Category Archives: Movie

December 23, 2011 · 1:29 pm

Christmas vacation 2011, the early days

Harry Potter 2011 Blu Ray Years 1-8 Box Set Cover

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I arrived in Cleveland on December 15, bringing with me a major cold. Recovery has happened.

Eric’s graduation remains the highlight of the first week. The Steelers loss to the 49ers has been the low point, although sharing the misery with Laura and Abraham helped.

Lots of work has taken place. With Eric’s help, I have begun to walk again – walk for self-care. I have a goal of 10,000 steps. The last couple days, I have met that goal. Richmond Town Square has been amazingly empty both in terms of stores and in terms of people shopping.

We visited Phoenix Coffee and took some to Noble Road Presbyterian Church to drink with Carol.

We have started a Harry Potter marathon (not on Blu-Ray, despite the image). Each of the last three evenings, we have viewed one of the movies. The next one may not happen until early next week. Sean arrives home tonight, then Christmas Eve and Christmas Day follow.

While viewing, we have engaged in a Scrabble competition. We do not keep records, but each of us has won some and lost some.

All in all, a pretty good start.

See you along the Trail.

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December 5, 2011 · 9:29 pm

The power of place: Ghost Ranch

A new dimension of this blog will launch tomorrow. Two new categories will appear: Ghost Ranch Images and Ghost Ranch People.

Each post will contain a picture taken (by me) at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico and an alphabetical reference. They may include a reflection on the image and/or a few notes on the context of the image. Dates will appear although they may only be a year or a month and year at first. This will become easier and more precise with better record keeping of future photographic endeavors at the ranch.

Posts will appear in general alphabetical order, starting with the letter “a” (as learned on Sesame Street) and working forward. Posts will vary between the two categories. Eventually multiple posts will appear for each letter in each category. Some will prove more of a challenge than others. All will, hopefully, testify to the power of place.

In the movie Field of Dreams, Burt Lancaster’s character, Dr. Archibald “Moonlight” Graham, reflects on the power of place. Speaking of his home in Chisholm, Minnesota, Graham says:

This is my most special place in the world, Ray. Once a place touches you like this, the wind never blows so cold again. You feel for it like it was your child.

Ghost Ranch touches me. Even as my family entered the grounds in 1993, I recognized the ranch as a place that nurtures and nourishes me. It did so then. It does so now – wherever I find myself.

I offer my photos and words as a humble homage to a play that plays an important role in my life and in the lives of so many others. For me, they serve to recall memories and process experiences and dream of what may be. I look forward to hearing if they speak to you.

See you along the Trail.

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December 3, 2011 · 9:42 am

Playing against type

Non-anxious presence.

Some people live and exude the concept. Others never can get there.

Some actors and actresses play the role of a non-anxious presence in every performance. Some play the role on occasions. And sometimes . . .

This morning starts with a viewing of Man on Fire. An intense movie. A strong story. Denzel Washington–magnificent as usual. Dakota Fanning–incredible.

But my friend Bridgett identified the most amazing aspect of the movie:

Christopher Walken – Christopher Walken! – plays the non-anxious presence – plays a bit against type – plays extremely well.

See you along the Trail.

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December 2, 2011 · 1:20 am

At Dobby’s grave

As do many DVDs, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 contains a number of deleted scenes.

In one, Harry and Luna Lovegood engage in a conversation at the grave of Dobby the House Elf. He rescued them (and others) when the Death-Eaters held them prisoner at Malfoy Manor. As they made their escape, Bellatrix Lestrange threw a knife that struck and killed Dobby.

Harry is about to set off with Ron and Hermione to find a horcrux in the Lestrange’s vault at Gringott’s. Luna will return to Hogwarts. They exchange the following words as they part.

Harry: Hogwarts? It’s the not the place you left, you know. It’s not the same.

Luna: Neither am I.

How many situations do those words fit?

See you along the Trail.

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November 22, 2011 · 6:28 pm

A worthy answer

Tracker, the movie of the night, involves Ray Winstone chasing Temuera Morrison across the beauty that is New Zealand. Winstone’s character, a Boer from South Africa, has emigrated after the Boer War. Morrison’s character, a Māori, stands accused of murder.

A detachment of New Zealand soldiers chase Winstone and Morrision. Some of the soldiers fought in the Boer War and witnessed the atrocities of that war. Some did not. In a conversation, one of the soldiers who served says to one of the soldiers who did not:

Just be sure that, when your children ask you what you did, what you did in defense of the realm, you are able to give them a worthy answer.

Sound advice.

Yet it seems to me that this version of the quote provides pretty sound advice to us all in any situation: “Just be sure that, when your others ask you what you did, you are able to give them a worthy answer.”

See you along the Trail.

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November 22, 2011 · 6:14 pm

One fine day

Aoraki/Mount Cook is the tallest mountain in N...

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I am watching Tracker. The film is set in New Zealand. That is why it appeared in my queue.

The story focuses on Ray Winstone, a Boer, who migrates from South Africa to New Zealand after the war with England during which his family perished. When he arrives in New Zealand, members of the military who served in South Africa recognize him.

Winstone’s character, is soon (immediately) pressed into service as a tracker (hence the title). He is hired to track down a Maori accused of murder and played by Temuera Morrison.

The film explores the interactions between the two men. Winstone and Morrison give strong performances. But New Zealand steals the show.

