The Little Red Blog

"Christmas Is Magic"

{This short from the Fifties, simultaneously heartwarming and profoundly disturbing, helps explain Baby Boomers’ traumatized psyches: widowed mom and her cloying, annoying young son pick up amnesiac drifter on Christmas eve, bring him home, and then…}

(113) Christmas Is Magic (1953) | Robert Hutton - YouTube

                                                      "The horror! The horror!"

 

The Great Refusal, Hollywood-Style

Should anyone like to arrange a “Great Refusal” film festival, here are some suggested entries—there could be dozens more, no doubt, but this is a start. As Herbert Marcuse said, the Great Refusal will, of necessity, take many forms; I have tried, in this list, to include a few of them.

1. Rebel Without a Cause [Refusing to Grow Up Absurd]

You think you’re having growing pains? Take a look at this snapshot of the life of "Jim Stark," as played by James Dean. Dean did not invent the genre of "tortured youth," but he certainly perfected American teenage angst, circa the 1950s. Rebel Without a Cause made it clear to me I wasn’t the only one having trouble growing up, making sense of the world, or feeling bewildered by others’ expectations. It also made me glad that my father, whatever his shortcomings and whatever our disagreements, was not Jim Backus.

Rebel Without a Cause - Wikipedia

2. Lonely Are the Brave [Refusing Progress]

Kirk Douglas as a refusenik modern cowboy increasingly hemmed in by highways and automobiles, with no driver’s license, no draft card, no known address, and no tolerance for being told what to do. This led to trouble with the Authorities, as it generally does.

Lonely Are the Brave - Wikipedia

3. The Graduate [Refusing Bourgeois Existence]

Aside from lines like “I’m a little worried about my future” and “I’ve got one word for you, Ben: plastics,” what stuck with me after repeated viewings of this classic were the realizations that Benjamin Braddock and his paramour (Elaine) were not going to end well, that their elopement was a stupid, impulsive mistake, and that he, at least, was an immature, irresponsible dope. All of which, of course, is hindsight; at the time, I was all in favor of Dustin Hoffman’s award-winning shtick and of the film's glib dismissal of middle-class suburban life.

The Graduate - Wikipedia

4. Five Easy Pieces [Refusing Maturity]

After being somewhat obscured by the presence of Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper in Easy Rider, Jack Nicholson cemented his claim as the iconoclastic, anti-Establishment actor of his era (include One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and you have a trilogy of Great Refusal films). Nicholson’s character in Five Easy Pieces tests everyone’s patience, until the only reasonable conclusion one can make is that he’s an insufferable jerk whose only competition for “Least likeable main character in a mainstream Hollywood film” would have been Paul Newman’s titular role in Hud.   

Five Easy Pieces - Wikipedia

5. The Mosquito Coast [Refusing the American Dream]

Based on a novel by Paul Theroux, this movie was a fascinating mess. It starred Harrison Ford, who, in this film (and in Witness), was determined to outgrow his “Han Solo” character. I had forgotten that the cast here also featured Helen Mirren and River Phoenix, making for a talented ensemble. The story gives off a kind of “Lord of the Flies” vibe, mixed with “Heart of Darkness”; the moral is, civilization isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, but neither is the alternative.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mosquito_Coast_(film)

6. Jesus of Montreal [Refusing Organized Religion]

Leave it to Canadians to make blasphemy acceptable in polite company. Jesus of Montreal is no Passion of the Christ; it is not The Ruling Class; it is not The Last Temptation of Christ; and it is certainly no Life of Brian. Instead, it’s a quiet, intimate film about real people in real situations. For the most part, it stays away from preaching, though the gospel allegories are sometimes strained and sometimes too obvious. The ending is true enough to that of the gospels: tragic, possibly redemptive, and completely unsatisfying.    

Jesus of Montreal - Wikipedia

7. I’m Not There [Refusing to Be Known]

The story of Bob Dylan, the UFO (Unidentifiable Famous Object) of his generation, as played by (among others) a 14-year-old black actor (Marcus Carl Franklin) posing as Woody Guthrie; Heath Ledger, Richard Gere, Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, and Ben Whishaw all get their turns at being “Dylan,” with Blanchett’s performance the most stunningly persuasive of the lot. The music is great, of course (cover versions of Dylan classics); the story is incoherent; the point, if any, is obscure; in other words, a perfect Dylan film! Reviewers should have a field day with this one: “Nothing was delivered,” they could quote, “and I tell this truth to you not out of spite or anger, but simply because it’s true.” Or they could mutter underneath their breath, “Nothing is revealed.”   

