The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
(2001, 178 minutes, PG-13)

Is it a cosmic coincidence that since the terrorist event of Sept. 11, two of the biggest, most talked-about movies have been the first installment of J. R. R. Tolkien's Ring trilogy and the first book in J. K.

Rowling's Harry Potter series?

From the Reel Spirit perspective, hardly. With the specter of so-called evil in the world and what to do about it so much in the forefront of people's minds, the debut and the popularity of the films The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone make perfect sense. Spirit is clearly speaking to us about the nature of evil and the appropriate response to it through these stories of fantasy that all-too-uncomfortably reflect our twenty-first century versions of reality.

In both films, an almost invisible, insidious evil threatens the world (Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Dark Lord Sauron in The Lord of the Rings), and in both films, a young or small innocent person is charged with saving the world from that evil (the young wizard Harry Potter himself and the youthful-looking, diminutive hobbit Frodo Baggins, played by Elijah Wood, in The Lord of the Rings).

The heroes of both works are symbolic. First, Frodo, like Harry, is a reminder that, as Jesus says in Luke 9:48, "the least among all of you is the greatest." While some might discount Frodo's or Harry's abilities because of inexperience, age or size, clearly both of them possess inner strengths, wisdom and innocence or purity that will enable them to save the day.

"Even the smallest person can change the course of the future," says the woods queen Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) to Frodo.

Frodo, as does Harry Potter, serves as a reminder not to judge by appearances. Frodo may be small, but his abilities suggest that it will be the meek who shall inherit Middle-earth.

The wise wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) is convinced that Frodo does indeed have what it takes to lead the Fellowship to destroy the seductive ring of power. The wizard knows that Frodo is a pure soul intuitively attuned to the right and the good. When Frodo doubts, Gandalf says, "Trust me, Frodo, you'll know what to do."

The importance of personal choice in life is a major theme of The Lord of the Rings. In touching on the power of individual choices, Gandalf cautions Frodo, "Do not be too eager to deal out death or judgment." Gandalf seems to have faith in an over-riding divine plan, despite any appearances to the contrary.

"All we have to decide is what to do with the times that are given to us," Gandalf says.

In the fast-paced action-adventure film that is The Lord of the Rings, the old-fashioned, time-honored values of friendship, loyalty and bravery are much in evidence, as they are in Harry Potter.

All of the Fellowship, whether hobbits, elves, dwarves or humans, exemplify bravery. Friendship and loyalty are seen in Frodo's three buddies, especially Sam (Sean Astin), called by the ranger Strider (Viggo Mortensen) a "stout heart." Gandalf himself gives a moving oath of allegiance: "I will help you bear this burden, Frodo, as long as it is yours to bear."

Plus, we find those more overtly spiritual concepts of light, grace or unconditional love, and unity.

The elf princess Arwen (Liv Tyler) beckons Frodo to "come back to the light" when he has been injured, and prays to save Frodo by transferring whatever grace has been given her to him.

It is the elf king Elrond (Hugo Weaving) who speaks most succinctly to those at the council of Middle-earth about the strength in unity: "You will unite or you will fall." The advantages of those with differing talents and skills working together becomes obvious as members of the Fellowship face one danger after another.

The film, mostly true to Tolkien's masterpiece, makes it abundantly clear that greed and lust for power fuel evil. The allure of the ring and its power are terrifyingly seen in the reactions of the usually mild-manner Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm) and Galadriel, as well as the human warrior Boromir (Sean Bean). Elrond even remembers the long-ago greed of a human warrior who refused to destroy the ring and thus "evil was allowed to endure."

Can friendship, loyalty, bravery, light, grace, and unity eventually overcome evil and the power of the ring? Stay tuned for the next two episodes in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy—or read or reread the books ahead of time.

A Beautiful Mind
(2002, 129 minutes, PG-13)

One of my favorite lines in filmdom is from Harvey, the 1950 comedy in which Elwood P. Dowd (James Stewart) says, "I've wrestled with reality for 35 years, doctor, and I'm happy to state I finally won out over it."

Introspective seekers of Meaning frequently find themselves conflicted over the reality experienced in the physical world of the senses and the reality perceived or intuited in the metaphysical world of imagination, insight, and spirit.

Many movies these days, mirroring as cinema always has done society's search for ultimate Truth, are increasingly wrestling with the nature of reality. Thought-provoking recent reality checks include the films Vanilla Sky, Waking Life, The Others, and K-PAX.

A Beautiful Mind is the semi-fictional story of noted mathematician John Forbes Nash, who won the 1994 Nobel Prize for a theory that has become a cornerstone of modern economics. That Nash, played by Russell Crowe, has a brilliant mind--and a fantastic head for numbers—is clearly evident from the beginning of the film when he enters Princeton in 1947.

