Unbreakable

What if super heroes actually existed in our world? “What if there was someone who couldn’t be hurt like the rest of us? Would they even know it?”

Elijah Price is a man who has been breaking bones and getting sick all his life. What keeps him going is the thought that if he is so weak and powerless, there must be someone on the other side of the spectrum, right? Maybe someone is immune to sickness. Maybe someone really is “Unbreakable.”

After a series of events causing hundreds of innocent lives to be lost and none surviving, one man “is miraculously unharmed.” David Dunn (Bruce Willis) walks out of a hospital without a single scratch on him after his train derailed. Something about Dunn just seems off the entire time. Dunn isn’t happy with his life, his job, or his family. He is searching for something to fill that void that keeps him from waking up and actually feeling like he is useful. When Price (Samuel L. Jackson) presents the idea of him being a real life “super-hero” it seems too far-fetched to even be considered. M. Night Shyamalan tells a unique story about a simple man trying to figure out the balance between absurdity and reality. He takes what usually happens within the firs act of a movie, and expounds on it for almost two hours. There are so many discoveries that take place within Dunn and Price’s lives that it needs to be told this way. This is not a story about a superhero, but a story of two normal men finding their place.

As an avid art collector, Price specializes in comic book frames or covers. With his vast knowledge and personal beliefs about the source of comics and the stories they tell, he takes on Dunn, somewhat as an apprentice, to help him discover his own calling. Throughout this movie there are countless references to comic books and how their stories are told, how their characters are revealed or portrayed, or how the artist uses shapes and colors to confuse or distract from the real nightmare at hand. Even though we are told how a comic book is built and told, it isn’t clear that this movie is portraying everything that Price is explaining to Dunn. Shyamalan’s use of mirrors and color is astounding in the way that it reflects how a reader would see a comic. Just like in a comic book, the action is framed. With mirrors Shyamalan takes that same idea and frames his action accordingly. He takes natural elements within a building or city and frames his characters and action around the thought that it should emulate a comic book. He even gives life to his characters by their wardrobe. A simple raincoat reveals a considerable amount of information about Dunn’s character. Dunn is dressed in dry, neutral tones and loose clothing while Price is dressed in brighter colors, tighter clothes, and longer coats. Within these costumes grows a believability of the characters underneath them. There are so many little nuances weaving their way in and out of this film that give so much depth to the story it’d be hard to find yourself getting sidetracked.

As soon as the movie is finished, all I want to do is watch it again. This time with the foreknowledge of the story, all the tricks Shyamalan is pulling out of his hat might just be easier to spot. With this knowledge it becomes a completely different movie. You realize the genius behind the camera. With such a brilliant story, high caliber actors, and an innovative man sitting in the director’s chair, you can’t stay away. You shouldn’t stay away. This is a must see.

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Away We Go

“Are we fuck ups?”

Burt Farlander and Verona De Tessant are two people dedicated to each other who are searching for their place in the world, as they are about to welcome a baby into theirs. “Are we fuck ups?” Why haven’t they done anything with their lives? Why don’t they have more things figured out by now? Questions dominate this story. When they can’t answer their own questions, they travel all around America to try and find the answers in their family and friends.

"Away We Go" goes through all the different types of family lifestyles within the span of ninety-eight minutes. With the kind of questions they are asking they go to all of their close family relatives, people they trust, and look at how they operate. What is the answer, what is the best way to raise a family? Where is the best place for a young child? These are the biggest questions facing any young family. Even though the couple isn’t exactly young their worries are that of a young couple. They aren’t the richest, and they aren’t the smartest. They don’t have many friends, and they don’t have that many opportunities awaiting them. However, they are in love. With love they will discover everything they need to know.

What makes this movie so wonderful is the portrayal of love in so many ways and situations. I have never seen this kind of love shown in a movie. It usually is the perfect love story when two people meet serendipitously and everything works out in the end for them both. This movie takes a different route by actually portraying love in the way that most people in the world can relate to. Verona (Maya Rudolph) is six months pregnant and all everyone wants to tell her is how big she is. Not exactly what a woman wants to hear. Burt (John Krasinski) isn’t the businessman of his dreams and hasn’t been able to provide all of the riches for Verona like he once planned for. These are broken people with real stories and real hurts. They have sacrifices that need to be made. With love as their guiding light they are able to make it through obstacles and tribulations. After seeing their friends and families, they discover that none of their lifestyles are what they want. They have to find a way to live their own life and raise their child in their own way.