I'm Not There - Wikipedia

8. Into the Wild [Refusing Civilization]

A star-studded version of Jon Krakauer’s best-selling book, based on the true story of Christopher McCandless. As with many Great Refusers, McCandless had more insight into what he didn’t want than he did into any realistic alternative. Into the Wild is a heartbreaking tale; the only mistake McCandless made was being young, naïve, and overconfident of his ability to survive, but that one mistake was enough to seal his fate and to cost him his life.    

Into the Wild (film) - Wikipedia

9. Leave No Trace [Refusing Isolation]

The most recent and, I suspect, the least well-known of the films on this list, Leave No Trace is the most emotionally powerful film I’ve watched in ages--largely because of the performance of Thomasin McKenzie, who plays “Tom,” the teenage daughter of “Will” (Ben Foster), a military veteran suffering from PTSD. They live together off the grid in Forest Park, Oregon (just outside of Portland), where Will teaches his daughter survival skills and shields her from the outside world. Civilization inevitably intrudes and the pair are pulled into the “Child Protective Services” bureaucracy; domestication threatens to break Will completely, and he grabs Tom and heads back into the woods. There is more than one Great Refusal going on here: Will is refusing to return to the society that sent him off to war, but Tom, for her part, is coming of age and wants to decide for herself whether to join Will in his flight from connections to others.

Leave No Trace (film) - Wikipedia

10. Dogville [Refusing Humanity]

Do not get me started on Lars von Trier’s masterpiece of nihilism. Suffice it to say, Nicole Kidman is extraordinary as “Grace,” the supporting cast is solid, the story mixes brutal realism with ominous allegory, and the ending is bleak enough to make you want to watch the whole thing over again, despite it being three hours in length. Dogville is Our Town as reimagined by Beckett, Albee, Pinter, or by the T.S. Eliot who wrote (in “Gerontion”), “After such knowledge, what forgiveness?” It is also a chilling response, a rebuke, to Jesus’ cry from the cross, “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.”    

Dogville - Wikipedia

"Forget it, Grace. It's Dogville..."

Lights, Camera, Libel!

{Being my third and final look at the life, times, and legacy of Grigory Rasputin.}

It should come as no surprise that Rasputin, a man whose life was filled (allegedly) with sex, violence, and palace intrigue, found his way not just from Siberia to Moscow but all the way to Hollywood—not in person, alas, but through the narrative of his life and through his larger-than-life reputation. As a result, the motion picture industry learned a valuable lesson in how to avoid charges of libel.

In 1932, having acquired film rights to Alfred Klabund’s 1927 novel Rasputin, MGM Studios signed the three Barrymores—John, Ethel, and Lionel—to star in a film titled Rasputin and the Empress. Lionel Barrymore would play Rasputin, John would play the role of his assassin, and Ethel, of course, in her first appearance in a “talking” motion picture, would play Tsarina Alexandra. Though the plot utilized the confessional memoirs of Prince Felix Yusupov, the man who claimed to have planned and executed the murder of Rasputin, the filmmakers took numerous liberties with the known facts. Most egregiously, the movie portrays Yusupov’s wife, Irina (renamed “Princess Natasha” on screen) as having met Rasputin and having been either seduced or raped by him, none of which had happened in real life. Outraged, the Yusupovs sued MGM for libel.

The ensuing trial took place in 1934, as explained here by Rod Hollier:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Limited produced a film in which a man named Rasputin brought about the destruction of Russia but was subsequently murdered by Prince Chegodieff and others. In the film, a combination of both fiction and real-life facts, Princess Natasha had sexual relations with Prince Chegodieff, one the murderers of Rasputin, but was also raped by Rasputin. In real life, Princess Irina Youssoupoff was married to Prince Youssoupoff, the man who assisted in the murder of Rasputin. The imputation is that Princess Irina Youssoupoff was raped by Rasputin. 

The jury found in favor of Youssoupoff.

The judge concurred. According to Hollier, “Lord Justice Slesser stated: ‘Not only is a matter defamatory if it brings the plaintiff into hatred, ridicule, or contempt, by reason of some moral discredit on her part, but also if it tends to make the plaintiff shunned or avoided and without any moral discredit or her behalf. One may, I think, take judicial notice of the fact that a lady of whom it has been said that she has been ravished, albeit against her will, has suffered in social reputation and opportunities of receiving respectful consideration of the world. I, for myself, cannot see that from the plaintiff's point of view it matters in the least whether this libel suggests that she has been seduced or ravished. The question whether she is or is not the more or the less moral seems to me immaterial in considering this question whether she has been defamed.’”

Back then, a woman’s reputation was still worth something; damages awarded to Princess Irina amounted to, in today’s dollars, over $25 million.

