3:10 to Yuma

I just saw a terrific western movie--3:10 to Yuma, starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. Based on a 1950s short story by Elmore Leonard, it has much depth. It explores moral, ethical, and spiritual questions in a gripping story that is an intense shoot-'em-up.

Here is an excellent review of the film, at this linked site.

The picture comes from this site.

3:10 to Yuma

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2008/03/310-to-yuma.html

Amazing Grace is an amazing movie, directed by Michael Apted. It tells the story of William Wilberforce, a man God used in abolishing slavery in the British Empire in the 1800s.

Wilberforce is played by Ioan Gruffudd, pictured here. The British-made film gives the viewer a seemingly accurate taste of what life was like in the late 1700s/early 1800s in England. Wilberforce is portrayed as a strong, passionate, lovable man caught up in revolutionary ideas that would bring about great change in the entire society.

Many Americans don’t pay much attention to history, especially in other countries. I did not realize that slavery was a major part of the British economy in those times, just as it was in the American South, maybe more so. I think many people know little to nothing about Wilberforce and slavery; we should know about these things. God works powerfully in history.

Slavery was officially abolished, although not in a real way, in England in 1807, although the British remained active in slave trading until 1833. William Wilberforce, a convert to evangelical Christianity, was the primary leader of the abolition movement in the British Parliament. Wilberforce often sought counsel with Olaudah Equiano, John Newton, and others during this fight. After devoting most of his adult life to fighting against slavery, he died three days after learning that the slave trade would finally be completely abolished by Parliament from Great Britain.

All his life, Wilberforce was dedicated to the prevention of cruelty; along with two other men, Richard Martin and Arthur Broome, he founded the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. It is said that he often took in sick or mistreated animals such as rabbits, dogs, and horses, invited into his home groups of poor and hungry people, and gave away most of his income to charities.

Wilberforce grew up as an orphan, and he was greatly influenced by his teacher and mentor John Newton. Newton encouraged and inspired Wilberforce in his fight against slavery.

Newton suffered guilt feelings for many years because he had commanded slave ships for years, and as a result of his experiences wrote the famous hymn “Amazing Grace,” which everybody has heard somewhere. Here is the epitaph on his gravestone, which he himself wrote (from this web site):

JOHN NEWTON, Clerk / Once an infidel and libertine / A servant of slaves in Africa, / Was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour / JESUS CHRIST, / restored, pardoned, and ap­point­ed to preach / the Gospel which he had long laboured to destroy. / He min­is­tered, / Near sixteen years in Ol­ney, in Bucks, / And twenty-eight years in this Church.

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2008/02/amazing-grace-is-amazing-movie-directed.html

Olaudah Equiano, A Slave (ca. 1745-1797)

In about 1756, Olaudah Equiano was captured at the age of eleven from his African village and sold into slavery. With many other miserable, mistreated slaves, he was dragged across the African continent and shipped across the Atlantic Ocean. After ten years of slavery, he was allowed to buy his freedom. He became an eloquent advocate of the abolition of slavery.

According to the Dictionary of Literary Biography, Olaudah Equiano was “the most influential African abolitionist writer in both America and Britain.”

The Norton Anthology of English Literature editors, M. H. Abrams and others, tell us that Equiano’s life story “was an important contribution to [the abolitionist] movement, not only for its explicit arguments against the slave trade but also for its demonstration that someone born in Africa could be humane, intelligent, a good Christian, and a free and eloquent British subject.” Many British people at that time believed otherwise.

The web site of the Equiano Foundation tells us that

At the age of forty four he wrote and published his autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African. Written by Himself, which he registered at Stationer's Hall, London, in 1789. More than two centuries later, this work is recognized not only as one of the first works written in English by a former slave, but perhaps more important as the paradigm of the slave narrative, a new literary genre.

Equiano’s entire book , The Interesting Narrative . . . , may be found online at the Gutenberg Project . It is fascinating reading. Equiano is the basis for a character in the British-made movie Amazing Grace, the true story of William Wilberforce, who led the decades-long fight against slavery in Great Britain.

To be continued--

Olaudah Equiano, A Slave (ca. 1745-1797)

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2008/02/olaudah-equiano-slave-ca-1745-1797.html

World Trade Center: The Movie

The second night after Christmas, my daughter and I put the children to bed early and watched a movie--World Trade Center. We cried, and we talked about it a lot the next day.

The tag line for the movie says it is “A true story of courage and survival.” Directed by Oliver Stone, it is the very moving and intense story of two of only twenty survivors rescued from the rubble of the World Trade Center buildings.

Will Jimeno, played by Michael Peña, was a rookie in a select group of New York City Port Authority policemen supervised by John McLoughlin (Nicholas Cage). Clad in fire gear, they were headed into the first-hit building in a brave effort to save as many as they could. They did not know the second building had also been hit. When the first building began to collapse, they were in the concourse between buildings. They ran for the elevator shafts and were buried there for about 22 hours before being rescued. The other members of the group were killed in the collapse.

The movie shows the courage of the two men and their families in the face of this terrifying experience. McLoughlin’s and Jimeno’s thoughts were of their families, each other, and their partners who had been killed. The CBS News site at this link tells the true story and features a video of a “Sixty Minutes” interview on November 24, 2004, with McLoughlin, Jimeno, and several of the men who rescued them.

An important part of the film is the heroic story of then-former-Marine Staff Sergeant David Karnes who was largely responsible for their rescue, along with another Marine known only as “Sgt. Thomas.” A senior accountant in Wilton, Connecticut, Karnes felt called by God to don his Marine uniform, gather up his military rescue equipment, and go to New York City to help. His fascinating story is told in this linked article in the Wilton, Connecticut, newspaper, the Wilton Bulletin of August 10, 2006.

His part in the 9-11 rescues was clearly a “God thing,” and Stone portrayed it that way. Too often, Hollywood tries to gloss over “God things” or downplay them, but in this movie, we see it the way it probably was, not embellished in any way, no implied excuses or criticism for his following this heart-felt urge.

Stone’s film does not try to tell the whole story of September 11, 2001. But through the story of these two men, their families, and their rescuers, what comes clear is the universal feelings of fear and shock, as well as the uncommon courage and human love on that terrible day.

The picture of the Port Authority policemen in the movie comes from this web site: http://www.imdb.com/gallery/ss/0469641/Ss/0469641/03070.jpg?path=gallery&path_key=0469641

World Trade Center: The Movie

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2006/12/world-trade-center-movie.html

Thirteen Greatest Movies of All Time

This list of thirteen somethings is part of Thursday Thirteen, a meme hosted by Lauren of "To God Be the Glory."

After due consideration and agonizing, I have decided upon the thirteen greatest movies of all time. Here they are, not necessarily in order of greatness; I tried to put them in order, but it was just too much. So they are scrambled.

1. The Mission
In fact, I talked about this movie in connection with burdens of guilt in two related entries in April--"Release" and "Release, Part 2."

2. The Prince of Egypt

3. Tootsie

4. Les Miserables

This is a wonderful story of forgiveness and redemption!

5. O Brother, Where Art Thou?

6. To Kill a Mockingbird

7. The Passion of the Christ
This movie was the subject of much controversy. I think we as a society

don't want to think about Christ's suffering.

8. A River Runs Through It

9. The Apostle

10. Cinderella Man

11. Hamlet
The best Hamlet of all time is Mel Gibson, hands down, no doubt

about it.

12. Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

13. East of Eden

This is a great story, one of James Dean's few movies. It is based on John Steinbeck's novel by the same name.

Thirteen Greatest Movies of All Time

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2006/09/thirteen-greatest-movies-of-all-time.html