Garden State
—Review
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections
OK, this blog or 'review' of sorts is partly to say a few things about this fine movie, but also to respond to a review of it that appears on another site, since I am not able to post anything there.
http://www.christiananswers.net/spotlight/movies/2004/gardenstate.html
I agree with the main points made here, that the film is well done but the characters lead seemingly pointless lives and are searching for meaning, etc. etc. All fine and good. But I appreciate much more the comments made about the review...they are much more in tune with what could be seen in the film. I take significant offense to the reviewer's label of the characters as 'washed up losers', because I KNOW people who are very much like them. This made me connect with the film...I knew these people, I grew up with these people and have loved them. Many of them I know are still searching for meaning in their lives. I know what that's like. I've lived life without knowing God, so I could relate to the film. I saw it as a meditation on people I pray for constantly, that they may find the joy of knowing God as I have in my life, but in their own time, in their own way, however God leads them. There is hope at the end of the film that maybe these characters will find that someday, just as I have hope for my loved ones. Yes, it's sad to watch, but that sadness should be motivation for love & prayer, not pious head-shaking.
The turning point in the film for Andrew in particular, is the amazing scene where he shouts into the abyss, and his friends join him. Inspired by his various encounters, especially with the happy married couple who live in the boat, he is finally breaking free of the numb state he's been living in for so many years. It's an extremely metaphorical representation of NEW BIRTH! We enter this world screaming as we leave the safety of the womb and enter the dangerous world ahead. Andrew screams as he leaves the false 'safety' of his medicated existence and enters the dangerous 'abyss' that is life, which is "real and sometimes hurts, but it's all we got." The scene is powerful enough when it's only him screaming, but then his friends join him, in the name of community, compassion and love. Today's young generation that has been turned off by moralistic religious watchdogs who label them as 'washed-up losers' is screaming for attention into the abyss, wanting to be new, wanting to be born again! What a fantastic way to symbolize this! One of those magical movie images.
God is real and Jesus promises to be with us ALWAYS, even before we know him, believe in him, let him in. The characters in Garden State are no exception. They are real too.
I've read an amazing quote recently by Madeline L'Engle that says 'You find what you look for.' This is why reviews such as the typical Christian Spotlight kind bother me, because most of the reviewers are obviously looking for what is apparently un-Godly, and that's exactly what they find. It's obvious in a film like Garden State that despite their hubris, the characters ARE looking for something. That means they will find it. Would we take the risk in showing them what we have found?
Dare you to move...
—Review
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections
OK, this blog or 'review' of sorts is partly to say a few things about this fine movie, but also to respond to a review of it that appears on another site, since I am not able to post anything there.
http://www.christiananswers.net/spotlight/movies/2004/gardenstate.html
I agree with the main points made here, that the film is well done but the characters lead seemingly pointless lives and are searching for meaning, etc. etc. All fine and good. But I appreciate much more the comments made about the review...they are much more in tune with what could be seen in the film. I take significant offense to the reviewer's label of the characters as 'washed up losers', because I KNOW people who are very much like them. This made me connect with the film...I knew these people, I grew up with these people and have loved them. Many of them I know are still searching for meaning in their lives. I know what that's like. I've lived life without knowing God, so I could relate to the film. I saw it as a meditation on people I pray for constantly, that they may find the joy of knowing God as I have in my life, but in their own time, in their own way, however God leads them. There is hope at the end of the film that maybe these characters will find that someday, just as I have hope for my loved ones. Yes, it's sad to watch, but that sadness should be motivation for love & prayer, not pious head-shaking.
The turning point in the film for Andrew in particular, is the amazing scene where he shouts into the abyss, and his friends join him. Inspired by his various encounters, especially with the happy married couple who live in the boat, he is finally breaking free of the numb state he's been living in for so many years. It's an extremely metaphorical representation of NEW BIRTH! We enter this world screaming as we leave the safety of the womb and enter the dangerous world ahead. Andrew screams as he leaves the false 'safety' of his medicated existence and enters the dangerous 'abyss' that is life, which is "real and sometimes hurts, but it's all we got." The scene is powerful enough when it's only him screaming, but then his friends join him, in the name of community, compassion and love. Today's young generation that has been turned off by moralistic religious watchdogs who label them as 'washed-up losers' is screaming for attention into the abyss, wanting to be new, wanting to be born again! What a fantastic way to symbolize this! One of those magical movie images.
God is real and Jesus promises to be with us ALWAYS, even before we know him, believe in him, let him in. The characters in Garden State are no exception. They are real too. I've read an amazing quote recently by Madeline L'Engle that says 'You find what you look for.' This is why reviews such as the typical Christian Spotlight kind bother me, because most of the reviewers are obviously looking for what is apparently un-Godly, and that's exactly what they find. It's obvious in a film like Garden State that despite their hubris, the characters ARE looking for something. That means they will find it. Would we take the risk in showing them what we have found?
Dare you to move...
—Review
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections
1 Comments:
AWESOME REVIEW, Ken! A long time ago when I first started to write Christian based movie reviews, I submitted my stuff to Christian Spotlight. Needless to say, the editors and their viewership trashed everything I wrote to pieces because I had the nerve to find God moments the films I saw. It's sad. We Christians are the keepers of the flame, ministers of the truth of the Gospel but far too many of us are too concerned with finding sin over finding God & Christ.
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