The Yusupov lawsuit did not lead to greater accuracy in Hollywood storytelling, but to the inclusion of a boilerplate “all persons fictitious” disclaimer that now accompanies all movies: something along the lines of “The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. Any resemblance of film characters to actual persons (living or deceased) is coincidental. No identification of characters with actual persons (living or deceased) is intended or should be inferred.” That disclaimer, however worded, does not serve as a “get out of libel free” card, but it does make it harder for lawsuits against filmmakers and studios to succeed.

Despite the inauspicious precedent and lasting effects of Rasputin and the Empress, Hollywood took another shot (so to speak) at Rasputin in 1966 with Hammer Films’ Rasputin the Mad Monk, starring the incomparable Christopher Lee as Rasputin. The movie focused on “Rasputin's terrifying powers both to work magic and to seduce women,” elements which cinema audiences do seem to enjoy. The writers disguised the various supporting characters sufficiently that no lawsuits were filed, and no reputations were impugned—except, of course, Rasputin’s.  

The cinematic lure of Rasputin persists. ¹ In 1996, Alan Rickman and Greta Scacchi starred in a TV movie, Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny. The two lead actors, and the show itself, won several awards (Emmys and Golden Globes); Sir Ian McKellen, in the role of Nicholas II, was praised for his performance as well. In 2014, Russian filmmakers produced an eight-part TV miniseries, Rasputin, with a narrative structured around the Russian government's investigation of Rasputin's murder. More recently, the 2019  Netflix mini-series The Last Czars re-told Nicholas and Alexandra's story in what one critic dubbed "a surreal Wikipedia entry brought to life". Rasputin was portrayed by Ben Cartwright, which no doubt came as a shock to loyal viewers of Bonanza (not to mention, to Adam, Hoss, and Little Joe).

No movies or TV shows have been made about the life of poor Khioniya Guseva.

________________________________________

¹ The Lure of Rasputin would be an excellent title for a book and/or movie!

Sources:

Rasputin and the Empress - Wikipedia

Rasputin the Mad Monk - Wikipedia

(1) Why All Films Have This Disclaimer - YouTube

Rod Hollier, Case Summary: Youssoupoff v Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Limited (1934) — The Law Project

Thanks to the magic of YouTube, both Rasputin and the Empress and Rasputin the Mad Monk can be watched in all their libelous glory: (1) rasputin the mad monk 1966 full movie - YouTube  

You can also find Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny on YouTube: (1) "Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny" - Complete 1996 TV-Movie - YouTube

The Last Czars is available on Netflix; the Russian-made Rasputin can be watched on Amazon Prime. 

 

The Conjuring

Jean-Paul Sartre: "Hell is other people, especially if one of them is Patrick Wilson."

With The Conjuring 2 in theaters and getting decent reviews, I decided to watch the original The Conjuring last night via Amazon Prime. Suffice it to say, I won’t be lining up to watch the sequel on the big screen.  There was nothing particularly wrong with The Conjuring, unless you count the presence of Patrick Wilson as demonologist, ghost hunter, and amateur exorcist “Ed Warren”.   The reasons for Mr. Wilson’s film career elude me, but he did nothing to spoil The Conjuring, just as he did nothing to advance it.  The film’s truly disappointing aspect is that it wasted the formidable talents of Vera Farmiga (“Lorraine Warren”), talents in evidence on the TV series Bates Motel and in any other role Ms. Farmiga has ever taken.  In The Conjuring, however, she settles for dressing like an Amish wannabe and for wearing a constant look of apprehension: perhaps she just couldn’t stop detecting the rotting-meat smell that accompanied the demonic manifestations, or it might have been Patrick Wilson.

There have been plenty of good films made about demonic possession and about exorcism; sadly, The Conjuring isn’t one of them.  Ed and Lorraine Warren—at least in the film’s characterization of them—are about as bland albeit earnest a pair of anti-Satan warriors as you’ll ever see; as for the various frights the film offers, they are essentially limited to lots of loud bumps, doors either creaking open or slamming shut, and Lili Taylor’s brief impersonation of Linda Blair—oh, and Patrick Wilson.

The Conjuring director James Wan made his mark with the movie Saw, a movie more conceptually interesting than particularly well-realized.  He’s been trying to duplicate that film’s success ever since; before The Conjuring Mr. Wan gave us Insidious, about which the best thing was the film’s trailer and the worst thing the presence of Patrick Wilson.  A tip to James Wan: do not hitch the wagon of your directorial career to Patrick Wilson, because that dog won’t hunt, much less pull anyone’s career wagon.

None of this should discourage genre fans from going to see The Conjuring 2, if only on the off-chance that Wan unleashes Vera Farmiga—or better, allows Ms. Farmiga to become possessed and, in her demon-ridden state, rid the cinematic world of Patrick Wilson.  If that turns out to be the case, please let me know; it would be a development worth watching and worth celebrating.

