Free Will by DentonWilliams

Free will is an interesting concept.  Its debated through  different parts of Christianity.  Some believe everything happens because its part of God's Will and predestination.  Some however believe that God knows what will happen but will let us choose what we want to do.

Now in the motion picture Pleasantville they speak of this (or at least the director does).  The audience thinks the sitcom characters must do what they were written to do but you find out that they dont.  Also there are two references to Adam and Eve which is the first example of free will.  The first is the the very first picture that the soda jerk looks at in the painting book.  Adam and Eve could eat from an tree except from the Tree of Knowledge.  They had free will.  Unfortunately they used that free will to eat from the the Tree of Knowledge.  Also Tobey Maguire's character eats an apple picked from a tree by his girlfriend.  That is a reference to the Garden of Eden because he eats a delicious piece of fruit from a woman in a beautiful place. In the movie that place is Lover's Lane.

In Bruce Almighty, Bruce Nolan recieved God's powers.  However Bruce cannot interrupt with a person's free will.  So when he tried to make his ex-girfriend love him again, he wasn't able to. Just like God he will not take away your sense of choice.  God did not make robots.

The Band's Visit

The movie, "The Band's Visit" we watched at the "signs and wonders" event Sunday i thought was really interesting. Although nothing really exciting happened in the sense of action or adventure; the story itself and the characters were enough to keep my attention for the entire film. It had such a genuine undertone throughout and was simple yet enticing with its cinematography. My favorite scene in the whole movie is the one depicted in the picture below; when the woman and the general converse on the bench in the "park" and the general finally opens up a little bit. I am a sucker for deep quotes in movies, i try to pick them out and even if they don't necessarily have a deeper meaning i paint one on them anyways. The general says this quote during their conversation that i think is a profound statement about his life; "When my wife was alive i used to catch the fish and bring them back and she'd cook them, but now i just put them back." Maybe i'm wrong, but i really love that quote; it encapsulates the generals calloused personality. This grieving man has to continue living with the pain and with a burden of meaninglessness hovering over is life. After he says this concrete yet symbolic statement we begin to see an improvement in his openness and overall happiness. Perhaps the general has embarked on a journey to a softened, more loving version of himself.

Pleasantville, and Wanting More

*Note: I wrote this and forgot to publish it, so it's a little outdated.

I'm so glad we got to watch scenes from Pleasantville today. It's one of my favorite movies. I think we can all relate to idealizing something, but that something doesn't really exist. The apple scene is wonderful symbolism for the story of the Fall of Man. Actually, it's not all that symbolic, it's just a straight reference. Knowledge is a double edged sword. Because although you can know the darkness of this world, you have to carry around the pain of that. Sometimes I envy people who live blissfully. People who have never really been exposed to the dark side of the world. I'm glad we're getting to see some of that world expressed through film.

One of the notes I took down reads "We consume lies all the time that try to answer the question. People have trashed their lives wanting more." Man, I can relate. Although I was raised in a Christian home and never stopped believing in Christ, the outside world caved in on me once I went away to my old university. The place is well known for having a bad reputation. It was once named the number one party school in the country. There were riots through the 60s and 80s. By the time I got there the place was broken down and trashed. It was treated by ghetto teens like a ghetto. The streets were filled with broken beer bottles. There was a huge crime problem on campus, and obvious racial tensions that the university tried to sweep under the rug. 

The problems of that world got to me. I saw gang violence, angry mobs of thousands, professors striking, attempted rape, hard narcotics, police everywhere. Now I know there's many more people who have seen so much more than that, but for me it was enough to push God aside. Leeper said "It's easy to be angry at God for the pain of the world." I saw the pain of everyone around me. There was my pain too. A close family friend died. My aunt unexpectedly died. My roommate went insane. He threatened to blow up the building and wear people's faces like masks. I had a friend get beaten with a tire iron the the parking lot that I used. During one incident the police threatened to bust my head open with a billy club. My best friend at college got busted by the police for child porn, which meant I lost my best friend. It was shocking. I saw all of that in three months. There's more, but that's not the point. 

