Recently I have seen several movies that have leadership as a central theme in their message. Munich, Elizabeth, Evan Almighty, and Marie Antoinette all provide the audience with a charismatic, unique, and at times even spiritual leader.
I first watched Munich with my Dad the week I got surgery my senior year of HS (to clarify, I got my gallbladder taken out on my birthday...yea..no joke...worst birthday EVER), and to be honest, I just watched it to feel cool. I liked the idea of watching a movie with my Pops. It portrays the slow decay of relationships between a family due to a "job".
Marie Antoinette was full of color, overflowing with dry emotion, and undeniably empty of hope. No love, no real relationships, and I really wanted to punch Jason Shwartzman in the face the whole time.
Evan Almighty was good, and would have been great if Morgan Freeman had been aloud to just talk for two hours. It really interests me that Tom Shadyac has a big knife in one hand that he stabs at God with, and in the other seems to have what resembles a mostly gnostic bible. Evan, like Bruce, "saves the day," but only to provide people with a good feeling, good time message. The point in the movie that made me think was really when Evan meets God for the first time. Just some guy, in a suite, claiming to be God. I was in bed with mono thinking, "Morgan is the man, but just not God," and then it hit me - Christ did the exact same thing.
Elizabeth was fun. As a lead role Cate Blanchette really did a good job. I believed her the whole movie. It wasnt a movie where I walked away saying, "nope, no way, dont buy it." But to tell the truth, it just made me sad. She was so lonely. The end of the movie has her monologuing about her sacrifice of a man (as a "master") and a child, so that she could be the mother of England. I was sad because the one guy that you think might help her out (note I did not say "fix") ended up being a total jerk. The movie really had a "historical" postmodern, anti "religious" (just to make it clear I do not believe that was true religion in the movie) vibe to it. Elizabeth makes a case for reason and liberty and life for England, though it seems to me that she knows none of them deeply. Either way the movie was well worth watching, especially when you have a cute girl to watch it with.
Nothing too mind blowing today.
d
Monday, November 5, 2007
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