2015 Roundup: What I Watched

Looking back at my Netflix viewing history (not to mention Amazon Prime and Hulu), you’d think I had done nothing this year but watch movies and TV shows.  Fortunately, some of those movies and shows were worth watching:

Broadchurch: two engrossing seasons of David Tennant as a detective trying to redeem himself.

Top of the Lake: a gorgeous crime show set in New Zealand, written by Jane Campion, and starring the estimable Elisabeth Moss.

The Fall: the second season of the British crime show featuring Gillian Anderson and Jamie Dornan.

Jessica Jones: hokey, to be sure; but it had David Tennant.

The Wire: I’m almost embarrassed to admit I had never watched this before; now I have.

Deadwood: My favorite TV show of all time, I watched all three seasons straight through again.

Gotham: A Fox TV series that streams on Hulu, it’s a guilty pleasure.

The Office: once again late to the party, I finally caught the original UK version starring Ricky Gervais and Martin Freeman.

The Black Donnellys: compulsively watchable, created by Paul Haggis and featuring Jonathan Tucker and Olivia Wilde.

The Returned: a haunting French series that has, I believe, been redone for American TV.

The Man in the High Castle: Amazon’s ballyhooed adaptation of the Philip K. Dick classic—probably more enjoyable if you haven’t read the book.

American Horror Story, “Freak Show”: The fourth season and, for my money, the best.  Jessica Lange’s performance of David Bowie’s “Heroes” was a show-stopper.

Sherlock: Now I know what a "Benedict Cumberbatch" is; but Martin Freeman made the show interesting.

Compliance: a horrifying film variation on the Milgram experiments, based on a true story.

Frank: a cult film, perhaps, but utterly delightful and ultimately moving (and based on a Jon Ronson book).

Stories We Tell: A family documentary from the multi-talented Sarah Polley.

Spring Breakers: I don’t care that it looks like soft-core exploitation; this is powerful and even heartbreaking.

Locke: A one-man show with Tom Hardy driving into London, talking on his car phone, while his life unravels—if there’s been a better recent movie about “manhood,” I haven’t seen it.

And with that:

 

 

Movies: "LOCKE" and "SPRINGBREAKERS"

Could two films be any more different than Locke and Springbreakers?  And yet, different as they are, they are both among the most interesting films I’ve seen in some time. 

In brief: Locke takes place entirely inside the car of its eponymous protagonist (superbly played by Tom Hardy), who is also the only character to appear on-screen in the entire film.  The narrative plays out through a series of phone calls made and received by Ivan Locke as he drives to London;  in ninety minutes or so, Locke quietly but determinedly overturns his entire life while simultaneously coming to terms with himself and with what it means to do the right thing (after having done the wrong thing).  The film is most obviously a meditation on manhood, but the conclusions it comes to are as counter-cultural as you can imagine. There’s not a false note in the movie, nor is there a moment you can take your eyes off Ivan Locke as he navigates his existential journey.

I don’t know what Springbreakers is a meditation on—the American Dream? feminism? MTV?—but it is not the movie you expect it to be.  For all the skin on display, and for all the role that sex and drugs play in what happens, this film is anything but the sleaze-fest it leads you to think it’s going to be.  I found Springbreakers almost unbearably sad; I also found it thoroughly chilling, with an undercurrent of menace that builds until it's overwhelming.  James Franco’s vaunted performance struck me as less impressive than the performances of the four young lead actresses, who individually and collectively break your heart with their phone calls home, their gal-pal camaraderie, their desperation and their naivete. If the film’s most obvious antecedents are movies like Badlands, Natural Born Killers, and True Romance, I think that Springbreakers is actually—I know how this sounds— a postmodern HUCKLEBERRY FINN, in which the bikini-clad heroines light out for the territory and find an America that is simultaneously horrifying and everything they (and we) secretly want it to be.  The film's mantra "Spring break forever, bitches" is not exactly "All right, then, I'll go to hell," but--and this is what gives the movie its haunting power--it may be all we've got left in this culture.  

Movie Review: "GOD'S NOT DEAD"

Is God dead?  God is most assuredly not dead, and you do not have to take my word for it; you can watch the award-worthy 2014 film God’s Not Dead and see the proof for yourself.  While the film has endured widespread criticism, that is because most reviewers are blinded by atheism just like many of the unpleasant and ill-fated characters in God's Not Dead.¹

Do not believe the critics: God’s Not Dead may be the most realistic movie ever made.  It is not at all heavy-handed; in fact, it is almost documentary-like in the way it portrays the clash between a young college undergraduate, Josh Wheaton, and his arrogant, overbearing, atheist philosophy instructor, Professor Radisson.  Josh is a Christian, and on the first day of class he refuses to sign a statement agreeing that  “God is Dead” which, as we know, is mandatory in Philosophy 101 classes around the country; Professor Radisson then gleefully demands that Josh prove the contrary (God’s not dead) in a series of three 20-minute lectures to the class.  Josh is being set up to fail, of course; how can a mere undergraduate stand up to the towering intellectual titan that is Professor Radisson?  It’s like, I don’t know, David and Goliath or something.

