I apologize ahead of time for this rant you are about to read (and the spoilers concerning the His Dark Materials Series; Reader beware!). See, CNN has run an article about Phillip Pullman's The Golden Compass, which is set to be released as a film this Friday, posing the question whether or not this film is seducing kids into atheism. To which I must reply to CNN most harshly: Do some research! And that goes for all the others you gave sound-bites to in that preposterous article (including the priests): Read the books first! Had you done so, you would have learned that in the second book we are told that Lyra is the Second Eve -- can't get more religious than that! If someone had cared to make an actual intelligent statement about these books concerning religion, it is fair to say that Pullman is commenting on the corruptive nature of religion in our world today, but this also serves to reform said corruption in hopes of something higher and more truthful. That kind of critique should be encouraged and justified, but this CNN article just smacks of poor journalism. Shame on you!
If you ever feel the need to question the validity of your place in the world, now there are two versions of the same method. "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer, his small memoir-biography-novel (of great acclaim) has now become a film due to director Sean Penn's attention and devotion to bringing this screenplay into fruition for several years. The story of Christopher McCandless is a true one and one that will have you questioning where you want to hang your hat in life. It has put me into a moodiness that I haven't been able to shake yet this evening. The film is wonderful, inspiring and saddening. It provides the viewer with a certain kind of insight reticent of John Muir and Thoreau, all apparent heroes of McCandless or his pseudo self: Alexander Supertramp. This movie affected me. It made me crave wilderness and space in a way that I don't think I really know how to do. I spent a week in Oregon in August on the Rogue River winding through the Siskiyou wilderness, sleeping out under the stars, wary of bears and poison oak, but I feel like I -- in my usual fashion, didn't let myself really experience it and this makes me sad when I see a film about a boy/man who desired nothing else than to be made up of his experiences. It makes me wonder what I am wasting, what I am waiting for and why do I do it in the first place. Don't get me wrong, there are moments when I catch myself really smelling the air, really feeling the heat of the sun on my face… and those are the moments that seem beyond all else, the most real. If nothing else this film made me want to find ways to slow life, and time in general, down to a much smaller pace. Can you believe that we are half way through October? That in 5 weeks it will be Thanksgiving? Another month will bring us into the Winter Holidays; Chuanukah and Christmas, and then 6 days after that the year will come to and end? It just makes me wonder what moments have I added to my life experience that are worth rememebering, and if looking back I find my coffer is feeling more empty than I would like, then, what must I seek out to make my heart and life swell and feel full of its own substance. Tonight, all I can say is, Thank You for the life you lived and those you touched and the journey you took, Christopher McCandless, wherever you are.
Watch. That's All. Hope. That's all. Here's the link: The Shift: The Movie
Do yourself a favor -- go and see ONCE, starring singer-songwriters: Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová it's a small little film with wonderful music. I have known about them as musicians for about 3-4 months before I knew about their Dublin spotted little movie. It will have you singing along before the movie is over: a "real" musical -- not what you will expect, and absolutely lovely.
