A Brief Movie Review: Unfinished Song

We recently watched the 2012 film, Unfinished Song, written and directed by Paul Andrew Williams, starring

Terence Stamp as Arthur and Vanessa Redgrave as Marion.

   Marion is dying of cancer and wants to live life to the fullest by singing in a senior’s community choir. Her husband, Arthur, comes across as a curmudgeon, not at all supportive of Marion’s passion for music.

   However, after Marion dies, Arthur, to honour Marion and process his grief, joins the choir.

   Arthur and his son James are alienated from one another. Eventually, through Arthur’s involvement with the choir, they are reconciled.

   One of the brilliant, thought-provoking lines in the movie, spoken by Marion is: “What makes a song beautiful is not always the quality of the voice but the distance that voice has had to travel.”

   I appreciated this film because it is, simultaneously: a love story, a spiritually edifying tale of marital and family dynamics and relationships, confession, forgiveness and reconciliation, a realistic portrayal of death and grief, the joy and healing potential of music, and the significant contribution that seniors make to society. This film should be of interest to seniors and those who care for them.      

The Green Prince-A Brief Review

Last night I watched the 2014 Sundance award-winning documentary film, The Green Prince. The title refers to Palestinian-born Mosab Hassan Yousef, he was given this title by the Israeli secret service-Bet Shin because the Hamas-Palestinian flag is green, and Mosab is the son of one of Hamas’ founding leaders, Sheikh Hassan Yousef.

   The film consists essentially of three people Mosab and his dad, as well as Israeli Bet Shin member Gonen Ben-Yitzhak, who recruited Mosab to become an informer for the Israelis.  

   The film is documentary style, so takes the form of mainly monologues with interspersed footage of photos and videos of the events being described by Mosab and Gonen.

   Since Mosab became a kind of “gatekeeper” for his dad, he was trusted by the Hamas inner circle and was therefore able to share very important intelligence information with the Israelis. As a result of his espionage activities, he was instrumental in preventing many Hamas suicide bombings and assassinations, thus saving many Jewish lives.

   Eventually, Mosab’s life was in danger, and he was given asylum in the USA, after the testimony of Gonen before US authorities.

   In the monologues of Mosab, one comes to appreciate and empathize with the moral-ethical and spiritual issues and dilemmas he had to live with on a daily basis, as well as the consequences of becoming a Bet Shin informer against his own father, which ironically, saved his father’s life without his father even being aware of it.

   Mosab came to realize that Hamas’ methods and ideology were corrupt and evil and eventually left the Muslim faith to become a Christian. He has written a book of his experiences called Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue and Unthinkable Choices. For more information on the book, The Green Prince, etc., visit Mosab’s website here.    

At the movies: Son of God

Tonight my wife and I went to see Son of God. I must confess that I haven't read the reviews of it, although I've spoken with one movie-goer I know who said he liked it. Of course by now there's a whole genre of Jesus movies. In relation to others that I've seen, I'd rate it about average or perhaps slightly above average in a couple of areas. 

   First though, the critique: Movie directors, producers and actors-and likely those who are providing the funding-usually have their agendas and exercise "artistic license" by employing their creative juices to make the movie's plot "work." So in this movie you've got characters-including Jesus-who say or do things that are either out of the context in which the gospels record certain events or they are not recorded in the gospels at all. A factor related to this may be that the movie is not based solely on the Gospel of John; rather it is a strange combination of the Gospels along with "artistic license." 

   One example that occurs more than once in the movie is scenes involving the high priest, Nicodemus and other Jewish leaders. The scenes may function to spice up the storyline a bit, even though they are not recorded in the gospels.

   Another example was raising Lazarus from the dead. In the Gospel of John, Jesus does not speak to Lazarus the words "I am the resurrection and the life" inside the tomb. Rather, these words were spoken to Lazarus' sister Martha prior to Jesus raising Lazarus, which may well function to heighten the drama of the actual miracle and reaffirm the authenticity of Jesus' identity. In this movie scene, neither does Jesus weep; a mistake I think, since this is the shortest verse in all the gospels and also adds to the drama of raising Lazarus and underscores Jesus' human solidarity with Lazarus' family and friends. 

   On the upside, I did like the acting, especially: Jesus, Mary, Peter, John, Mary the mother of Jesus, Nicodemus, all performed their roles well. The clothing and some of the props, like the Galilean villages, Jerusalem and the temple looked quite authentic. Although the Passion portion of the movie seemed like it could have mirrored Mel Brook's movie, with all of the closeup shots of the blood-covered Jesus (a bit too Hollywoodish for my liking), it was emotionally and spiritually moving. All-in-all, if those considering going to this movie are looking for a historically accurate portrayal of Jesus, then they will be disappointed. This movie, like others in the genre of Jesus movies, may however spark some interest in exploring further who Jesus was and is. For that I'd encourage the reading of the four Gospels themselves, and perhaps a visit to a neighbourhood church to engage in a conversation with the pastor and parishioners.       

    

Movie Review

The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler

Based on the authorized biography, Mother of the Children of the Holocaust: The Irena Sendler Story, by Anna Mieszkowska, this movie, directed by John Kent Harrison, is a must-view for all historians and those interested in the Holocaust movie genre.

Irena Sendler, a Polish-Catholic social worker (played by Anna Paquin) in the Jewish Warsaw Ghetto, is deeply disturbed by the deplorable conditions due to the Nazi occupation of Poland. Her passion and compassion are evident as she hatches an ingenious plan to rescue Jewish children out of the Ghetto, under the noses of Nazi soldiers. The description “courageous heart,” is a very apt one. I was moved by the comment of Irena to her mother when the latter tried to warn Irena not to risk her life for saving the Jews. Irena replied to her mother, by quoting her dad who was a doctor and friend of the Jews: “I remember that father said: ‘If you see a man drowning, you must still try to save him, even if you cannot swim.’”

True to her word, Irena was most successful in organizing an underground network to rescue over 2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto. However, at first it was quite a challenge for Irena to convince the Jewish parents and a rabbi that she was doing the right thing. One of the fears was that the Jewish children would lose their Jewish faith and become Christians. Irena tried to assure them that that was not her motive or plan. The movie succeeded in emphasising the deep agony it caused both the Jewish parents and children to be separated from each other—some of them likely knowing they would never see one another again. It is amazing that not one rescued child was ever betrayed or discovered by the Nazis. The children were given false identification documents and placed in convents and with Polish families. Irena was meticulous in keeping hidden records of each child’s Jewish name and where they found refuge; hoping that the children would be reunited with their Jewish parents after World War II.

Eventually, the Gestapo found out about Sendler, arrested and tortured her by beating and breaking her feet. As she was taken to be executed by a firing squared, the underground Zegota were able to rescue her.

At the end of the movie, it was touching to listen to the real Irena Sendler, in a 2005 interview, exhorting viewers to remember the Jewish parents who gave up their children and never saw them again; and to remember also the many Polish parents who provided a home and refuge for the Jewish children; and later many had to give them up after the war, which was hard for them too.

The movie also stated that in 2007, Irena Sendler was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She died in Warsaw in 2008 at 98 years-of-age.