What also soon becomes evident, and comprises the theme of the film, is that a brilliant mind isn't truly a beautiful one until the mind and the heart are joined.

Significantly, Nash says that a teacher once told him that he was given two helpings of brains, but "only half a helping of heart."

When the mind (the thinking activity of the individual) is not centered in the consciousness of the heart (the feeling, intuitive center of spiritual presence and power within), a person senses a void within himself or herself.

A balanced life as "a spiritual being having a human experience" is one in which the mind and heart work in harmony. A nineteenth-century Russian mystic, St. Theophane the Recluse, directed people to "stand before God with your mind in your heart, and love him." Our goal is to be able to turn the human reasoning abilities over to the loving energy of the heart, and thus experience the peace, joy, love, and beauty that are the essence of God throughout all life. "As a man thinketh in the right hemisphere" (Proverbs), he experiences the fullness of life's blessings.

A Beautiful Mind chronicles Nash's torturous journey to place his mind in his heart, to discover the logic and abstract purpose of love in addition to the logic and concrete sense of reason (represented by mathematics). Lost in his two helping of brains and not knowing how to relate to his heart or to reach out to others, Nash's reality becomes divided. His mind plays tricks on him, and he doesn't always know the difference between physical reality and mental imagination.

Through the steadfast love of his wife Alicia (Jennifer Connelly), Nash slowly comes to understand the value of love. The overall message of the film, and the great lesson that Nash says he learns, is very much in keeping with the old saying "love conquers all."

At one point, Nash says about overcoming his schizophrenic condition, "I can do this. I can work it out. All I need is time." Time does help—the time to experience Alicia's love and time to understand the effects of unconditional love.

"You want to know what's real?" Alicia asks her husband. "This," she replies, touching him and herself. She tells him that perhaps the part of him that knows the waking world from the dream world is not the mind, as he has thought, but the heart.

Alicia shows John not only the value of discovering love but also the value of having faith. "I need to believe that something extraordinary is possible," she tells him. The film, directed by Ron Howard and written by Akiva Goldsman based on Sylvia Nasar's book, movingly shows how that love and faith are rewarded.

From a psychological and spiritual perspective, it's interesting to examine the three principal people who frequent Nash's alternate reality. First, there is Charles (Paul Bettany), who describes himself as "the prodigal roommate." In the biblical story of the prodigal son, a father welcomes his wayward son home with open, forgiving arms.

For most of his life, Nash repeatedly welcomes Charles, who actually represents a part of Nash that unconsciously yearns for that better balance between the mind and the heart. At the soul level, Nash wholeheartedly embraces Charles.

Early in their relationship, Charles tells Nash, "Mathematics is never going to lead you to higher truth," but Nash does not listen to him or understand him. Although Nash wants to rely on numbers and wants the world to be tidied up with figures, Charles tells him, "Nothing's ever for sure, John." Through the personality of Charles, Nash keeps giving himself clues (at first unheeded) that there may be more to life than meets the logical mind. Nash's earlier admittance that he may have "only half a helping of heart" is an indication that he probably does have some awareness of his lack.

Nash has a fondness for Charles's niece, who perhaps represents the love from his own childhood that he has not properly acknowledged.

Through the mysterious government agent Parcher (Ed Harris), Nash places himself in a comic-book-like fantasy of fame, intrigue, and heroism. It's the sort of fantasy that one would not expect from a logical mind, but makes sense when viewed as coming from Nash's repressed heart center. Nash's soul longs for that mind-heart connection, and that connection starts appearing in the most unlikely ways. Parcher tells Nash, "Man is as capable of as much atrocity as he has imagination." Nash's imagined scenarios are of atrocities, but through these scenarios and their effects on people in the "real world," Nash perhaps comes to understand that people also are capable of as much love as they have imagination.

As Nash's mind increasingly becomes centered in his heart consciousness, he learns to put his imaginary companions in perspective. Being highly symbolic, useful and an aspect of him, the fantasies are a part of Nash's reality, whether physical or not. "It's in your mind," Alicia says of John's secret activities. But in some sense, perhaps everything is in the mind, and dreams and imaginings are just as "real" as the waking world. Recent films about reality certainly suggest that such is the case. Like Elwood in Harvey, Nash finally wins out over so-called reality in his own way, and he does so by recognizing that love is the greatest reality.

Raymond Teague is the author of Reel Spirit: A Guide to Movies That Inspire, Explore and Empower, from Unity House. He is an award-winning journalist, an editor of spiritual publications, a popular New Thought speaker, and a lifelong movie buff. His book is available at bookstores; on-line at amazon.com, bn.com, borders.com, and by phone at
1 (800) 669-0282.