"People have trashed their lives wanting more." They look for it at the bottom of a bottle, and the end of a joint, in a pill. I tried it all. It never works. There is no satisfaction. You end up broken.

Before this I always thanked God for "saving" me. And I was honest. I was grateful that I was going to heaven. But after getting a second chance, I have now only begun to appreciate the redemption of Christ. As a child I really couldn't get into the songs that talked about saving "a wretch like me." How could I relate to that? Now I think I get it more. I guess I just had to learn the hard way. It's also a dangerous way. And that's what I meant about knowledge. It's a doubled edged sword. I can appreciate the goodness of people and the safety of this campus, but I also know the harsh reality that we don't live in a world like that. Huntington is probably the most unrealistic environment we'll ever be in. That's not a bad thing, we should enjoy that. But I'm glad we're being exposed to some different things in this class.

"We need to be pagans before we can be Christians." Is that true? Maybe not, but it makes sense to me. Made sense to Moses, Paul, and others from the Bible. I don't think there's any human triumph without pain and loss. It's when I remember my lowest points that I appreciate the good things about this world.

Moderation in All Things

 

 

      

 

     Owing to the fact that the topic of language in film has been coming up quite frequently as of late, I have decided to present my opinion on the subject.

     I would say that personally I do not find that foul language adds much to a typical film, whether it be a large scale blockbuster or a small indie film. It also does not seem to add anything to video games, music, or books, in my mind. I think that oftentimes filmmakers use 'colorful' language as an excuse to say that they have made a 'mature' film. For those of you that never realized this, token violence and language do not a mature film make. An R rating does not mean a film is 'mature', and the discerning moviegoer should realize this. A mature film (or story, for that matter), is a well-told tale that oftentimes deals with a hard subject in a way that is realistic (even if it is a fantasy), and is not afraid to be frank on a subject. A good example of this is Pan's Labyrinth, in which the subject of war and sacrifice is handled in a very realistic way, even though the story is a traditional fantasy. This movie has both violence and language, but it is used in a way that furthers the story, for the most part.

     Another thing to keep in mind is that oftentimes language for language sake is out of place in a movie, and comes across as silly, evn though the filmmaker meant for it to be 'mature.' A good example of this would be a fair amount of scenes in movies based on history. Using the F word a hundred times in a movie set in the 15th century is not likely to get the effect you want. Also, I tend to find that violence is a better way to get across a mature story, than language. A good example of this is The Lord of the Rings.

     I think that as Christian filmmakers, we may use such things, but only in a way that furthers the story. These things should also be used in moderation, as Professor Leeper said when he mentioned that language is a powerful tool to be used sparingly. Going with the tool idea, if one tries to hammer a nail in the wall with a jackhammer, one runs the risk of looking like a fool.



The Band's Visit---Just kidding!

There are already reviews on "The Band's Visit" so I'm not going to say anymore about that. But I am going to talk about what I did think about after watching "The Band's Visit."

The general of the Egyptian Police Band is Lieutenant-Colonel Tawfiq (that's fun to spell) Zacharya. Tawfiq is a very uptight man, and very proper. He's elderly, but not terribly old. It's hard for the audience to love him at first simply because of he has his pants up in a knot, but as the movie goes on the audience sees that Tawfiq really is hurting, lonely human hiding behind a facade.

Tawfiq was married as the audience can guess at the beginning of the movie when the camera catches on a picture in Tawfiq's wallet/planner of a smiling woman. Tawfiq speaks nothing of this though until almost the end of the movie, when he admits that he did love his wife and they had a son. Tawfiq's son however, got into trouble and Tawfiq, in his choppy English says,

"I did not understand him. He was so fragile. Like her (Tawfiq's wife). I treated him harshly. ...he took his life. And it broke her heart." Tawfiq

It's as though verbalizing the pain Tawfiq has faced alone for so long visibly allows him to melt a little. Tawfiq looks close to tears after admitting how both the lives of his son and his wife are lost, and he expresses that the loss of both is his fault. We'll never know whether or not Tawfiq comes to terms with his guilt and anguish, but we do know that he can face it now.

