I was hoping to see Atonement before writing my thoughts on ‘Kite Runner’, as it seems both films are centred on the same theme – that of making amends for wrongs done.

I really enjoyed the Kite Runner novel and the movie didn’t disappoint either. Its a great story of friendship, struggle and redemption. Little Hassan is a great character – gutsy, loyal and dogged – you really find it easy to like him. Amir is probably more like most of us – at times driven more by fear than any other motivation. In spite of his failings he is not a bad character at all, but he lives with the ongoing knowledge of what he did in his past and the consequences of his actions.

The phrase ‘there is a way to be good again’ recurred a few times through the film and without ruining it, the way to ‘be good again’ depicted by the author was that of making up for wrong done by doing right. It was good to see Amir develop courage and backbone as he sought to redeem himself.

I won’t write much more as it will spoil the film for those who haven’t been. Obviously from the perspective of Christian theology atonement is not about ‘redeeming ourselves’. However there is still the need for us to make up for wrongs done wherever we can without suggesting that this earns us favour with God.

I’d recommend the film!

After hearing about it a few months back, I finally got to see this movie today, quite an intriguing case study of a person’s life.

The synopis says:

“Into the Wild” is based on a true story and the bestselling book by Jon Krakauer. After graduating from Emory University in 1992, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gave his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhiked to Alaska to live in the wilderness.

Its a great adventure but ends with Chris dying alone in an old bus from starvation. He was a middle class kid whow grew up in a messy family and who didn’t want to buy into all the trappings of suburban life.
From his own journal he writes:

“So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”

Its an interesting story, but probably not a brilliant film. I didn’t find myself warming to Chris. He was a little too self righteous at times and self indulgent at others. To reject money and the norm of suburban life is one thing, but to then hitch your way around the country using someone else’s car/bus/truck just seems a tad hypocritical to me. If you’re going to criticise the system that harshly then make sure you have no part of it at all!

He was obviously a very smart young guy, but was both pursuing an ideal and running from a dysfunctional family. As I ponder my own quest for adventure it raises two significant questions: what’s driving me?… what are the consequences of my choices?…

It was pretty tragic to see the pain Chris’ family experienced as he went along his merry way and in many ways he could be seen as something of a selfish brat. It wouldn’t rate as one of my top 10 movies but its worth a look if for no other reason than to stir your spirit of adventure and your questioning of this current world!

Yesterday in the post I recieved my DVD copy of ‘Frisbee The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher’ and I watched it this morning instead of my normal time in the Bible.

Its both inspiring and tragic – a story of a man so gifted by God – so wounded and flawed – and of a church that both embraced him for his ‘annointing’ and then rejected him for his homosexuality.

A constant theme of the movie is that God chose to use a ‘silly little man’ or a ‘clown’, someone who appeared so insignificant and yet when under the influence of the spirit of God was able to perform miracles and lead people to faith in multitudes. A man who came to Christ on an LSD trip was largely responsible for the igniting of the Calvary Chapel movement and the Vineyard movement.

Perhaps the most heartbreaking moment was his return to Calvary Chapel as a clean cut middle class boy rather than the wild crazy hippie who God was using. His time as a hippie both pulled crowds and put CC on the map, but it also created some chaos that made Chuck Smith uncomfortable. The solution was to ‘tame’ Lonnie by dressing him in a 3 piece suit and a tie.

The Lonnie Frisbee story is a reminder of a God who works in crazy ways and thru the most unlikely people – and sometimes that is good because it reminds us of who he is.

Last night for church we watched Patch Adams, the brilliant story of a man with imagination, initiative and the ability to see what others couldn’t.

He just wanted to ‘help people’ – to be a doctor – someone who ‘improves the health of others rather than simply prevents their death’. He dared to challenge a deeply entrenched medical system – a system that was doing both good and ill – and in the process inspired many others to think differently.

