Gran Torino And Knowing

It has been a long time since I have posted anything on this blog. First a vacation, then business and finally a lack of inspiration have lead to this failing of mine. But, as Ann Lamott, or perhaps it was Stepen King, I can't remember which, stated in a book on writing, you gotta write through the proverbial block or lack of inspiration. So, in an effort to do so I'm turning to a mainstay of mine. Movies. I love movies. I love them because they are stories that I often relate too or because they make me think about an issue. That said, I am in no way a good movie critic. Bad acting, poor directing, abismal scripts and horrendous special effects are not usually things that I notice if I can get into the plot. As a result, some movies I like many others more knowledgeable than myself will abhor.

Recently I have seen two movies that I wish to write about. One I liked very much. The other haunted me. The movie that I absolutely loved was Gran Torino. I would write a bit about it but Blake Heimstra, a much better writer than myself, already has some appropriate thoughts on the movie that I will "paste" here.

The movie, Gran Torino, (in case you haven’t had a chance to see it) featured Clint Eastwood as Walt Kowalski, a Korean War veteran who loses his wife and faces life as a widower living in a neighborhood that is becoming increasingly more ethnic. He’s a cantankerous, crotchety, curmudgeonous old man, proverbially giving the finger to everyone that he comes in contact with, be it the father from his church, his sons or any of the rest of his family. He’s “content” to live out the rest of his days in solitary existence until the Hmong boy next door gets threatened by a gang. Walt knows what’s right and comes to defend the boy, saving him from getting forcibly enmeshed into the gang and even later forgives the boy when he tries to steal Walt’s prized Gran Torino. Thus starts a friendship between Walt and Thao and between Walt and the boy’s family.

What struck us as powerful about the movie was the message about living with purpose. Walt is a bitter, lonely man . . . until he learns to not go through life nursing and feeding his own wounds, but rather living for others. Walt teaches Thao how to work and how to be a man and cares for him as his own son. Walt learns that life isn’t worth living unless it’s lived for something more than himself. This gradual shift from lonely, embittered war veteran to surrogate father moves Walt to become the family’s protector to (Warning: plot spoiler) ultimately giving his own life so that the family’s life can endure in peace, infringed not by gangs or violence.

Watching the movie reminded me why I love the Christian mind and the idea of being in the world but not of it. This is the type of movie that Roy Anker would love to discuss in a film class at Calvin. It’s far, far, far from being considered a Christian movie. Eastwood’s use of the English language tends much closer to the sailor end of the spectrum rather than the saint, though some of the cussing is remarkably creative. It is, however, filled with a theme that’s been infused in the greatest stories the world has known in the last 1000 years: sacrifice. Just as the Author of the greatest sacrifice the world has ever seen showed us, life is about sacrificing for others. Through the sacrifice of one, others live. It’s the greatest story ever told, and the gospel just seems to reverberate when watching a story life this, when the raw power and emotion of true sacrifice pulses through a film and gives it life.

The other movie I saw that haunted me was "Knowing." This movie (spoiler alert) is about an MIT astrophysicist who happens upon a code written 50 years earlier by a young girl. Upon breaking the code he realizes that it reveals the date, location and death toll of every major disaster over the past 50 years. However, 3 series of numbers, 3 disasters have not yet occurred. The astrophysicist played by Nicholas Cage, desperately tries to find ways to stop these things from happening. He fails in the first two cases. The third case turns out to be the end of the world. Cage figures it out and hopelessly screams out "What is the point of my knowing the end is coming and not being able to stop it?" At the heart of this movie lies the question of free will verses determinism. How much of our fate is determined and how much is a free choice. The conclusion, is both. Some things, like the end of the world are determined and there is nothing one can do about it. But, how one meets this fate is free choice. This movie also uses much Christian imagery. Cage is the son of a pastor and he has turned on his faith. There are creepy white-haired men who appear often and they turn out to be alien like angels protecting the "Chosen." The chosen turn out to be people who can "hear." Of course this reminds me of Jesus' words in the bible where he says "Those who have ears, let them hear." These "Chosen" are rescued by the aliens from the earth just before it is destroyed by the fire of a solar flare. The Chosen are then deposited on a new planet, each pair carrying a pair of animals...kind of like a Noah's ark type of concept. As the final song plays and the screen dims the chosen are seen running through a field up to a massive and beautiful tree, which I can only assume is meant to be the tree of life.

As a mentioned, it is a movie laden with Christian imagery. In itself the movie is poorly acted and somewhat over the top and not very well produced. I mentioned that this movie haunted me. It haunted me because it forced me to think of the end. After the movie was done I sat on my new couch in my new house and stared at my newly painted walls and my newly installed carpet and I realized that I was living my life like it would never end. I was making plans for the future, assuming I would be around until I am a grandpa 50 years from now. I had grown comfortable with my life, with this world. The reality is that this is not our home. The reality is that life on this world is not something we should become too comfortable with. We shouldn't live like there are going to be a million tomorrows. As I thought about this Nicholas Cage's frustrated question came back to me, "What is the point of knowing the end is coming and not being able to do anything about it?" I think the point isn't that we have to stop the end from coming. The point in knowing that the end is coming is to get ready for it. To get others ready for it. We Christians know the end can happen at anytime, it will come like a thief in the night. We need to get ourselves and our community ready for that. That is point of knowing. The point is not to get too attached to these perishable things and this temporary life. The point is to point to others that there is more to life than just this life. The point is to know that the end isn't the end, but the beginning. So, thanks Nick Cage for your bad acting. It haunts me, as well as your question haunts me. I hope it never ceases to haunt me.