I'm going to correlate this break of silence on Tawfiq's part to a quote I found in "Telling the Truth" this week.

"...to speak what we feel and not what we ought to say." -Frederick Buechner
*Professor Leeper spoke about this also on our infamous class of depression, it just didn't quite hit home till recently. What can I say? I'm cynical, and maybe a tad slow...

This quote is so important to me, and I feel describes what Tawfiq struggled with for years (three to be exact...his wife had died three years previous to the time of the movie). I also feel that this quote speaks about honesty of words above all else.

Like we'd learned before in class, there's a time and a place to speak, which allows us to not have to worry about the "ought to say" part. If we just speak how we feel all the time, imagine how much simpler life might be. No, not easier, but we wouldn't have to worry about lies. We could listen better because people would learn how to better judge when to speak and when not too instead of hearing all that meaningless noise and tuning it out altogether.

Okay, maybe I'm out of my element in making those assumptions, but I feel like that is how it could be. People might be less broken if they could just learn to say what they were feeling instead of covering it up like pain, emptiness, and sorrow does not exist. And yes, I acknowledge that the heart of people is not pure, and being subject to another saying how they feel can be mortifying and potentially harmful, but through that we can acquire edification and strength.

And at the same time, wouldn't it be cool if someone said something positively meaningful to you and you could trust that it was genuine?

Learning to speak what one feels instead of what one ought, and learning to keep one's mouth shut when it isn't the time to speak what one feels...maybe that sounds mean, but I think it could help some people breathe easier too.

I think it would have helped Tawfiq; verbalizing that hurricane of agony could have helped him come alive and face it instead of wallowing away in bitterness for years.

Lieutenant-Colonel Tawfiq Zacharya

The Bands Visit - OK

The bands visit. Last night at Signs & Wonders we watched a pretty funny international film. Its about a Egyptian police orchestra going to Israel for a celebration event. I thought it was a well done movie with alot of questions to be asked. The in keeper woman liked the old general. The movie could have added a few clips of the other members then the three "main" characters. It was interesting to see that you dont need a lot of action to get concepts and understandings out there to an audience. I was quit amazed at that. 

And I thought the movie had an abrupt ending to it.

The Bands Visit: A Comedy About Real Life

It seems like most of today's blockbuster comedies consist of fierce language, drug use, risque humor, and lots and lots of nakedness. These movies take advantage of cheap laughs and uncomfortable situations to climb their way to the top of the "Best Comedy of the Year" list. And I love these movies. I will go see movies like The Hangover, Bridesmaids, and The Change Up every time and not ever regret a thing.

The Hangover Part III is set to come out in May and I plan
to throw all of my money at it.

However, as much as I love these raunchy comedies, they are not what true comedy is about. The Bands Visit, for those of you who were not at Signs and Wonders tonight, is a delightful comedy about a group of Egyptian musicians who get stuck in a small Israeli town on their way to a performance. The premise is simple: A group of guys are forced to spend the night in a strange town and hijinks are had and self discoveries are made.

What sets this film apart is that there is a somewhat dark and real undertone to it all. The characters are each identified by some crippling yet relatable flaw: The General has a dark family history, Haled is a womanizer, Dina is lonely, Papi is awkward, Simon can't finish his musical piece, and Itzik has been jobless for over a year. What I found masterful about this film was how, unlike American comedies, which usually gather laughs from unusual and abnormal scenarios, this movie was all about the humor in everyday situations

Like trying to hit on the sad girl at the roller rink.

Basically, this was a movie about real life. The acting was subdued and often realistic. The camera lingered on actors to really achieve the awkwardness of a given situation. It reminded me of the same style of humor used in The Office except with much less dialogue and much less Michael Scott (unfortunately). The hilarity of the film was not really in it's script, but more in it's direction and performance.

All in all, I would say this is very enjoyable film for those looking for a comedy that has some real substance and memorable scenes. I feel as if the movie could be analyzed and reanalyzed for a major purpose, but I'd rather not do that. Instead, I enjoyed it for what it was: a simple and realistic comedy on the ups and downs of life. It's a breath of fresh air in an otherwise crude and muddled genre.

-R.