Verona doesn’t want to ever get married. Burt wants to marry her with all of his heart. The marriage might not happen, but the love, the most important factor in a marriage, is there. They don’t have all of the answers to life. Nonetheless they will make it because they have each other and love. This movie could have been so cheesy in many ways, but somehow the comedy and drama were interwoven beautifully.

One of the last scenes of the movie explains everything in such a simplistic and graceful way. They had made promises to each other after everything they had learned and experienced over the past couple of weeks, and wanted to stop looking for the answers from other people and instead just live their lives as it comes. They can’t plan ahead for every kind of situation and there’s no need to. A home is something a family builds. It’s not something a family can find. 

“This place is perfect for us” Burt said.

Verona can only respond with “I hope so. I really hope so.”

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Places in the Heart

I was trying to figure out what “Places in the Heart” was trying to tell me while watching it and couldn’t seem to work it out. I didn’t really care too much about the characters for some reason. It wasn't until the very end of the movie when I put all the pieces together and figured it out. They were normal people fighting for survival in a land that kept pushing them back down. A widowed mother of two, a black drifter, and a blind man all try to work together for mutual benefit against a town that has done nothing for them except set up road blocks. Even though they had it all going against them they fought hard against the establishment and won.

After all they had worked for they had won. They finished on time and ahead of everyone else. However that didn’t seem to be the climax because there wasn’t a drastic build up of music, there wasn’t a crying scene, there wasn’t jumping and shouting and whooping into the air, it just passed us by like it didn’t mean anything. Then the real meaning of this story was revealed.

Throughout this story, people without the normal requirements or experience were put into situations that should have eaten them alive and spat them back out. Under normal circumstances everything should have been taken from them but in this case, Edna Spalding (Sally Field) fought. She had no one in her corner and all of the odds against her. There was no hope for her survival until Moze (Danny Glover) shows up and begins to help her farm cotton off her land. Then Mr. Will (John Malkovich), a quiet and moody blind man comes in to lend whatever talents he can. None of them are the type of person you would want to pick first for your kickball team. In spite of that for some reason they made a perfect team together. This is a story of seemingly worthless people who are able to overcome their social boundaries and expectations to break out of their limitations.

They all had their own problems they had to deal with. Edna had to overcome the death of her husband and face the predicament of raising her two children without having any sort of income. She had to find a way to make money and keep her family together. Moze had to somehow overcome the flood of racism in a small Texas town and find a job. He had to prove himself, not only to Edna, but to the rest of the town as well who was watching them, just waiting for them to screw up. Finally Mr. Will comes and has to overcome his own battles with blindness as well as finding his place in a world where a man’s importance is tied to his usefulness. They all had to face their struggles face on. They weren’t just going to sit by and let the world roll over them without putting up some kind of fight. This movie wasn’t about getting the cotton, or surviving the twister, or saving her husband, it was facing the challenges that life hands you and never running away. It was about leaning on others and trusting in them when no one else will.

Do not fear and do not doubt. Man is capable of terrible and amazing things. The ones who can actually stand up for what is right and fight no matter what the statistics tell you, will eventually win in the end. It’s all about faith in yourself and trusting in others. People are never as weak as they seem.

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The King's Speech

Stuttering can be one of the most crippling ailments a man can have. Without an effective way to communicate and presenting such a large fragility, stuttering can create a hermit of a man instead of the powerful leader that King George VI needed to be. Colin Firth plays the stuttering mess of a man who is trying desperately to find his place in the world. So much is demanded of him and he has felt nothing but inadequacy in almost every circumstance he has known his entire life. As we follow his inner-battle with stuttering we get a glimpse of how the eyes of his wife, his father, his brother, his therapist, his kids, and his country are all watching, waiting for him to be the king, father and friend they all know he can be. With the help of his friend and therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), he faces his stuttering struggles face on and in the process become a man worthy of the throne.

One part of this movie I did not expect was the cinematography. Danny Cohen was the Director of Photography for this and has in the past mostly been the cinematographer for TV shows, TV movies and shorts. Not exactly the list I was predicting for the cinematographer of this beautiful movie. There were so many times I was astonished by the decisions this man made. The normal cinematographer would shoot dialogues from over the shoulder of the subjects, but in this movie that doesn’t happen that often. There are so many rules that they seem to brake but it works somehow. Cohen was able to create a unique view of a story that could very well be considered boring. I would argue that if it was filmed in a “normal” way it would have been significantly less captivating and less successful.