He and many of the staff in the existing hospitals both wanted the same thing, but the powerbrokers and stakeholders seemed more preoccupied with maintaining the status quo unaware that it was losing ground and not doing its job.

In the beauracracy that institutions inevitably become, people eventually become less important than outcomes and sooner or later somebody says ‘enough’.

I think there are many in our churches at the moment who share the dream of ‘making disciples’ and seeing the kingdom of God come in our communities, but who have been taught to tow the line by those who have vested interests in maintaining the status quo – those who have lost their vision but still want to keep their jobs.

I thank God for the ‘Patch Adams’ I have met who have called me out of that kind of ministry based on position, power and maintenance into a world where the institutional rules no longer dictate the playing field and where there is freedom of expression.

Watched American Beauty again last night at the place we are staying.

Love the blend of weird characters! But… are they so weird? Are they actually just the people who live around us? Are they us?…

Lester says “Both my wife and daughter think I’m this gigantic loser, and ? they’re right. I have lost something. I’m not exactly sure what it is, but I know I didn’t always feel this ? sedated. But you know what? It’s never too late to get it back.”

And a quote from teenage hornbag Angela… “I don’t think that there’s anything worse than being ordinary”.

Welcome to the world.

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Tonight I went to see Narnia with my friend Grendel download my blue heaven dvdrip constant gardener the dvd download – a wonderful movie!

As one who has never read the books, I really didn’t know what to expect, but it was engaging and every bit as enjoyable as I had hoped.

I find movies a powerful medium for helping me connect with God and this one was no exception. There were many images throughout that helped me see Jesus and the kingdom of God in ways I hadn’t before. Lots to mull through.

Afterwards we went for coffee where I bumped into two of my favourite students from my teaching days a long time ago. It was nice that at 32 years old they still had enough respect to call me ‘Mr Hamilton’ If you happen to find this Kym and Peta then it was great to see you both again!

Tonight a few of us went to see Mother Theresa (the movie) at the Picadilly. Thanks for the heads up Scott

She was one hell of a woman! In a recent post I was reflecting on apostolic women and what shape they take. I reckon she’s a great picture of that kind of woman. Driven by compassion, an indomitable spirit, amazing courage and faith and a sensational get up and go approach to life. She was an inspiration to many.

Sadly the movie was low budget and somewhat cliched in its approach which actually left me a bit disapointed. There were predictable scenes and music as well as a pretty shoddy storyline which tottered around all over the place.

In spite of itself the movie still gave insights I didn’t have previously and was grateful for.

Perhaps one of my greatest memories of MT was the day she died… the day after Princess Diana… Diana had the front 5 pages for two weeks. MT got a quarter page on page 9 the day she died and then was not mentioned any more.

It spoke loud and clear about what we value.

Today I had a 2 hour gap in the day, the good ole Luna cinema has $6.00 Wednesday and I needed a break.

So I thought I’d go see ‘What the Bleep Do We Know’, a much talked about movie that looks at how we determine what is real, where we come from, where we are going etc.

I had heard a lot about it and thought that even though I’d only get to see half of it before my next meeting, it’d still be worth the effort.

I fell asleep.

Its not to say I didn’t get some of the point , but it was far from inspiring and a much bigger disappointment than I had expected. i won’t try and explain it all here, but the guts of it has to do with an understanding of qantum physics as a prism thru which to view this life and our experience of it.

I feel so shallow falling asleep in a movie everyone is talking about as deeply spiritual and vital to our understanding of what makes us tick…

I’ll get over it!

Here’s a review from the site I linked to above for anyone interested:

What the Bleep Do We Know!? is a unique cinematic creation – really three films in one, interwoven like a DNA helix, into an original tapestry.

The difference between this film and that movie is that this isn’t science fiction. It’s even stranger. It’s real. And it’s the first film to say it. And it does so boldly and with a BLEEP of a lot of humor. And it’s being proven every day by minds like these.