Thursday, March 18, 2010

Weekend movie

I watched a new DVD we bought from Deseret Book titled "One Good Man."

If it was satire or intended as irony then it was quite good. If it was just a straight up drama then I hated it. Since it was an LDS product, and sold at Deseret Book, I assume it wasn't meant as irony or satire.

It offended me because the lead character was called to be a Bishop. This makes the hero a church leader. The hero treats one of his ward members as disposable, but goes out of his way for non-members and widows. It resulted in the inactivity of an entire family whose sole outreach by the bishop was to go Christmas caroling with his family on their porch. While there, he tells the wife that he, "hadn't seen them in church lately."

It was depressing. As irony it shows how a "good" man can't always do good. Life is riddled with conflicts and unintended harm. So I like it as irony.

2 comments:

  1. How do you decide whether a video or movie is watchable? Ratings help sometimes to at least stay away from the worst but they don't always provide the needed protection. Some websites give insight to a movie but don't cover that many of the of the available video world. So do you have any other ideas to share or is it an area of struggle for you, as well.

    Hardy Cherry

    ReplyDelete
  2. I was in the library studying my human anatomy book like usual yesterday. I was in the quiet room. A man came and sat next to me. He had on a janitor uniform and and looked a little scruff. I must admit I made that all too often quick judgment and returned to my studies. About 10 minutes later, I could tell he was trying to catch my attention. I took off my noise canceling headphones, and he asked me "how do you spell allow?" He had spelled it completely wrong, and I helped him correct the spelling. He was very kind and just went back to his work. I was a little frustrated at first because I was trying to get my studying done. Well this process continued for the next 30 minutes. Every 5 minutes or so, he would stop and ask me to help spell him something. By the end he wanted me to spell "vow". I didn't understand him very well, so I asked him what he was trying to say. After he repeated the phrase that he was trying to say with the word vow, it was very clear to me that he was trying to write a letter for someone he deeply cared about, despite his lack of "education". He wanted me to make sure the spellings I was giving him were correct. He didn't care about being better than, or smarter than anyone, he simply wanted to get the message right that he was preparing for a loved one. How foolish I felt, as I realized the insignificance of what I was doing studying, and the lesson I was being taught by this humble man. This man was sincere, humble, and trying to do the best he could with what he had. He was even humble enough to ask for help on words that might seem simple to most. This was what I think of as "one good man". This man would never want a movie made about him..."I am nothing special, please don't", I am sure he would say. This man I encountered, taught me principles, not information. To be meek, humble, lowly, and obscure, is truly Christ like, and an example to us all. If we could all be just like THIS good man.

    ReplyDelete

What Say You?