Did I mention that Professor Radisson is played by Kevin Sorbo?  Apparently Keanu Reeves was not available (“Professor Johnny Utah”), but in his absence, TV’s “Hercules” does yeoman duty.  Sorbo’s professor is rude, closed-minded, insecure, and nurses a deep-seated anger against God because God let the professor’s mom die even though she was a devout Christian.  Professor Radisson is, like all secular intellectuals, ill-equipped to deal with challenges such as Josh Wheaton’s masterly presentation of the case for God; Radisson is unaware, for instance, that the Big Bang theory of the universe’s origin is exactly what you would expect if the Genesis creation narrative is true, and that real scientists have even said so!  As for the so-called “problem of evil,” Josh Wheaton simply reminds his fellow students of the two magical words “free will,” and they rise to their feet in a unanimous verdict: God’s Not Dead!  Professor Radisson can only gnash his teeth in helpless fury; he has clearly never heard the “free will defense” before and has no idea how to combat it.

As I say, verisimilitude is this film’s strong point.  Did I mention that God’s Not Dead is the only film you’re likely to see this year that had someone in charge of “Apologetics Research”?  True fact: it’s right in the opening credits!

Another strikingly realistic aspect of the film is the way every single unbeliever is shown to be shallow, self-absorbed, and deeply unhappy, thriving on the outside (with their fancy cars and nice clothes and prestigious jobs) but crying on the inside: except for Amy, the spunky little atheist journalist who gets diagnosed with cancer and then dumped by her boyfriend and who begins crying on the outside as well.

Did I mention the film’s spot-on dialogue?  Case in point: the restaurant scene where Amy gets dumped, which begins with her hotshot lawyer boyfriend bragging “I made partner today.”  Amy replies, “I think I have cancer,” and the irritated boyfriend says “This couldn’t wait until tomorrow?”  Poor Amy!  She pleads, “You understand that I might die?” and her boyfriend, getting up to leave, says “I’m sorry about that.”  On his way out the door (leaving Amy with the check!), he adds “We had fun.” Be warned: atheists will not stand by you if you get cancer, and they will leave you with the check!

To continue: hardly anyone in God’s Not Dead understands why Josh is recklessly standing up to Professor Radisson, who makes it clear what’s at stake if Josh won’t knuckle under—“I’ll destroy any hope you have of getting into law school,” the angry professor vows; “Have a nice day!”  Later, Radisson says, “You have no idea how much I’m going to enjoy failing you,” and all because Josh is speaking up for God and Jesus!  “Jesus is my friend,” Josh explains; “I guess I don’t want to disappoint him.”  Josh’s girlfriend of six years does not understand why he is risking his grade and his future; she gives him an ultimatum, and when Josh chooses Jesus over her, she walks away—“My mother was so right about you,” she tells him, wounding him just like Jesus was wounded for our sins.

Did I mention that miracles occur in God’s Not Dead?  Mostly they involve cars not starting, even perfectly good rental cars, which forces a good-hearted minister to forego a planned trip out of town, which means that he is on hand to console Ayisha, a pretty Muslim girl whose father has thrown her out on the street (after slapping her around) just because she has been listening to Franklin Graham podcasts and has embraced Jesus.  Only toward the end, when the minister needs to get to the Newsboys’ concert, will a car finally start for him—and even then he has to make a leap of faith  by putting his luggage in the trunk first! 

Another miracle I should mention if I haven’t already is the acting performance of a lifetime by Kevin Sorbo, who draws on dramatic reserves untapped in years of playing “Hercules”.  Sorbo has the atheist/liberal academic "Jeffrey Radisson" down pat, what with having an affair with a student (Mina) to whom he condescends insufferably and who he treats like hired help in front of his equally insufferable atheist dinner guests.  When Mina (a Christian!) has finally had enough and tells the professor she’s leaving him, Sorbo reacts just the way you’d expect—“I won’t accept that,” he bosses her;  I won’t allow it!”—just like a typical academic.  And of course his response to Josh’s classroom performance is so real it gave me goosebumps: “This is the height of hubris!” shrieks Sorbo.  “Are you telling me that you, a freshman, are saying that Stephen Hawking is wrong?” 

