All great work is preparing yourself for the accident to happen.
Since no one was able to make the discussion yesterday, I thought I’d do things a little differently this week. While I still think the best way to tackle a movie is through live discussion, there’s something to be said for the written word as well, and thanks to blogs and comments, the discussion can still happen here!
In the video above, I shared some of the questions I had prepared for the discussion so you’d still have something to think about. I’m going to attempt my own answers below, and I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
1) What does this film tell us about our need for love? Even if love and relationships harm the characters enough for them to wish to remove their memories, they continue to seek it.
Lawrence of Arabia may be a long movie, but that just means there’s plenty to discuss! We did our best, but I feel like there was plenty more left on the table that we didn’t have time to get to. We did though get a chance to explore how this movie fits within the tradition of epics (both written and visual), the complexity of Lawrence’s heroism, his changing view of the desert, and the blessing and curse of being gifted with the greatness required to be a leader.
As we mentioned, I definitely want to watch the movie again as there’s still plenty to mull over. Check out the show notes below as well if you need some prompting.
We’d love to have you join us for the next one! We’ll be meeting via Google Hangout on May 5th at 7pm PDT, and discussing Taxi to the Dark Side, which will hopefully provide a nice modern comparison of the Middle East today. See you all soon!
My distinguishing talent is the ability to put people under the microscope, perhaps to go one or two layers farther down than some other directors.
We had a great discussion this last Sunday about one of my favorite films, The Shawshank Redemption. We covered why this movie resonates with so many people, Andy’s ability to hold on to hope, the place of women (or lack thereof) in the film, and Andy’s constant battle against the evil that is the prison and warden. Perhaps some of my favorite topics that we got to though was whether Andy was choosing between the lesser of two evils, or rather the greater of two goods (thanks for Eric for that prompt!), and identifying Red’s resurrection scene within the Hero’s journey and comparing his response to Brooks’ and the warden’s.
Below you’ll find the show notes. They’re a little shorter this time as it was actually pretty hard to find some good material on this film. As we encountered in this discussion, it can be hard to not merely have a trite discussion on superficial topics in this movie, and it seems that others have run into this dilemma as well.
Also, don’t forget to join us next time on April 20th at 10:00am PDT to discuss Lawrence of Arabia. Should be a good discussion starter, so RSVP and get in on the next one!
A director shouldn’t get in the way of the movie, the story should.
Thanks for bearing with me through a foreign film last week, so now I’ll indulge you in what’s sure to be a favorite and one you’ve probably seen plenty of times before: The Shawshank Redemption.
It’s definitely a favorite of mine and I don’t mind watching it again, and hopefully you don’t either. While I’ve watched it several times, I haven’t spent serious time talking about it and I think there’s plenty in there to discuss. So cozy up, watch it again, and get ready to talk about it!
It wasn’t an easy film to watch or necessarily fully understand, but I feel like we were able to make some great headway this morning and hopefully understand a little better what Bresson was trying to get us to experience in his film, Au Hasard Balthazar. This movie is still working its way through my brain and I think I’ll be mulling over it for a few weeks more. Hopefully you were able to get something out of this film as well as I’m starting to agree with many of the reviewers that this is a movie worth watching and a masterpiece of the cinema.
Thanks to Nick and Irene for helping me grasp this film. I’ve included the show notes below with some of the quotes we talked about, videos we mentioned, as well as some helpful related content for those of you who didn’t get a chance to discuss it with us. Hope to see you next time!
Make visible what, without you, might perhaps never have been seen.
