Brothers Review

I was a little hesitant when I picked this movie up at Red Box. I was in a hurry and there was a short line forming and Brothers was one of the first new releases I knew I was interested in so I got it. I practically had the movie figured out; husband goes to war and dies, wife mourns, brother comes into the rescue, they hook up and then, viola, hubby didn't die, drama, drama, drama, wife has to choose and
it's the end of the world for somebody. So I was curious how this would play out.
Right away I knew I was going to have a hard time watching this movie when I saw Toby Maguire playing Capt. Cahill, a marine and Natalie Portman as Grace Cahill, his military wife. Toby made an awful Spiderman and because of Toby's role as Spidey, I have lost interest in the whole franchise. He always seems to play weak characters and I thought the director could have picked a better choice for a marine.
What's up with Natalie?! She goes from queen Amidala, the other Boelyn girl and now a mom with two kids?! Not buying it! She looked like she could be her daughters' babysitter in the movie. I felt Jake, playing Tommy Cahill, Sam's brother, did a decent job but the acting awards go to the two girls who play the daughters. They did an awesome job.
My prediction about the plot was pretty close. Brothers did not focus on the build up of tension between the "death notification" and the development of the relationship between the wife and brother. As a watcher, you know right away that Captain Cahill is not dead and the romance that builds up between Grace and Tommy is slow and subtle, you even wonder if they are going to hook up. The climax is less than
climatic. You can see for your self and actually does the movie a lot of good.
Captain finally comes home, burdening a secret that he is ashamed to share and his family starts to fall apart, starting with him. An Othello like scene takes place where Sam asks Tommy if he was "@&$%#*" his wife and starts to get jealous and angry with no one able to persuade him that his family was telling the truth about what transpired between Grace and Tommy. Ultimately, Brothers was not about hot steamy
sex between bro and sis-in law, but about the domestic wars soldiers fight after they come home from battle, the loneliness, fear, loss of intimacy between wife and children, deep dark secrets buried 10,000 feet but still floating at the surface, the coming to that your world is not the same. The familiar is now foreign and the once foreign is now family. Honestly, when I think about all the soldiers and the hells they live through, as well as all the hells their families live through, my
heart breaks. Every time they deploy a part of them dies, a part of their family dies, and soon, if they let them, the relationships that are forged by sweat, blood and steel start to replace the folks back home. Out there, you are playing for keeps. Its life or death! The mechanic is your brother not because your both from NY, but he
maintains the Humvee you drive in day and night and if you can't count on him, you might as well count yourself among the dead. Your gunner is your brother, not because you both like the red sox, but he covers your 6 and you cover his. Back in Civi land, you don't have relationships like that. Your family doesn't understand but they want
to. Soldiers have dark, dark secrets that they try to bury but they fight they way to surface. Soldiers and military families face many battlefronts, abroad, state side, emotional, spiritual, and physical. My heart goes out to all soldiers and their families. Only Christ can bring that which is dead back to life! Only Christ can forgive any and all offenses and create a new person! There is hope, there is
redemption, and it is only found in Jesus Christ! Soldiers are trained for long humps with heavy packs, but some packs they can't carry alone but refuse to seek help due to pride and fear. May God remove the blinders and take away any pride that may hinder healing and reconciliation.
To God be glory forever and ever, Amen!

Remember Ghost Riding?

Finally, my wife and I got a date night with out the kids. A big thank you to my mom and my brother, thanks for keeping the couch warm.

After reading some reviews and realizing that Clash of the Titans opens up next week, we caught a late showing of Ghost Writer, starring Ewan MacGregor, Kim Cattrall, Pierce Bronsman, and I knew I saw Jim Belushi. Checking the movie out on Flixster (iPhone App), it received a 78% user rating, higher than all the other current box office hits on the screen, so I was expecting great things. Descriptions of the movie portrayed Ghost Writer as a thriller, political thriller, but when the movie started I thought I walked into a comedy. Polanski kept the mood light on a usually intense topic. I was hoping it would have a more Bourne Identity feel. Being slightly disappointed, I tried to keep a positive outlook but the slow pace and story development made it tough to stay awake and I don't sleep through movies! I am glad I didn't because it did get better towards the last half hour.

MacGregor plays the Ghost, a Ghost writer who is hired to finish writing the memoirs of an ex-prime minister of England after the previous ghost died suspiciously. The ex-prime minister is in the middle of war crime allegations and the Ghost comes across some evidence that could incriminate the prime minister and his family. Ultimately, the Ghost discovers that the CIA influenced the ex-Prime minister decision making in order to benefit the USA.

Walking out of the movie theater, I felt as if I had just left an art gallery after admiring a forgettable piece of work. I will admit that Polanski's Ghost Writer is one of the more artistic movies I have seen in a while, which I appreciate but I felt like I was watching a play rather than a movie. One redeeming quality is that Ghost Writer is full of irony and I found my self chuckling quite often. Still, leaving the movie I felt like I was left with nothing to work with, no intriguing insight into the meaning of life or some great moral dilemma to pick sides. I figured I need to write this quick before I forget about it.

Now the real question is, as a follower of Christ, how do I respond? Ghost Writer portrays the consequences of seeking to build man's kingdom instead of God's Kingdom.
Human kind is easily blinded by the lust for power, wealth, and influence. Satan's most powerful weapon is distraction. Many believe that this world we live in is all we get and that the most important things in life are things and power over things. I love the bumper sticker that says the best things in life aren't things. Jesus reflects this in Matthew 16: 23- 28

23Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
24Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever wants to save his life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 27For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. 28I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."

In Matthew 19, Christ talks about how someone can get into Heaven and in verse 30 he says, "But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first." In the previous versus, Jesus was talking to a rich man and telling him to sell all his possessions.

Matthew 19: 20-24
20"All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"
21Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
22When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

Satan is the king of lies and everyday we swallow the lies whole so that we can't see beyond our desires. We can't see the Truth that is hidden.
In Luke 19, we find that Jesus wept over the fact that the people he came to save were blind and would pay the consequences:

Luke 19: 41-44 "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you."

My prayer is that those who are blinded by Satan would let Christ rub some mud in their eyes so that they may see that Christ is the True King and that they would have eternal life that is found only in Christ. Amen