So Josh proves that God’s Not Dead and makes Professor Radisson admit that he hates God (Josh pounces: “How can you hate someone who doesn’t exist?”) and then goes to see the Newsboys where the pretty Muslim girl Ayisha recognizes him and you just know good things will happen between them because God is good all the time and all the time God is good.  Also, the professor’s ex-girlfriend Mina is there, finally happy now that she’s surrounded by her fellow Christians and not being scolded for ruining the wine.  Even Amy, the cancer-stricken journalist, is there; she goes backstage to spring a “gotcha!” interview on the Newsboys, who end up healing her damaged soul (if not her cancer) with an impromptu prayer circle, right before going onstage to give a dynamite performance of the film’s title song.

But what happens, you ask, to Kevin Sorbo’s evil “Professor Radisson”?  I do not want to spoil the ending, so let’s just say he gets exactly what he deserves, and that God’s Not Dead but if you mess with Him, you might be.

Did I mention that Willie Robertson and his wife, of Duck Dynasty, are in this movie?  They are and they acquit themselves very well defending their practice of murdering God’s creatures on account of their (the creatures’) tasting so good.  Anyway, “Life is temporal,” Willie explains, “Jesus is eternal.” And no, snooty secular journalist Amy, Mrs. Willie is not always barefoot and pregnant but when she is, what’s it to you?

To sum up: God’s Not Dead is the best and truest movie you will ever see about the evils of atheism and college.  This movie will change your life.  If Josh and Jesus can win over pretty Muslim girls and Chinese exchange students and a cancer-stricken journalist and a classroom full of undergraduates, they will surely win you over as well just like they won me.  When I meet my Maker, as I someday will, I’m going to tell Him, “You had me at living on the inside, roaring like a lion.”

__________________________________________________

¹ You can sample the criticism, if you must, at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God%27s_Not_Dead_(film)

Here is a preview: “The film has been panned by critics, currently holding a score of 16 out of 100 on Metacritic indicating "overwhelming dislike", based on six critics, and a rating of 17% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 18 reviews as of May 2014.

“Writing for The A.V. Club, Todd VanDerWerff gave the film a D-, saying "Even by the rather lax standards of the Christian film industry, God's Not Dead is a disaster. It's an uninspired amble past a variety of Christian-email-forward bogeymen that feels far too long at just 113 minutes". Reviewer Scott Foundas of Variety wrote "...even grading on a generous curve, this strident melodrama about the insidious efforts of America's university system to silence true believers on campus is about as subtle as a stack of Bibles falling on your head...." 

That is all a pack of lies straight from the pit of hell.

A Ticket To Deride?

A British journalist named K.V. Turley has been inspired—by the release of a newly restored digital version of the Beatles’ first movie, “A Hard Day’s Night”—to write about “The Beatles and the Dawning of a New Era”.  However, Mr. Turley writes for Crisis Magazine, so you can bet his view of the Fab Four will be through a glass, darkly.

Though the Beatles began all innocence and youthful exuberance, according to Turley that was a mere pose that was quickly shucked.  “Things began to grow darker” when the Beatles posed for a controversial cover (quickly re-done for the American release) for their 1966 album “Yesterday and Today”: “the Fab Four dressed as butchers with decapitated baby dolls and pieces of meat strewn around them.”  What was that all about?  For Turley, it could only have presaged, "subconsciously perhaps," Roe v. Wade and the age of abortion on demand.  For the Beatles, depending on which one you asked, it was either (a) an improvised lark, (b) a protest against the war in Vietnam, or (c) a stupid mistake born of boredom and bad judgment. Turley does not entertain any of those possibilities. Indeed, writes Turley with ominous foreshadowing, there was “something more sinister here” than any supposed social or political commentary.

What might that “something more sinister” have been?  Eastern religion and philosophy, the antinomian devil worship of Aleister Crowley (“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law”), drugs and sex and self-indulgence: the whole Summer of Love was a hedonistic sham, and worse.  “The so-called ‘Age of Aquarius’…was entirely bogus; nevertheless, through these mists now came entities all too real.”  Entities?  Yes, and one in particular: in retrospect, writes Turley, we can now “recognize to whose lies the world had turned once more to listen.”

Lies?  Ah, the Father of Lies—the devil!  The Beatles had unwittingly opened up a portal to hell!  And no wonder—as Turley points out, just look at who their influences were, as revealed by the notorious cover of their “Sgt. Pepper” album: “The ‘Founding Fathers’ of this coming reality [included] assorted Hindu gurus and deities, Jung & Marx, H.G. Wells & G.B. Shaw, and, of course, Aleister Crowley…”  But if we're going to name-drop, why stop with just those?  The Sgt. Pepper cover abounds with suspicious characters: Mae West & Fred Astaire, Marlon Brando & Tony Curtis, Laurel & Hardy, Dylan Thomas & Sir Robert Peel, E.A. Poe and T.E. Lawrence, Johnny Weismuller & Marlene Dietrich, Albert Einstein & Shirley Temple, Tom Mix & James Joyce.  You have but to consider that roster and you begin to comprehend the decline and fall of the West, as celebrated by the Beatles in the “strange disillusioned melancholy” of the song “A Day in the Life”.

