Saving Mr. Banks (Revisiting Our Fathers)

Today was the anniversary of my father’s passing. My brother texted reminding me that it’s been 15 years! Yes it has. Many memories and stories. They grow fonder as the years go by. At times perhaps, a wee bit of revisionist storytelling. That’s the kind thing to do with fathers.

Okay, that’s a downer way to start an article about a movie. Sorry, but I was initiating the theme of the present film. For you see, it’s all in the title: “Saving Mr. Banks.” The famous actors (Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Colin Ferrell, Paul Giamatti) and the familiar story (the recreating of Mary Poppins onto the Disney screen) easily take our attention away from the title and the point of the
movie.

More than telling us the story of how a great film producer talked an author into trusting him with her prized book, Saving Mr. Banks carefully looks into the heart and memory of a daughter who wishes to shine a kind light on her flawed father. At one telling moment in the movie, Travers tells the Disney team who are trying to bring this story to life in their Disneyesque way, “it's not about the children or Mary Poppins, it's about their father.” A father whose legacy she wants somewhat redeemed.

For a significant part of the film, we are transported back in time to experience a family’s life in early 1900’s Australia. The father is a dreamer and a drunk, and it turns out quite ill. His daughter experiences the manic swings of the father she adores whilst watching him fail as a banker and as a family man. We learn that this is P.L. Travers’ father and that the young daughter in the Australian scenes is Travers herself, the author of Mary Poppins.

Mr. Banks, the father in the Mary Poppins story is also a banker and a rather grumpy one at that. For the moviemakers he fits the bill of the typical Disney “villain.” But Travers wants more than that. The father must be presented in more than a one dimensional way. And behold the door opens wide to the title and the thread that runs through the film. (Even Disney himself repeatedly expresses his wish to be a good father. "A man can never break a promise he makes to his kids, no matter how long it takes," he says. "That's what being a daddy is all about.”) Though Mr. Banks may have been an imperfect detached father, at the end of Mary Poppins he openly loves his children and finds the time for them.

The Travers character, which is played so well by Emma Thompson is tirelessly loyal to her father as she makes sure the Disney film makers honor her memory of him in the telling of her story. And isn’t this what we all do a bit?

I remember that the command, “Honor your father and your mother,” was originally given not to children about minding their parents. It was written to adults regarding their older parents. What better way of following that than remembering them well as time goes on? Saving Mr. Banks tries to do what we all desire, tell the stories of our father in as meaningful and positive and accurate way we can. And who better to do that than Walt Disney?

Philomena

This film could be seen as a predictable slam against established and even conservative institutions. The Roman Catholic Church and in a lesser way the Ronald Reagan administration are easy familiar targets and play at least an accomplice role in this movie.

But Philomena is not a slam against the church or conservative politics. This thoughtful movie is a real story about a real mother on a difficult quest to find her adopted son. The situation that caused Philomena to lose him was tragic indeed and this film could have added fuel to the already blazing fire against the Catholic Church and its pedophile scandal. But the main character does not allow that to happen as she differentiates her faith with the abusive actions of a few of the church’s leaders.

Judi Dench is as brilliant as ever, playing the broken hearted mother on a quest to find her son after 50 years of separation. As a pregnant teen-ager in Ireland, mother with baby are sent to a home run by nuns. As a form of penance, many young unwed girls worked there while their children were being taken care of by the sisters. Unbeknownst to the adolescent mothers, their babies were being sold to adopters by the “Sisters of No Mercy.”

And so the journey begins with Philomena hiring an investigative journalist (Martin Sixsmith, played by Steve Croogan) to help her on her search.  Philomena is based on a book by Sixsmith entitled, Philomena: A Mother, Her Son, and a Fifty-Year Search. In many ways the story of the film is the relationship that develops between these two very different people. He is a skeptical atheist, due in part to the failings of the church. Philomena’s steadfast faith despite the situation is deemed unreasonable by Martin and readily challenged by journalist and audience alike.

Philomena provides a humble example of real faith in cynical days. Despite the failures of her church, she is able to distinguish the bad apples (and their painful actions) from the essential core of her faith. Not easy to do. Just check out how many have left the established church these days for “offenses” much lesser than what Philomena endured. 

Forgiveness enters the screen in a late, pivotal moment of this film. When Martin explodes with anger and even hatred at the culprits (specifically one older nun), Philomena forgives. “Just like that?” Sixsmith angrily chides Philomena.  And in a simple yet accurate statement about forgiveness she replies, “No! Not ‘just like that.’ It’s hard for me, Martin.” The honesty of this scene is felt in how much one identifies with Martin as well as how noble yet difficult the act of forgiving truly is.

I enjoyed this movie. It was an ethical/moral journey, at times comical, well-paced, occasionally cliché but very worth seeing. As an active opponent to human trafficking, its story moved me. Give it a look. You’ll be glad you did.

