Last week, at the Peace Garden Meditation, our group talked about influential stories. That brought to mind two recently watched movies that elegantly and eloquently illustrated the power of story, not only to help us make sense of the world but also to heal. The first one is an unusual, slow-moving fantastical tale filled with wonderful British and Australian actors, My Talks with Dean Spanley. When the principal character realizes the story behind a pivotal event in his life it dramatically changes his misanthropic treatment of people, especially his son. I'll never look at a dog the same way again.
The second story is a movie that had been hanging in my Netflix queue for sometime, The Magic of Belle Isle. The draw was Morgan Freeman but my delay in viewing it was my fear of it being a smarmy, Hallmark-type movie full of feel good cliches. Well, it has the classic theme of redemption but it also demonstrates the power of imagination and story to make life bearable and perhaps even understandable.
When you tire of life's daily drama, get out your popcorn and enjoy the power of story.
The second story is a movie that had been hanging in my Netflix queue for sometime, The Magic of Belle Isle. The draw was Morgan Freeman but my delay in viewing it was my fear of it being a smarmy, Hallmark-type movie full of feel good cliches. Well, it has the classic theme of redemption but it also demonstrates the power of imagination and story to make life bearable and perhaps even understandable.
2 comments:
Great picks, Brenda! "Belle Isle" is, indeed, a wonderful movie, but I don't remember seeing the "Dean Spanley" one. Will have to fire up Netflix this week to check it out! Thanks for the prompt to "talk story" with each other more often. Doing such allows us to peer into the world view of the "other" and hopefully bring more compassionate eyes to our relationships.
Actually, Karen you and Darrell did watch Dean Spanley when I mentioned it a few months ago. You didn't like it so don't bother re-watching it. You really have to be in the right mood for it.
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