Oddly enough, K.V. Turley never mentions any reason for the Beatles, or anyone else of that generation, to have been either disillusioned or melancholy.  Though he does briefly reference the assassination of JFK (in 1964, America was “on spiritual recoil from the gunshots heard at Dealey Plaza only months earlier”), Turley fails to mention subsequent events of the decade—the murders of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and Bobby Kennedy, the war in Vietnam, racial turbulence and resistance to integration, etc.—much less the shadow of the Bomb and the ghastly and still-fresh memory of the Holocaust.  For all one would know from reading Mr. Turley’s article, the Beatles and their unwitting diabolism emerged inexplicably out of a clear blue socio-cultural and historical backdrop.

Here is K.V. Turley’s epitaph for the Beatles and for the era they symbolized:

“Unfortunately, it was not love that had been trumpeted during that [era] but license, and, surrounded by illusions, this led many only to enslavement, made all the more bitter having turned away from that which could have set them free—the Love that was really at that was needed.² In the end, the ‘free love’ of those sunlit days came at a price, and, sadly one still being paid to this day.  Watching its [“A Hard Day’s Night"’s] four heroes on screen today, one feels only sadness at the forces then carrying them into a future they could never have dreamed of, or even bargained for.”

Looking back at the heroes of our youth—anyone’s youth—always has about it an element of sadness over dreams unfulfilled, ideals not lived up to, and youthful innocence lost.  “Strange disillusioned melancholy” indeed: it’s called growing up, and it always comes at a price.  It wasn’t Satan and his sinister demonic forces that kept the Age of Aquarius from being realized; it was nothing but the stubborn (and, in retrospect, predictable) inertia of human nature and human institutions.

But I’ll tell you this: in the Sixties, by God, we gave it a try.  I for one won't apologize for it.  If K.V. Turley thinks the whole thing was nothing but a Satanic deception, he’s welcome to his opinion, but as for me, I choose to believe this:

I dreamed I saw the bombers jet planes riding shotgun in the sky,
Turning into butterflies above our nation.
We are stardust, we are golden, we are caught in the devil's bargain,
And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden.

There are far worse things to have believed in.  It turned out that love wasn't all we needed after all, but there's no shame in having wanted that to have been true.

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¹ http://www.crisismagazine.com/2014/beatles-dawning-new-age

² By “Love,” he means God and/or Jesus.

³ Joni Mitchell, “Woodstock”

Standing On A Precipice, Watching All The Filth Go By

Todd Starnes, who is a person who works for Fox News, has written a book he would like you to buy.  If you’d like a preview of both his substance and his style, try this, from his latest on-line column¹:

“The White House is waging an all-out assault on religious liberty. Public schools are indoctrinating our children with the gospel of secularism. Hollywood is spewing toxins into our homes. The soundtrack of our lives is a pulsating mix of sex and violence and filth. The American family is in ruins. What was once wrong is now right and what was once right is now wrong.

Our nation stands on a precipice. Freedom hangs in the balance. We live in a postmodern and post-God nation. The perfect storm is brewing. Do not be deceived. There may be a war on religious liberty, but the true target is Christianity.”

Wow!  That is exciting stuff!  Todd Starnes is surely the Paul Revere of America’s much-needed moral revolution, sounding the alarum and crying out “The toxins are coming! The toxins are coming!”  Note the trans-valuation of values that has taken place and the topsy-turvy moral landscape in which an entire nation stands on a precipice while its freedom hangs in the balance; and all that drama set to a pulsating soundtrack of sex and violence and filth.  Scary stuff, huh?  (And yet strangely arousing...)

Don’t think that Todd Starnes doesn’t have the facts to back up his feverish claims.  He has personally documented “600 recent examples of religious hostility. Six hundred. American stories. Our stories. Their documentation included many stories I have covered during my career at Fox News Channel."  And here is just a sampling of the horrors he has seen:

"The Obama administration wants to force religious organizations and Christian business owners to provide insurance for birth control and abortion-inducing drugs in direct violation of their religious beliefs. The military conducted training sessions that labeled Evangelical Christians and Catholics as examples of religious extremists. The Internal Revenue Service launched investigations into pro-life organizations, demanding to know the contents of their prayers.

This is happening right here, right now, in the United States of America. We are under attack from within -- from an enemy who wants to remove any mention of God from the public marketplace.”