Incredible scenery. Incredible beauty. One fine day . . .

See you along the Trail.

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November 18, 2011 · 8:42 pm

Fifty years of joy, pride, and tears

The Long Gray Line

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Martin Maher. Tyrone Powers plays Maher in John Ford‘s film, The Long Gray Line. I tend to watch movies in phases – a John Ford phase is in process. I had not heard of this one and added it to the list a while back.

From Ireland, he came. Across the seas to America.

He ended at West Point. He began working at the academy as a waiter. In 1898, he enlisted in the United States Army. He rose to the rank of Master Sergeant. He served until 1928, all the time at West Point.

After his retirement he remained at West Point as a civilian civil servant in the athletic department. When he retired from that position, he had worked at West Point for fifty years.

Fifty years.

For fifty years he watched the fine young men (West Point admitted women only in 1976 – and most of the men were white) enter the academy.

For fifty years he watched the fine young men enter, learn, grow, make mistakes, learn from their mistakes, fail, and try again.

For fifty years he watched the fine young men graduate, leave the academy, and, in some cases, go to war.

And over those fifty years, his heart must have broken often and his tears freely flowed (at least in private) as the names of those fine young men appeared on lists of the wounded, the missing, the maimed, the dead.

I wonder how he stood the heartbreak. I wonder if he ever wondered about his work.

I wonder who will tell the stories of those who give 50 years working to educate, train, and equip peacemakers – Gandhi by Richard Attenborough comes to mind – biographies of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Their stories need to be told.

See you along the Trail.

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November 17, 2011 · 11:01 pm

Justice in the back seat?

Mary Surratt; from http://members.aol.com/RVSN...

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Viewed The Conspirator tonight. It looks at the trial of the those involved in the conspiracy to assassinate President Lincoln. It focuses particularly on Mary Surratt – the first woman executed by the federal government.

Was she innocent? Was she guilty? From this distance, that seems hard to tell.

What the film, and my associated Web-browsing, has me thinking is that she probably did not receive a fair trial. She was not tried by a jury of her peers. She was tried by a military tribunal, not a civilian court. Hmm – why does that sound familiar?

It is possible that Mary Surratt was guilty. But it may also have been the case that she was sentenced and executed in effort to force her son to return and stand trial. It may have been the case that the authorities wanted to put the assassination behind the nation and move on. It may have been the case that revenge blinded those involved.  Justice – and not restorative justice but retributive justice at that – may have been pushed aside by any number of factors. It has me wondering.

And wondering about this case has me wondering more broadly: how often does vengeance or expediency or fear or hate or prejudice or systems that privilege some and disadvantage some or other factors put justice in the back seat?

See you along the Trail.

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November 15, 2011 · 10:55 pm

Shooting Dogs

Location map of Rwanda

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Tonight’s movie tears at my soul. Beyond the Gates tells the story of the École Technique Officielle in Rwanda.

As the 1994 genocide , Tutsis began arriving at the school, seeking protection from the 90 Belgian UN peacekeepers stationed there. Eventually 2,000 Rwandans arrived at the school, including 400 children. On April 11, the UN peacekeepers left. The people were massacred shortly afterwards.

A number of Europeans also arrived at the school. They were evacuated a couple of days before the peacekeepers departed. The scene is wrenching. Absolutely wrenching. In the film, two Europeans choose to stay at that point. It makes me wonder – deeply wonder – about the choices I make in relation to the least of my sisters and brothers and in relation to the least within myself. Thanks to my friend Bridgett for that image.

Characters pose a number of questions in the course of the film:

Does God love everyone? Does God even love those men outside on the roads?
Where is God in everything that is happening – in this suffering?
How much pain can a human being take?

And the historical question:

How many acts of genocide does it take to make genocide?

In an utterly haunting movie, two scenes stand out:

  • The Rwandans hiding in the school ask the departing peacekeepers to shoot them – that they might die quickly.
  • Before the end, children receive their first communion. Did that happen? I do not know. But there is much to ponder about the parallels between Jesus’ crucifixion and genocide.

The film originally carried the title of Shooting Dogs – a reference that, under their mandate, the peacekeepers could shoot scavenging dogs because they might carry disease, but could not act to stop those committing the killing. What a world we have made.

In the last scene, set some five years after the massacre, one of the young women who survived makes here way to England where she talks to one of the Europeans who left. It is a gentle confrontation that ends with the words, given to the survivor:

We are fortunate. All this time we have been given. We must use it well.

Another sleepless night filled with powerful emotions and disturbing thoughts lie ahead.

See you along the Trail.

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November 9, 2011 · 9:56 pm

I like these moments

I like the moments when I recognize an actress or an actor – when I am watching a film and I spot someone I did not know was in the cast. Or someone playing against type. Or someone at an early moment of their career.

In the midst of an incredibly busy stretch (and on laundry duty again), I find myself watching The Indian Runner – a film written and directed by Sean Pean based on Bruce Springsteen‘s song “Highway Patrolman” and featuring David Morse and Viggo Mortensen.

All of a sudden, I had an ah-ha moment. That is Benicio Del Toro, I said. A very young Benicio Del Toro, but Benicio Del Toro. Of course David and Viggo were also young.

I checked on IMDB and sure enough. Bernicio Del Toro. I like these moments.

See you along the Trail.

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