As the wife of a world leader, one has to be used to being ignored and pushed back. They would have to get used to being pampered and never doing anything for themselves. Queen Elizabeth on the other hand looked as though she had always had that option, but never gave into that lifestyle. Helena Bonham Carter played the strong, caring wife to King George VI. She was in some ways stronger than he was. She was more of the leader in their relationship. He was always in the public eye, but she was always at his side holding onto his elbow slipping him encouraging words. She was his constant motivator and guardian angel. I have never seen Carter play this kind of character before. She always reminds me of Tim Burton and his style of storytelling, but in this movie she wasn’t anything of the sort. Her hair wasn’t up in her usual demented style, but soft and subdued. Her speech was supple and quiet. The air about her gave breath and life. I was amazed at how versatile Carter really can be. Watching her play the soft, and loving character instead of the aggressor only drew me in closer into the story.

The King’s Speech was nominated for twelve Oscars and won four. Every single one of them one well deserved. It won for Best Director (Tom Hooper), Best Motion Picture of the Year (Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin), Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Colin Firth) and Best Writing, Original Screenplay (David Seidler). This film took an unconventional approach to telling this story and it definitely paid off for them in the end. They took a potentially boring story and kept the world captivated by forcing us to step into the stutterer’s shoes and live a life with King George VI.

Final Grade: A+

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The Exorcism of Emily Rose

This might be the only movie in this class that I actually have seen before. So going into it with the foreknowledge of certain events and twists in the story, it didn’t grab me like it might to someone seeing it for the first time. It still is able to present an unusual and taboo topic of conversation that in a way is artistic, terrifying, and genuine. 

The director, Scott Derrickson, is a professed Christian in the world of Hollywood. If all of the rumors are correct about Hollywood being one of the most “un-Christian” places on the planet, then Derrickson’s life must be full of temptations and trials that many of us aren’t used to experiencing. This movie shows that type of struggle in the real life story of Emily Rose. A beautiful young woman, Emily Rose (played by Jennifer Carpenter), finds herself being tortured and tormented by six spirits. To help her fight the demons within she calls upon her priest, Father Moore (played by Tom Wilkinson). The two of them fight the battle of life and death on both the spiritual level as well as the physical. It was hard to watch at times to see the conditions Emily was left to after the demons tormented her. Her body was twisting in unnatural ways, her voice grew cold and she spoke languages she didn’t know, she physically punished herself under the guidance of the demons, her strength grew ten-fold when she was under the demons possession, and the list goes on. All of these things seem outrageous and incredibly fallacious, but when remembering that in the beginning of the movie it said that this story is based on actual events, it brings this story to a personal level. 

This did happen to someone named Emily Rose. There is spiritual warfare happening all around the world. It happens to every day people living every day lives. There have been thousands, perhaps millions of recorded events that describe people being possessed by demons. This movie was terrifying for it’s visuals and gripping storytelling, but it was paralyzing to remember after the credits roll that this happened to a real person. Is anyone safe? Emily was a professing Catholic. Why did God let this happen to her? Derrickson doesn’t give answer to that question. Has God used this story to reach to others like Emily had predicted? I think so. 

With this movie, a war, hidden to most people in the world, was brought to life. Derrickson told a story to Christians, agnostics, athiests, Buddhists, and Mormons, all kinds of people, and was able to entertain and enlighten every single one of them. He doesn’t hide behind his own fears, so he wants his audience to face the real, tough issues at hand and fight them head on as well. There is no backing out or hiding from this war like this movie addressed. Any person can be the next Emily Rose. People are always saying “that wouldn’t happen to me” and yet things keep happening to them. This is a battle that we cannot escape from but must fight whether we want to or not. Emily Rose new what resided in her and chose to fight it as best as she could. She fought longer than what was necessary but only chose to do so because she knew it would bring glory to God. How many of us would choose to suffer knowing that it would bring glory to God? I would hope that if I was put in that situation I would do the same as her. What Derrickson really did was allow us to see a life, a trial, and a choice that we aren’t familiar with. Even so we can learn many lessons of sacrifice and bravery through Emily Rose’s story.

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The Mission

I had never heard of “The Mission” (1986) before this class. Robert De Niro really brought it with this movie. His character went through so many changes. In the beginning he was a jealous brother who ends up killing his brother, then he is a emotionless wreck who doesn't think he is worth anything, then he climbs a mountain with hundreds of pounds tied to his back to pay for his sins, then he becomes a priest who still fights within himself and as well as those who are in charge of him, then he become a warrior for God. There were so many turns in his characters’ story and that was really interesting to watch.

