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From the author of Reel Spirit: A Guide to Movies That Inspire, Explore and Empower.
O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?
(2001, 106 minutes, PG-13)
This highly enjoyable and zany outing from the inventive Coen brothers is, O brother, extremely loosely based on Homer's Odyssey, and in fact opens with a quote from that Greek epic invoking the Muse. Another quotation from The Odyssey also is appropriate for the movie: "All men have need of the gods." Translate "the gods" as "spiritual realization or insight."
Whether or not they know it at first, that also includes the misadventurers of the Coens' humorous tale - three escapees from a Depression-era chain gang, Everett McGill (George Clooney), Pete (John Turturro) and Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson). The three are something of bumbling modern-day Odysseuses.
Scholars tend to view the Odyssey, with the wanderings of Odysseus after the Trojan War, as the story of Everyman's journey to find peace and joy. Along the way for Everyman (and Everywoman) are plenty of temptations and obstacles -- our individual and collective cyclopses and sirens. The fearless and often seemingly brainless and clueless wanderers in O Brother, Where Art Thou? meet their share of temptations (including singing Southern sirens washing clothes in a stream) and obstacles (including a cyclops in the form of a one-eyed Bible salesman played by John Goodman) as they try to escape the law in Mississippi and find an alleged treasure. But ultimately the hapless three, in true Homeric form, are seeking peace and meaning in life. All have need of the spiritual.
The journey, also in Homeric fashion, begins with the wise but vague pronouncements of a blind soothsayer operating a railway handcar. The soothsayer tells our gang, "You will find a fortune," but also suggests that it may not be what they are looking for. He also instructs them to "fear not the obstacles in your path" and says they will lead to "your salvation."
The three proceed as if they only heard the words "fortune" and "fear not," and such is probably the case. Every person has a way of hearing what he or she wants to hear and becoming fixated on a particular goal – often involving money and love (the chief Odysseus, Everett, is also attempting to reclaim his wife Penny, played by Holly Hunter).
There are clues, however, that the three are on a path leading to their "salvation," or faith and meaning.
Everett, without a thought that he is actually acknowledging his own quest, says, "Everybody's looking for answers."
And the Bible salesman echoes Everett: "People are looking for answers." Answers and meanings are all around us, but we have to become aware of them to make them an effective part of our lives.
Answers that connect the purpose of life with a Higher Power flow throughout the movie with the singing of old-fashioned gospel music such as "I'll Fly Away." As the song says, "I'll fly away . . . like a bird from these prison walls, I'll fly away," and that's what the three are doing -- not realizing, as Everypeople often do not, that they are flying toward a closer realization of life as a spiritual rather than a material journey. In this beautifully photographed and choreographed film, one of the most memorable scenes is a baptism in which two of the wanderers, Pete and Delmar, are baptized and thus "redeemed" in consciousness (at least as far as their mental faculties will allow).
"The preacher said all my sins are washed away," Delmar proclaims. Everett scoffs at the "ridiculous superstition" endorsed by his two companions, and the three continue on their quirky way to find the treasure. Pete and Delmar seem to derive some peace from the baptism, but they don't fully realize the treasure they have found. As for Everett, it takes more than a picturesque baptism to make him a believer and to bring him to at least some renewed peace and joy. It takes signs and wonders, and prayers, O brother.
Events suggest that part of what we are to learn in our life's wanderings is to accept each other as we are (brothers and sisters all), to embrace racial diversity (KKK scenes vividly show how racial intolerance is promoted under the guise of religion), to help each other out whenever possible, and to keep plugging along no matter what obstacles present themselves because divine order will be revealed. And perhaps one of the biggest life lessons from this fast-paced film is to have fun and lighten up as we search for peace and meaning.
THE GIFT
(2001, 112 minutes, R)
The Gift unwraps some enthralling questions about psychic abilities, the lives of people with psychic abilities, and about other people's reactions to those powers.
This supernatural suspense story, written by Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson and directed by Sam Raimi, focuses on a Georgia widow, Annie Wilson (Cate Blanchett), who supports her three children by giving psychic readings. Annie's talents are called upon to help solve the baffling disappearance of a young woman.
The first question from the film's presentation of Annie's "gift" is this: Is the "gift" of psychic abilities real or imaginary? There are those in the reel world and in the real world who take psychic powers for granted and view them as evidence of spiritual senses beyond the traditionally accepted five bodily senses.
Eric Butterworth in his book, Discover the Power Within You, writes of "the great undiscovered depths within" and urges humankind to "forsake the fruitless search of the world at the circumference of being and embark upon a courageous quest into inner space."
Certainly today many people, including scientists, accept that there are indeed what we generally term supernatural powers that may be quite natural if we only were more consistently in tune with our own "inner space." Annie can be seen as a person so attuned.
Then there are others, the proverbial Doubting Thomases in our midst, epitomized in the film by the main policeman on the case (J. K. Simmons) and by a prosecuting attorney, whose world views are bounded entirely by the five senses. These people consider anyone who claims to see or sense events or situations from the past and future, as does Annie, as certifiably crazy. To them, psychic evidence is inadmissable in court or life. They simply aren't able to see that Annie has no hidden agenda and that she is simply presenting the facts as she receives them.
The second question is, If the "gift" is real, where does it come from? Specifically, is it from God or the devil? Just as the film shows us believers and skeptics, it gives us both views of the origin question. Some townspeople think that Annie's powers are from the devil. They call her a "Satan worshiper" and a "witch," and condemn her for "messing with the devil." To them, there is nothing divine in Annie's abilities or the use of her abilities. The wife-beating Donnie (Keanu Reeves) leads this contingent.
