Around The Bend
HJ Links
—Overview
—Review by Darrel Manson
—Review by Elisabeth Leitch
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film pdf file
—Spiritual Connections
From the moment we are born until the moment we die, life is a journey. More than just the present, it is everything that is our past and whatever could be, might be, ought to be our future, as well. It is the good and the bad, sometimes slow, sometimes fast, sometimes dangerous, sometimes boring, but always moving forward onto the next day, the next year, the next milestone. Sometimes, however, it seems that journey must stop. Something interrupts, something stops us in our tracks, and all we can do is look back at the journey that is behind us and ask ourselves what it is that has been driving our lives and defining who we are.
In the movie Around the Bend, three men and one boy must face this journey called life: its good times, its bad times, and the reality that their journeys have intersected. With the patriarch of the Lair family on his deathbed, Around the Bend begins with four generations of men being brought together for the first time since Turner (Christopher Walken) abandoned his son Jason (Josh Lucas) and left him to be raised by his father Henry (Michael Caine). For Jason’s six-year-old son Zach, it is the first time he has met the grandfather he thought was dead. For Jason, the reunion is awkward, unexpected, unwanted. For Turner, it is simply something he has to do, quickly, not dealing with more than the present demands, then ready with a planned exit. For Henry, however, it is not only his dying wish but his desire for a restoration and a healing that he has no intention of allowing to die along with him.
So, in the hours before his death, Henry ensures that the remaining Lair men will take one last journey together; instead of asking for a normal funeral, he turns the scattering of his ashes into a road trip which will take his son, grandson, and great-grandson to the places that meant something to him during his life. More than just a look back at his own life, however, Henry also sets Turner and Jason up for an experience in which they must confront the events that have defined their lives and decide if those are the events that they want to continue to define who they are.
Taking the three Lair men to sites clearly centered on times of joy and love shared with others, Henry prods Turner and Lucas to let those kinds of moments define their lives. Leading Turner and Lucas to a site that embodies the guilt, shame, and resentment that rest between them, Henry’s words telling Turner to confess what happened there highlight how much guilt and pain can define who we are; then, in his note telling Jason to forgive Turner, Henry speaks to the freedom that rests in forgiveness. While the journey is difficult, messy, and one that neither Turner nor Jason particularly want to face, they make it to the end and continue on, the truth of the brokenness within and between them brought to the surface, forgiveness bringing them together and filling the holes that had been inside them for so many years.
While Around the Bend is no action packed suspense, no sensational new story that no one has ever heard of before, and no laugh-aloud comedy that leaves you rolling in the aisles, the story presented in Around the Bend is both unique and powerful in that it is so real. It portrays a journey of self-discovery and healing, but it refuses to do so through fake monologues and sappy emotional confessions that occur only in the movies. Between Turner and Jason, the discomfort and strain reflected in all of their actions reflect the pain and complication of damaged relationships with the assistance of very few words. As the pain between them slowly begins to come to the surface and fall away, they do not waste time with words they don’t need to say, but simply continue on their trip, more at ease with themselves and consciously choosing to continue on and help each other on the journey ahead. Dealing with a situation that is in and of itself strange, the story and the actors also portray the subtle kind of comedy that cannot help but surface in the day-to-day strangeness of trying to get through and deal with life.
More than just addressing the pain and struggle of a son estranged from a father, however, Around the Bend also truly hits a nerve that connects with the pain and regret that dwell in so many relationships of all kinds. It reveals the toll pain can take on the lives of both a person who has been hurt and the person who has hurt him or her. It speaks to the need to heal people in pain and restore broken relationships. Most of all, it speaks to the truth that the pain and hurt of our past need not be things that define us for the rest of our lives and that we need not overcome it all on our own.
On this journey that is each of our own lives, the reality is that we all have things that we regret, things that weigh us down with guilt, things that fill us with shame. Like any trip, life isn’t all Disneyland vacations and Caribbean cruises. Life is good one minutes, and then five minutes later it is horrible. Life is fun, and then two days later, it is unbearable. No matter how hard we try to live a “good� life, we will let ourselves and others down. Fortunately, as the Lair family discovers, we need not let our downfalls define who we are or the life we live. By recognizing that we can be forgiven and by forgiving the things and people that define our brokenness, we can let every memory of hurt and pain go and instead choose to define ourselves and our lives by old and new memories of love, joy, and family.
While this life may be a long, winding, bumpy journey, the reality is that more than a journey along a road, this life is a journey of people, of intersecting lives and actions, of family, of friends, and of helping each other along the way. In the same way that the Lair family had a father who hurt for the brokenness in his family, who carried his family through hard times, and who mapped out and provided a journey through which his family could find healing from their pain, forgiveness from their guilt, and restoration to a life free of brokenness, we too have a Father and a Savior ready to carry us through hard times, ready to help us come to terms with the things that fill us with pain, and just waiting to offer us forgiveness and set us back on a journey defined by love and joy instead of pain and emptiness. The question is: Are we willing to trust and follow the His map or not?