Oh, it’s happening, alright; it's going down.  And it’s bad, catastrophic, and even apocalyptic:

“In these early days of the 21st century, the fire is flickering and the footprints are few. Storm clouds are gathering. The winds of persecution are blowing. But friends, no matter how difficult these days have become, let not your heart be troubled.²

The time has come, brothers and sisters, my fellow countrymen. Who among you is willing to take a stand for religious liberty? Who among you is will to risk everything for the cause of Christ? Who among you is willing to rise up and declare that we are still one nation under God?”

Who indeed?  Who will save us?  Well, did I mention that Todd Starnes has a book he would like to sell you?  Allow him to elaborate:

“Author's note: I write about stories just like this in my new book, “God Less America – Real Stories From the Front Lines of the Attack on Traditional Values.” It’s available wherever fine books are sold including Amazon and Barnes & Noble.”

Thank goodness, all is not lost; we can buy Todd’s book and thereby save ourselves and our nation!

 Todd Starnes’ jeremiad, hysterical as it is (in both senses of the word), coincides with a Supreme Court decision upholding sectarian prayers in public forums like town meetings; it’s okay, said the Court, to invoke “the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who shed His blood upon the cross to secure eternal life for all who believe on His Name” as a prelude to discussing the latest municipal sewer project, so long as you now and then let Allah and Buddha get their turns at the plate (By the beard of the Prophet, may we arrive at a satisfactory solution to our waste disposal problem…). 

I wish I had a punchline of my own for all this, but I’ll just steal one (not for the first time) from Charlie Pierce: Jesus, these people…

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¹http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/05/06/can-god-bless-godless-america/

² I could be wrong, but isn't "let not your heart be troubled" Sean Hannity's line?

Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost

Kudos this morning to President Obama, who has chosen to ask Congressional approval for any military strike against Syria.  It’s never wrong to ask, “Mother, may I?”

Kudos also to the Montana Grizzlies, who dominated Appalachian State 30-6 in their season opener.  One game does not a season make, but this was an impressive win, an impressive debut for running back Travon Van, and an impressive return for Griz quarterback Jordan Johnson.

Let these be your epitaphs: from the Washington Post’s “Wonkblog,” “Men Drown at Three Times the Rate of Women: Alcohol, Cockiness Likely to Blame.  Young men are the worst.”  I’d say that very few phrases capture as much of the human condition as either “Alcohol, cockiness to blame” or “Young men are the worst”. 

Looking to curl up with a really, really bad book?  On the basis of the publisher’s synopsis alone, I nominate Kevin Swanson’s APOSTATE: THE MEN WHO DESTROYED THE CHRISTIAN WEST, about which the publisher breathlessly informs us:

“Whatever happened to Western civilization? Somehow, Christians have lost ground in every cultural area of leadership and influence in Europe and America since 1700. This is an indubitable fact. The remaining Christians search for an explanation. They want to know how it happened.  This is the story of the decline and fall of Western civilization. It is the story of uncommonly powerful men, unfathomably evil men. . . apostates.  Reader beware!

This book faces head-on the spiritual forces that leveled a full-out attack on the Christian faith in the Western world. On the one hand, it is a story of demonic possession, insanity, suicide, mass-murder, adultery, homosexuality, cultural and social revolutions, and unbridled, maniacal apostasy. It is the story of apostasy on a massive scale. But it is also a story of hope and victory for the last men standing in the ashes of Western civilization. It will be a testimony to the inevitable triumph of Jesus Christ over the great men of renown who picked the wrong fight in the history of the West.”

Don’t say you weren’t warned: it says “Reader beware!” right there on the book jacket.

Looking for an unintentionally hilarious film to help you while away 90 minutes?  I recommend “Royal Deceit” (available via Hulu), a 1994 Danish re-telling of “Hamlet”.  There’s the main problem right there: who in their right mind adapts “Hamlet”?  Even with an all-star cast—Helen Mirren, Gabriel Byrne, and Christian Bale as Hamlet—this is ludicrously bad.   Christian Bale’s performance made me long to see Keanu Reeves in the role instead: that would have been a “Hamlet” for the ages!  In all fairness, the filmmakers were probably being historically accurate in portraying the kingdom of Jutland as not much more than a tiny and swinish village, and in having the critical “battle” scene consist of massed forces of, oh, about twenty men per side.

Best story lede of the day: from FoxNews.com (of course), “Obama goes golfing after Syria speech.”  What sort of unserious president would do such a thing?  Oh wait: George W. Bush in August 2002, "I call upon all nations to do everything they can to stop these terrorist killers. Thank you. Now watch this drive."  Reports were that he split the fairway; no word on the fate of the terrorist killers.

Finally, from today’s lectionary, Hebrews 13: “Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, "I will never leave you or forsake you." 

I believe there’s something in there for just about everyone.