Still Mine (A quiet triumph)

Sue and I were at a restaurant last Fall deciding what film we should go see.  One of those artsy, independent movies theaters was across the street. We read the summary (and watched the trailers on my smart phone) of several films showing there. We chose to see and thoroughly enjoyed a rather obscure (it was gone a couple of days later) yet very thoughtful Canadian film.

Still Mine was a warm (not sappy) and engaging story of an eighty-something year old couple for whom "their luck was running out." Old Craig Morrison was played by the same actor who was the pig owner in Babe (“That’ll do Pig, that’ll do”) and the warden in The Green Mile. You would know him if you saw him.  

Morrison’s wife has begun down the slippery slope of dementia. His love and perseverance are inspiring. He decides to build a new one-story house on their property so that it may be easier for her to get around in. Though a master builder, he knows or cares little about the building codes or bureaucratic red tape one must comply with to build a home.  

I won't spoil the ending, but suffice it to say that what we watched was a splendid story of grace and of the strangulation of those who are so tied to the letter of the law that there is no room for wisdom or love or relationship. The government worker whose duty it is to uphold the law is both maddening and quite believable. We have all met this guy before. Maybe in the mirror. Sort of reminds me of the older brother in the Prodigal Son parable.

The heart of Craig Morrison in Still Mine is a heart of love that is totally devoted to the other blinded to all objections or obstacles. His is a heart that intuitively keeps the greater law and standard even if it is unaware of the minutae of codes and policies. Though a man of imperfections, Craig is clearly the hero of this fine story because of his love and care for his wife and for what deep down is truly "right." 

How easy it is fall into the trap of keeping all the rules and laws and feeling that we've done our duty before God and man. And yet forgotten to love others along the way.  

I doubt if this Independent Film from Canada will get much mention come Oscar time, but it deserves to be watched and appreciated. You will be glad you did.  

A Spiritual Perspective on the Movies

One of my first experiences at the movie theater was watching Mary Poppins flanked by my brother and sister in that dark cinema. We watched Dick Van Dyke light up the screen, singing and dancing with glee. There was the grouchy Mr. Banks and of course the magical Mary Poppins. And as I recall, it was the children of that film that I mostly connected with. They were troubled and happy and astonished and all emotions in between.

I guess that is why I am still an avid watcher of movies. The experience, all very emotional, intellectual, and spiritual, is very real and unique with each picture. Also, at least for me, very personal, like my association with the Banks children.

As I initiate this new blog I could tell you of my “brush with fame” as it relates to the movies and cinematography. How my cousin, Gianfrancesco Lazotti is a very successful filmmaker in Italy. Or that the famous American producer/director Chris Columbus (think Harry Potter, Mrs. Doubtfire and many more) was my good friend in high school and that we collaborated on his first two films as teen agers.

Rather, aside from fame and the namedropping, I want this blog to be thoughtful and probe the spirituality of movies. There is meaning and truth and I dare say slivers of God’s story in the movies. Now, not in all movies and certainly in varying degrees. But inasmuch as a finely crafted story coupled with brilliant artistry absorbed in a couple of hours of personal solitude can speak into one’s life, movies can have a profound effect on an individual, spiritually and otherwise. At least they do with me.

And so it is with this premise that I begin “Cinematheology,” a blog that takes a look at the movies through a spiritual and biblical lens. The blog’s title I take from a sermon series that Dave McClellan and I developed a number of summers ago while we were serving at Riverwood Community Chapel in Kent, Ohio. We chose a number of films (e.g. The Matrix, Bruce Almighty, The Hours etc.) and their themes to teach biblical lessons and truths.

Cinematheology will be a blog whereby I examine the themes and narratives of various movies with the aim of gaining spiritual enrichment. At times the theological correlation will be rather clear,
as when Robert DeNiro playing a murderous mercenary in The Mission finally rids himself of the heavy pack he has strenuously and penitently carried up the cliff. His tears of relief and release from guilt are as beautiful a picture God’s grace and forgiveness to the repentant as you
will ever see. Or even the ending scene in Gran Torino where Clint Eastwood gives up his life for his young Korean friends and the camera shows the executed one in a clear crucifix pose.

Now with that last movie in mind, let me briefly say that due to brutal violence, gratuitous sex, or even excessive foul language (Gran Torino is a doozy for that) some films will be avoided. More on that in a later entry.

Finally (and I promise my posts will be briefer that this initial one), obvious biblical themes or not, to appreciate movies and art in general for their beauty and transcendent qualities is truly a right and noble thing. I concur with and will abide by the Apostle Paul’s injunction:

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true,
whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—
if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—
think about such things (Phil. 4:8).

May this blog and the movies we comment on be about these things! So, here we go with Cinematheology. My plan, God willing, is to write about a new film regularly. And also go into the vault and comment on oldies but goodies too. I intend to write about movies and the arts in general from a spiritual and biblical perspective. The goal will be our spiritual enrichment and joy, while not taking this blog or ourselves too terribly serious.