—Overview
—Review by Darrel Manson
—Review by Elisabeth Leitch
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film pdf file
—Spiritual Connections
From the moment we are born until the moment we die, life is a journey. More than just the present, it is everything that is our past and whatever could be, might be, ought to be our future, as well. It is the good and the bad, sometimes slow, sometimes fast, sometimes dangerous, sometimes boring, but always moving forward onto the next day, the next year, the next milestone. Sometimes, however, it seems that journey must stop. Something interrupts, something stops us in our tracks, and all we can do is look back at the journey that is behind us and ask ourselves what it is that has been driving our lives and defining who we are.
In the movie Around the Bend, three men and one boy must face this journey called life: its good times, its bad times, and the reality that their journeys have intersected. With the patriarch of the Lair family on his deathbed, Around the Bend begins with four generations of men being brought together for the first time since Turner (Christopher Walken) abandoned his son Jason (Josh Lucas) and left him to be raised by his father Henry (Michael Caine). For Jason’s six-year-old son Zach, it is the first time he has met the grandfather he thought was dead. For Jason, the reunion is awkward, unexpected, unwanted. For Turner, it is simply something he has to do, quickly, not dealing with more than the present demands, then ready with a planned exit. For Henry, however, it is not only his dying wish but his desire for a restoration and a healing that he has no intention of allowing to die along with him.
So, in the hours before his death, Henry ensures that the remaining Lair men will take one last journey together; instead of asking for a normal funeral, he turns the scattering of his ashes into a road trip which will take his son, grandson, and great-grandson to the places that meant something to him during his life. More than just a look back at his own life, however, Henry also sets Turner and Jason up for an experience in which they must confront the events that have defined their lives and decide if those are the events that they want to continue to define who they are.
Taking the three Lair men to sites clearly centered on times of joy and love shared with others, Henry prods Turner and Lucas to let those kinds of moments define their lives. Leading Turner and Lucas to a site that embodies the guilt, shame, and resentment that rest between them, Henry’s words telling Turner to confess what happened there highlight how much guilt and pain can define who we are; then, in his note telling Jason to forgive Turner, Henry speaks to the freedom that rests in forgiveness. While the journey is difficult, messy, and one that neither Turner nor Jason particularly want to face, they make it to the end and continue on, the truth of the brokenness within and between them brought to the surface, forgiveness bringing them together and filling the holes that had been inside them for so many years.
While Around the Bend is no action packed suspense, no sensational new story that no one has ever heard of before, and no laugh-aloud comedy that leaves you rolling in the aisles, the story presented in Around the Bend is both unique and powerful in that it is so real. It portrays a journey of self-discovery and healing, but it refuses to do so through fake monologues and sappy emotional confessions that occur only in the movies. Between Turner and Jason, the discomfort and strain reflected in all of their actions reflect the pain and complication of damaged relationships with the assistance of very few words. As the pain between them slowly begins to come to the surface and fall away, they do not waste time with words they don’t need to say, but simply continue on their trip, more at ease with themselves and consciously choosing to continue on and help each other on the journey ahead. Dealing with a situation that is in and of itself strange, the story and the actors also portray the subtle kind of comedy that cannot help but surface in the day-to-day strangeness of trying to get through and deal with life.
More than just addressing the pain and struggle of a son estranged from a father, however, Around the Bend also truly hits a nerve that connects with the pain and regret that dwell in so many relationships of all kinds. It reveals the toll pain can take on the lives of both a person who has been hurt and the person who has hurt him or her. It speaks to the need to heal people in pain and restore broken relationships. Most of all, it speaks to the truth that the pain and hurt of our past need not be things that define us for the rest of our lives and that we need not overcome it all on our own.
On this journey that is each of our own lives, the reality is that we all have things that we regret, things that weigh us down with guilt, things that fill us with shame. Like any trip, life isn’t all Disneyland vacations and Caribbean cruises. Life is good one minutes, and then five minutes later it is horrible. Life is fun, and then two days later, it is unbearable. No matter how hard we try to live a “good� life, we will let ourselves and others down. Fortunately, as the Lair family discovers, we need not let our downfalls define who we are or the life we live. By recognizing that we can be forgiven and by forgiving the things and people that define our brokenness, we can let every memory of hurt and pain go and instead choose to define ourselves and our lives by old and new memories of love, joy, and family.
While this life may be a long, winding, bumpy journey, the reality is that more than a journey along a road, this life is a journey of people, of intersecting lives and actions, of family, of friends, and of helping each other along the way. In the same way that the Lair family had a father who hurt for the brokenness in his family, who carried his family through hard times, and who mapped out and provided a journey through which his family could find healing from their pain, forgiveness from their guilt, and restoration to a life free of brokenness, we too have a Father and a Savior ready to carry us through hard times, ready to help us come to terms with the things that fill us with pain, and just waiting to offer us forgiveness and set us back on a journey defined by love and joy instead of pain and emptiness. The question is: Are we willing to trust and follow the His map or not?
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