Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
(America never was America to me.)
O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath--
America will be! -- Langston Hughes
While the faithful in SO CA fall all over themselves trying to come up with one decent Born Again alternative to overpower their preordained, lack luster Mormon "Yankee" :: Satanist :: from Gay Harbor, Mass the rest of the nation seems so amused by GOP flailing about that there's hardly been much of an uproar over the vastly increased powers of our actual President with passage of
NDAA despite conflict brewing everywhere.
Thank God, indeed, that Jesus loves us (some hot buttered pop corn!)
The Conspirator (2011)
The opening of the film quickly plunges the audience into a reconstruction of the 1865 assassination of Abraham Lincoln at the Ford Theatre by actor John Wilkes Booth, a crisis that must have shook the nation much like the events of 9/11 in more contemporary times, although the film's primary concern is the aftermath when the depth of the conspiracy to assassinate the President becomes clear. Director Robert Redford studies the plight of Mary Surratt (played by Robin Wright), owner of the boarding house where the conspirators met, now accused of complicity in the plot. James McAvoy is the young lawyer, Freddy Aiken, tasked with defending her amid a background of public hatred, Civil War and against a prejudiced and self serving military court.
The courtroom drama unfurls rather tediously as even Mary's lawyer struggles with finding any good reason as to why Surratt should be acquited although finally falls in behind the benefit of the doubt argument which apparently held little water in the military tribunals of America's past at least. Whether Mary Surratt ever actually knew of the plot to murder President Lincoln or simply that her own son was going to attempt to kidnap him i certainly can hardly say definativey though beyond the question of the extent of Mrs. Surratt's guilt the film does a good enough job at conveying the complete lack of interest in any thing other than arriving at a conviction and in delivering vengeance in palce of justice however urgent the immediacy of the moment may appear. Mary Surratt was hanged, becoming the first woman executed by the United States federal government.
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) places domestic terror investigations and interrogations into the hands of the military which could open the door today for trial-free, indefinite detention of anyone, including American citizens, so long as the government defines them as enemies of the state or terrorists.
It may not be much of a great movie cinematically for this "Reel World" aficionado though it's a recommend worth seeing for its contemporary if not historical relevance. So much for Habeas Corpus. So much for innocent until proven guilty. So much for limited government. But, on the brighter side of things, how about those Patriots?
Higher Ground (2011)
Directed with disarming grace and intelligence by Vera Farmiga who also stars as the main lead, Higher Ground is in the same category as Robert Duvall's "The Apostle" though threatens to dethrone that particular classic.It is about one every day woman and her own journey in life pulled between the extremes of faith and the cynicism of doubt. The film first debuted in January 2011 at the Sundance Independent Film Festival and later received a limited release in select cities on August 26, 2011.
"Higher Ground” takes us to the heart of a small evangelical Christian community where people share the challenges and injustice of real life as part of a tight-knit Born Again congregation. It is truly an exceptional (perhaps one of the finest) movies about faith and doubt, yet it doesn’t carry itself with any false piety or sense of secular superiority. Characters burst out laughing, curse, doodle pictures of their partners penis', have sex and entertain impure thoughts about their friends and neighbors. It pays its subjects the compliment of struggling with the messy details of everyday life and because of all that the film will likely resonate with viewers regardless of their own personal religious practice.
Depictions of fundamentalism in popular culture too often belittle the faithful by portraying them as repressed, easily led or as cannon fodder in the culture wars. “Higher Ground” resists these facile cliches to show one woman’s very real struggle to hold on to her faith and her family even as she is pulled in different directions.
Based on the memoir by Carolyn S. Briggs ("This Dark World” ), “Higher Ground” follows the life of Corinne Walker, first as a young girl, then as a teenager, then as a wife and mother trying to reconcile herself to life as a bit of a skeptic in a community of ecstatic believers.
(A)s the film progresses, it’s clear that Corinne is plagued by doubts about her faith in God and about her commitment to her community. These are exacerbated by the limits placed on her as a woman in this community. In one telling scene, she gives a personal witness at a meeting, only to be chided later by the wife of the group’s pastor for crossing the line into preaching (taboo in this patriarchal society)...
The movie races to incorporate not just Corinne’s connection with her faith, but also her adult relationship with her adult sister and her divorced parents. This narrative rush undercuts the meandering - and very lifelike - trajectory that guides the characters in the (beginning)... -- The Washington Times
There is something remarkable — you might even say miraculous — about the way “Higher Ground” makes its gentle, thoughtful way across the burned-over terrain of the American culture wars. -- The New York Times
Vera Farmiga is not only one powerhouse of an actress, as is her daughter, Taissa, who plays the younger Corrine, but she has proven herself to be one remarkable director as well. This is one film I can not recommend highly enough -- it is all too real, all too human despite all the happy talk in our frailty and isolation and just all too familiar, really, in too many of our lives to not come away with a heart wrenching recognition of the real dilemma for us one and all.
I want to live above the world
Tho' Satan's darts at me are hurled
For faith has caught the joyful sound
The song of saints on higher ground. -- Evangelical Christian hymn sung to the music of "How Great Thou Art"
"Beneath the cross of Jesus I fain would take my stand,
The shadow of a mighty rock within a weary land,
A home within the wilderness, a rest upon the way..."
End Credits / Closing Remarks:
Given that the greater part of our site's purpose here on the Street of Prophets is to provide a place where people who might describe themselves as faithful progressives can come together to explore not only faith but the larger questions that revolve around it and our hopes of impacting the world in a positive, progressive way, I am providing these sometime weekly film reviews (whenever). I thought that submitting reviews of controversial or off-the-beaten-track films that often nudge this kind of thought and discussion might be a plus. I'll be offering this each week on Fridays (as the Spirit moves me) and would happily entertain recommendations for future reviews. Feel free to post comments about the films reviewed here today as well as your own recommendations of films you feel may fall along these lines.
In memory of Abraham Lincoln, one of the last victims of this nation's first real culture war who was at once the most beloved and the most despised President ever in our history. Thank you. America yet may be... (the place that's the best).
Or at least on some kind of higher ground....
My religion is to seek for truth in life and for life in truth, even knowing that I shall not find them while I live. Miguel de Unamuno