The other issue that I saw was the fight over right and right. There are always different points of view to every issue and this movie plays with that perspective. Both sides to this movie were fighting in the name of God, and for what they thought was his will. Even within both sides there were different opinions. On Robert De Niro's side, his friend didn't want to fight but in everything be peaceful and never use violence, while De Niro wanted to physically fight off those who opposed him. On the other side there was a large army led by politicians and religious leaders, who bickered and fought over whether or not to use violence or to just let it be. In the midst of battle, some in the army were hesitant to fight because of their own personal feelings. Then the leaders of said army, who felt like they were doing the right thing because of the law.

It's all about perception. There are always at least two sides to an argument. Sometimes both sides are fighting in the name of God and in the end they both think God failed them. This is what happens when people put God's name on their actions. No one wins. It can be argued for both sides that they were in the right. That those who fought against the mission and eventually killed hundreds of civilians, priests, women and children, were in the right. It can also be argued that those who fought against the established government to protect their home and what they felt was sacred, were also in the right. 

So who wins in this type of predicament? Does anybody win? What kind of lesson can we take from this type of story? Is it really worth fighting for something if you know you will die for it? Is it worth fighting for something you don’t believe in? The end of the movie doesn’t explain a thing anyway. It keeps it open for discussion. I think that is this movies greatest accomplishment. Everyone who walks out after seeing this movie will immediately begin to discuss what side they thought was rightfully in the guidance of God. If any side for that matter. The personal struggle one has to go through to forgive themselves for killing a brother was shown throughout this film with Robert De Niro’s character. How many brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers were killed during that last battle? How many people seemed repentant after that? What this movie does is raise more questions than answers. What side does God choose? 

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Dead Poets Society

For the first week class we watched “Dead Poet Society" and I had never seen it before. It really blew me away with the power of words being shown in such a unique way. In the beginning it was just a way to get girls and a way to rebel against their school, but it turned into a way of life. They took the calling of Carpe Diem and lived it out to the fullest. For boys whose whole lives have been planned out by their parents this was the one thing that they had to be their own person. They kept bringing more into it and with that raising the stakes. It didn't become important to them because of the fact that they were reading poetry, it was that as a group they were doing something for themselves, that they wanted, that they pursued, that they loved, that they chose. For once in their lives they were able to make their own decisions and become the men they wanted to be. 

Under their own new law of Carpe Diem they lived life to the fullest and seized the day. If living that kind of life meant breaking some rules they didn't care. They were ignorant and stupid, but they were living their own lives on impulse. Not the lives that their parents were forcing upon them. Their parents wanted the best for their kids sure, but when the best comes right to their front door it’s kicked right out. So what choice do they have but to fight back? Drastic measures end up being taken in one case because the father makes him give up his dream and take away everything he knows and loves. The rest of the Poets realize their mistake. There needs to be the balance of freedom/carpe diem and law. Without that balance, a normal society would not be able to function. 

I commend those young men for being so outrageous and courageous in their decisions but I also condemn them for their actions. Growing up in such a educational society such as this, you would think that students might understand the delicate balance of freedom and law. I think the problem here is that with the system shoving the law down their throats and strangling their freedom, the boys begin to desperately crave the freedom that has been suffocating for so long. 

Robin Williams’ character stretched their minds and distorted their views of the world that they had grown up in. His intentions weren’t to encourage them to rebel or create havoc, but to inspire them. He took all the rules of the classroom and flipped it completely upside down. I wonder how often this should happen in real life to schools like this. Or churches like this. How often do we as Christians focus on the law that God gives us instead of enjoying another gift: freedom? Too often we force ourselves into boxes to contain our natural instincts. We put ourselves into metropolises filled with man-made beauties of metal that literally scrape the sky so that we have to crane our necks to even get a glimpse of the whole thing. When right next to us, on our own level, there is something so beautiful and complex that we don’t even recognize it. 

Human nature is a beautiful creation that has become tainted in so many ways that it can be hard to recognize in it’s truest form. Simple communication between each other has gotten so confusing that we can’t understand our own families decisions and actions. Communication is so much more than words spoken from one person to the other. It is more connection than actual communication. Through poetry these men finally discovered what it meant to communicate through connection and action.

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