All right, I'm a sucker for hope.
I've never seen the original (1957) nor read Leonard's short story of the same title, so all I have is the current film.
Russell Crowe and Christian Bale are favorites of mine, and they deliver: Crowe is evil and intelligent, and Bale is stubbornly in need of money and determined to show his son the right way. Both are ruthless.
Though some reviewers have dissed the ending, I loved it - a parable of sorts - the courage of Bale elicits respect in Crowe, and Crowe responds, bloody and cruel, in such a way that Bale could achieve his goal - not the money, but the admiration of a son.
It's a tough and tangled world ... good and evil, wheat and weeds, all run together. We settle for moments of grace - we head for the 3:10 no matter what. The son is rightly impressed, and with a whistle, the train pulls away, and Crowe's horse comes a-running. Good and evil remain, having touched one another, effected and changed one another.
Hope and goodness are sometimes, often times, forged in blood. Evil, in a strange and incomprehensible fashion, becomes a partner with redemption.
I guess that's what the Cross is all about.
Calvary, the 3:10 to Yuma for Jesus.
Showing posts with label Parable of Wheat and Weeds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Parable of Wheat and Weeds. Show all posts
Monday, September 24, 2007
Invasion - the movie
"Invasion" is great - I loved the way it represented and reinterpreted the original story. Nicole Kidman was extraordinary and Daniel Craig hit it on the head.
For me, the best part of the story, both here and in the original, as well as the 70's remake, a simple question: what price will we pay for peace and safety?
Simply put, the "body snatchers" are fascists - total control, total peace. Our way or the highway. Life as we offer it, or you're outta here!
On a more philosophical level, what's a human being?
Without going over the top, the story again puts it simply: a human being is a jumble of emotions that are capable of producing greatness and sometimes horror, but like the Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds, there's no quick remedy - any attempt to uproot the weeds will uproot the wheat, too.
So, we're more or less stuck - but it's okay, and more than okay. It's who we are, and anything less would be a loss of our humanity.
We've got to put up with the bad, in order to have the good of which we're capable.
The "body snatchers," the fascists in our midst, have it all wrong.
We are what we are, and God is at work in all things for good, and we're partners with God working all things out.
For me, the best part of the story, both here and in the original, as well as the 70's remake, a simple question: what price will we pay for peace and safety?
Simply put, the "body snatchers" are fascists - total control, total peace. Our way or the highway. Life as we offer it, or you're outta here!
On a more philosophical level, what's a human being?
Without going over the top, the story again puts it simply: a human being is a jumble of emotions that are capable of producing greatness and sometimes horror, but like the Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds, there's no quick remedy - any attempt to uproot the weeds will uproot the wheat, too.
So, we're more or less stuck - but it's okay, and more than okay. It's who we are, and anything less would be a loss of our humanity.
We've got to put up with the bad, in order to have the good of which we're capable.
The "body snatchers," the fascists in our midst, have it all wrong.
We are what we are, and God is at work in all things for good, and we're partners with God working all things out.
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