Monty Python: Quest for the Holy Grail

[not too much explaining to do]

So now we finally get a comedy in.  You could ask, what could I possibly learn from such a hilarious clip...or maybe you don't like British humor.  The clip is rather simple in its message it teaches us persistence.  You could say the black knight was stubborn, and "a looney."  Keep in mind that stubbornness is a good quality, it just depends on what you are holding on to whether it is good or bad.  If you are holding onto something good then it is steadfastness, if something bad then stubbornness.  Either way the quality is persistence.  

The black knight sticks to his defense of the bridge.  He knows that he is in the right, so he holds on despite getting all his limbs hacked off.  He never gives up.  We also ought never to give up on the things we know to be right.  Just like the widow in Luke's gospel is persistent, "...While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being, because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me..." Lk, 18:1-8  

The only negative thing that we can say about this clip is that, the way black knight treats Arthur when he prays, or the lack of courtesy that he shows Arthur at any point.  As I had said in the First Knight clip, it is important to listen to those people with whom we do not agree. 

Batman Begins

[ Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale)  had his parents murder by Joe Chill (the man on trial) when we was a boy.  Falcone is the crime boss of Gotham.  The prosecution wants to take down Falcone. ]

We all love the super heroes movies...because they remind us of something greater than the base human motivations.  We want more than just a guy out for revenge, we see revenge on the news all the time.  Revenge simply leads to more pain and agony, and even loss.  We can become so consumed with vengeance that we forget the other things in life.  Putting vengeance first ignores the finer things of life.  Justice is what we desire.

This clip shows the beginning of Batman, a hero who will defend Gotham to his last breath. He starts out being motivated by revenge a motive we can all understand.  "I have been hurt, and the wrong that was committed against me deserves compensation."  This is often our line of thinking, but is this really justice?  Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes) says it best, Justice is about harmony.  Revenge is about us making ourselves feel better.  Revenge is based off the blind emotion of pain and agony over the wrong committed against us. It does nothing to take into account the greater value of the world around us.  

Justice leads to harmony.  It does not ignore the wrong that was done, but seeks a new harmony, since the harmony was interrupted by the act of another.  Justice seeks what is good for all.  Revenge is a temporary fix (it floods our mind so that we are consumed with nothing else...you aren't thinking about your pain anymore).  Justice seeks to amend the wrong, and adjust reality accordingly so that more pain does not happen, that things stay in harmony with what they are.  

As I said in a previous post, Justice has to be greater than ourselves.  Justice must come from a source outside our selves otherwise we are just asserting ourselves over other people.  We are putting my intellect, my conscience upon everybody.  This is a fine line to walk because it is important that there is an objective moral code, and we ought to follow it.  Objective, which means it is outside our selves.  The good people, know this code though, even though they may not be able to articulate it, which is why we are called to action.  "What hope does Gotham have if the good people do nothing?"

Schindler's List

[ Schindler (Liam Neeson) comes to rescue Helen from a colonel in the Nazi regime.  Helen is a slave to the colonel (for everything, including sexual things). ]

Schindler came to rescue Helen from her situation.  This is already at the point in the movie where Schindler has begun to realize he can save people through the scheme that he has using them as a "cheap labor." There are so many things from this clip.  To start with, Helen is so lost by her circumstances, but she rests on the fact that she can control something. She seeks to be in complete control.  She desperately tries to understand her circumstances so that she can live.  She takes the time to explain how the colonel had shot a woman for no reason.  She cannot fathom what she did wrong.  Schindler teaches her that it had nothing to do with the woman, but everything to do with the colonel.  It was the colonel that chose to be cold-blooded and kill on the spot for no reason. 

We attempt so often to control our circumstances or try to figure it out so that we can get by, but we are always bound by our circumstances.  Sometimes we have a lot of freedom to shape our circumstances to a better situation, but other times we are faced with the hard reality that our life is what it is. There are other people who make decisions, just like the colonel, or Schindler.   The amazing thing that this clip shows is that even when we are about to throw up our hands and say we have no control, and what is the point of existence, the in-breaking of grace happens.  

Schindler shows compassion.  He comes to the rescue of Helen, he is a person showing Helen that there is more to life.  Do not give up!  He shows her compassion for her plight by coming and rescuing her, but also by the kiss at the end.  "It is not that kind of kiss," it is a transformation even for Schindler because in the beginning of the film he was an opportunist, but now he is in it for the good of the other.  He loves Helen, not in a romantic way, but in a fatherly way.

Frozen

[Elsa and Anna are sisters.  Elsa has a gift that ended up hurting Anna at a younger age...and it wiped out her memory]

And here is the musical number for all of you who thought I was just doing guy movies. Disney, and musicals have a lot to teach from just as much as others. 