Early in the movie, however, viewers are given a clear indication that Annie's psychic abilities are from a heavenly source when Annie's deceased grandmother (Rosemary Harris) appears to her. (Another indication comes later in the movie, but I don't want to give anything away.) The surprised Annie asks her grandmother how she got there. "It ain't far to walk," the grandmother replies, suggesting that as scriptures imply, we live and walk and have our being in Spirit.
Before she disappears, the grandmother says, "Annie, always use your instincts, honey." It's as if the kindly grandmother has given her blessing to Annie and to the use of Annie's special powers in the "storm" that she says is coming.
A third question that arises from the plot and characters is, Why are people afraid of a "gift" like Annie's?
Often it's because people are insecure about their own beliefs and feel threatened by anything that challenges them. Paranormal subjects and so-called supernatural activities call for open minds capable of examining issues beyond the societal, scientific norms, and many people just are not ready to let themselves think beyond the "known" -- even though, of course, there now is vast evidence to change the classification of many "unknowns" to "known." Annie's abilities, for example, are put to the test, and they pass; the evidence weighs in on her side.
At a deeper psychological level, people often aren't able to accept events or evidence "outside the box" of their thinking because the human ego wants to perpetuate the illusion of separation. Accepting new ways of thinking, new sense capabilities, and expanded individual powers would force a person to consider the interconnectedness of all life energy, and thus recognize a more unified view of existence than is usually held. It's sometimes difficult for people to move out of their mental comfort zones. Another, often overlooked question that the film dramatically explores is, What price does a person pay for having a "gift" like Annie's?
During a murder trial, a prosecutor says that Annie, whose visions have led to the trial, must be having fun -- even though Annie obviously is distraught, frightened, and on the verge of tears.
Clearly, having such a "gift" is difficult for Annie and has mixed blessings. She sees things and "knows" things that others don't and that are often painful -- even life-threatening -- for her to know. True, reading cards gives Annie a means of income, and the sharing of details of her clients' lives (past, present, or future) can result in beneficial changes for people. But her readings can also lead to further disharmony and mental and emotional anguish for her clients, and for herself. She shares her insights at possible peril to herself and to her children, and no doubt has guilts and worries about where her insights will lead. She has compassion and always tries to understand and help others through her "gift."
Annie's anguish and the conflicting response to her "gift" are similar to what another memorable woman with extrasensory powers encounters in the 1980 movie, Resurrection. In that film, Edna McCauley (Ellen Burstyn) develops a healing power after surviving a car crash and experiencing a near-death experience. Like Annie, Edna is berated for her "gift," but also like Edna, she is given reassurance by her grandmother, who says that Edna's power is a gift from God.
The Gift, as does Resurrection, gives viewers the gift of another opportunity to examine their own acceptance of what constitutes our views of reality, and an opportunity to open their minds and hearts to an expanded understanding of what is "natural" as spiritual beings.
CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON
(2000, 119 minutes, PG-13)
To physical appearances, the world is indeed filled with crouching tigers and hidden dragons.
From a spiritual/martial arts perspective, however, "evils" and troubles aren't the reality they seem. Our tigers and dragons are slippery, tricky, illusory and somehow of our own making.
"All of it is simply a state of mind," says legendary martial arts warrior Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-Fat). Most things are nothing, he says, including himself and the stolen Green Destiny sword whose retrieval occupies much of this spectacular action epic directed by Ang Lee.
We tend to attack the challenging tigers and lurking dragons with outside forces fueled by anger, fear and hatred. There is another method, though, that requires us to call upon the power within, a power of peace and stillness at our spiritual core. It is this method that martial arts films demonstrate to us.
"Only by letting go can we truly possess what is real," says the wise Li Mu Bai. Nothing that we touch is real, he says. Though the movie on its surface seems to be about regaining the sword and confronting long-standing enmities, in actuality it is about finding that point of inward power and poise that literally propels us out of our illusions and self-imposed boundaries.
The awe-inspiring scenes of martial arts warriors bouncing off the tops of watery pools and dueling from the swaying treetops represent a command of physicality and matter that comes from harnessing inward power. True, the warriors use physical means, too, in combating physical challenges, but the weapons are extensions of selves propelled by inner centeredness. This understanding is at the heart of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, a beautiful film with gravity-defying fight scenes, yet a depressing film if we don't go beyond the visual stunts. Like the characters in the film, we must realize that we are more than flesh and blood.
"Now give yourself up and find yourself again," Li Mu Bai says. In the midst of crouching tigers and hidden dragons, there are caring teachers and divine messengers. It's up to us to be aware of these -- calling upon that power of free-will and choice that we possess. The movie pits a young woman, Jen (Zhang Ziyi) as the adversary of Li Mu Bai and his love interest, Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh). Jen's abilities are amazing, but she hasn't learned to direct her inner power and poise in the spiritual way that produces true peace and love.
Li Mu Bai repeatedly asks to be Jen's teacher. How Jen eventually comes to terms with Li Mu Bai's unwanted offers and actually grows in spiritual understanding is seen in the film's stunning ending, which plays off a story told in the movie with the moral, "If you believe, it will happen. A faithful heart makes wishes come true."
The film is somewhat of a graduate-level course in martial arts in that it assumes the viewer is already aware of the inner-directed principles of martial arts. Thus Lee's movie explains little but shows much.
Martial arts expert and teacher Gary Simmons, author of the book The I of the Storm, speaks of the sense of wholeness -- wholeness of mind, body, and spirit -- that martial arts practitioners command: "Wholeness is not outside of you nor is it separate from you. It is the essence of your true nature and spiritual identity. And because wholeness is the foundation of your being, nothing can oppose you."
Not even crouching tigers and hidden dragons.
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