracted…so nauseated… by the intense violence in the Passion, that I couldn’t even focus on what the cinematic representation was all about.  With the Narnia movie, I was able to watch it and because I was able to watch it, I was able to really experience the symbolism that made it so rich and so moving.  That isn’t a criticism per se of the Passion movie, just an observation that, for me, I was able to really feel Jesus’s sacrificial love for me more profoundly while watching a symbolic lion die than while watching Jim Caviezel get tortured in a Mel Gibson gore extravaganza.  (OK, that last sentence did sound a little like a criticism of that movie, sorry…perhaps you are picking up a little on my bias!) Again, that is simply my experience…I’m sure others of you who have seen both movies had the completely opposite experience.  Isn’t that the beauty of art though?  How wonderful that this story is getting told on the big screen in a variety of ways!

Anyway, bottom line is this: go get the complete set of The Chronicles of Narnia and read them.  While you are buying books, go ahead and also get the C.S. Lewis classic “Mere Christianity”…it is another of my favorites.  But even if you aren’t a reader, definitely go see the movie “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.”  Aslan is on the Move!