Anna is constantly seeking Elsa out.  "Do you want to build a snowman?  It doesn't have to be a snowman."  Anna just wants to spend time with her sister.  Anna loves Elsa and misses her.  Imagine a relationship that you only have through a door, at arms length.  It is hard to maintain that relationship, to let it grow, and blossom into the full fruit that it can become.  

Anna respects Elsa's wishes when Elsa asks Anna to leave her alone.  This is a wonderful parallel to how Christ loves and pursues us.  Jesus never forces Himself upon us, He simply knocks at our door.  If you want Him in your life then you have to let Him in. He wants to be in our life, and it doesn't have to be in the way He first thought (snowman), it can be anything.  He wants to be in relationship with you, a good one, where you talk, hang out, and actually grow. 

If you remain behind the door, and never open it up to Christ, you will end up like Elsa, in a cold...dark...room.  "The Lord God said: It is not good for the man to be alone." Gn. 1:18  We are made for communion with our Lord, but also those around us.  What are the doors that you need to open to let Love in?  We close doors all the time because we are afraid of the gifts that God has given us.  It is true it is possible that they could hurt others.  Often we do hurt one another, but Christ taught us that suffering can have meaning.  It is only by being in relationship that we come to the fullness of who we are meant to be.  Granted we will be hurt along the way, but it is well worth it, for the alternative is isolation, separation from  Love, which is ultimately the definition of hell. 

Jurassic Park

[John Hammond, the old man, has created dinosaurs and has controlled them to the nth degree, or so he thinks. Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) educates him otherwise.]

Rather interesting that we could glean something about our faith from a clip talking about evolution.  Aren't those two topics opposed?  They are not by the way, but that is a different discussion. This clip reminds us at the beginnings of this movie that we are not God.  We cannot control our circumstances completely.

John Hammond created all these dinosaurs, and as he states later in the movie, creation is an act of shear will.  And creation is an act of will, His.  We are co-creator, we can help create things, but we not the ultimate author of the subject we produce, help produce.  God is the author of life, and He placed a plan within each subject, or animal in these cases, to be as it is. John wanted to control these animals completely and utterly, but he forgets that he is not the author of their existence.  He did not create this from scratch, he is working with powers that stem from God.

As Ian so beautifully points out later in the movie these animals were chosen to become extinct.  God had a plan, so to recreate things that God had intended to be dead can only spell disaster.  The plot of the movie, ultimately shows that John Hammond is not in control of his island.  All his money, and resources ultimately have come to mean nothing as they are struggling to stay alive throughout the movie.

This reminds us that we are not the ultimate controllers of our reality, God is the author of reality not us.  We have the ability to change and adapt reality to what we believe is a better world, but when we create things, or rather co-create, we ought to think hard about what we are doing.  The quaint line that comes from Dr. Malcolm in this clip, is "life finds a way."  It is a simple enough answer to the doctor.

Ian does not claim that he knows exactly how the world works, in all its details.  He is not a familiar with the subject area as the doctor is who is flabbergasted by Ian's presupposition.  Ian simply knows a greater knowledge about life than the doctor.  You could say from this clip that God will not be contained, we can create barriers, and try to play God, but then life, and the world that God created comes breaking through, often violently.

Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade

[Indy (Harrison Ford) has accepted the quest for the Holy Grail to save his father who has been shot by the Nazis.]

True Faith is only borne through love.  The only reason why Indy was able to make that "step" was for love of his father.  It was stated earlier in the movie too, that Indy's quest was not so much for the Grail, but rather for his father.  He is going through these tests to seek the Grail to ultimately save his father.  The Grail was the only thing that could save his father, so he sought after it, even though it seemed ridiculous.  

What is the virtue of Faith?  Believe something we know to be true, even when our senses fail in the perception of it.  If I told that you that freedom doesn't exists, you would tell me it is a lie, yet you cannot sense freedom with your physical senses.  Faith is trusting in something greater than yourself.  Indy may have failed, and fallen to his death when he stepped out, but making sacrifices, and leaps of faith for those that we love is what makes life worth living.  

Only a faith arising from a relationship, namely that of love is has power to move.  If Indy would have been out for himself, he would not have been able to get through the tests, as the other people had failed.

At the end of the clip, Indy also throws sand to show the "invisible" bridge.  If our faith is true, it shows the way to those that are behind us following, and going where we are going.  Faith is something that is meant to be shared, and to help people along the path progress forward towards the goal.  Along the way people can forget that the hear and now is not a goal, but rather our life does not reach completion until the moment of our death, and that is when the real life begins. Relationships are meant to be shared.

So why does this clip move us?  Because we want to be the hero just like Indy, we want to have his faith.  We want to believe that given the same situation, that we would be able to step out into the unknown, to put our life on the line for the sake of our loved one.