3:10 to Yuma -- a great modern Western

3:10 to Yuma is a terrific movie with two perfectly cast leading actors. Christian Bale (did you know he is English) plays Dan Evans, a morally upright and decent father with a gimpy leg, a wife and two sons. Russell Crowe plays Ben Wade, a thoroughly immoral and evil outlaw gang leader, who is charismatic yet sinister. It is a classic good vs evil tale . . . at least at the start. By the end, the lines have been blurred. Nothing is completely clear; black and white has become gray for both characters.

Evans is down on his luck, and about to evicted from his struggling farm to make way for the railroad. His teenaged son looks down on him for failing to be the wild west hero who takes what he wants and needs. His wife has lost trust in him. He needs redemption badly. And he is given the opportunity when a posse is needed to take the dangerous Wade to the aptly-named town of Contention, where he will ride the 3:10 prison train to Yuma. Despite the dangers to himself, Evans volunteers for this duty, seeing not only the dollars, which will save his land, but the dignity that will save his reputation in the eyes of his son. From here, the story takes a straightforward path, including indians, gunfights, and chases.

One scene early in the movie has Wade, a prisoner, eating at the Evans house in handcuffs. While Evans sits eating quietly, Wade makes conversation. And his conversation is psychologically scary, even as he appears erudite and seductively charming. Wade even appears to be type of hero to Evan's son, perhaps even to his wife.

As the movie plays out, and as the rest of the posse are killed or desert, we are left with Evans and Wade. By this time it is overly apparent that he is a cold-blooded killer, deceptive and dangerous. As the climax approaches, the movie plays a little like High Noon. We know a gunfight is coming. We know no one will stand with Evans. But we wonder why Evans continues to stand, since it is not really his fight. Is he doing it for justice? For respect? For money? Or is pride now involved at the end? If he is so concerned for his family, why doesn't he know when to cut bait, when to draw the line?

The climax is powerful, but confusing. Why does Evans continue to the bitter end? Why does Wade do what he does? He wanted to be rescued by his gang. But when they arrive, he takes actions that seem unlikely for an outlaw gang leader. Perhaps we are to think Wade has been changed, by his proximity to Evans, but that is hard to accept. As much as life, especially life on the edge of lawlessness in the old west, was gray and not black-and-white, the moral ambiguity that the movie ends with is unsatisfying. The conflict remains essentially unresolved.

Why does evil and its people seem so more interesting and exciting than integrity and upright people? In 3:10 to Yuma, it is clear that Crowe's character is more intriguing. He is attractive, even seductive, to many, while Bale's character is another peon to be trodden on and discarded, if not ignored. And at the end is Evan's sacrifice a worthy sacrifice? Has he brought Wade to justice? If not, of what value is the sacrifice? How often do we get sucked into a journey, a quest, a project, for the right reasons only for it to transform into something else that binds us relentlessly to a path that perhaps the Lord has not paved for us? 3:10 to Yuma makes us think on this question.

Copyright 2008, Martin Baggs

Eastern Promises -- Too violent for me

Let me say up front, Eastern Promises is shockingly violent. If you have a weak stomach, avoid this movie. Despite great acting by the leads, Viggo Mortenson and Naomi Watts, this is a dark tale of depravity in the seedy underbelly of life in the Russian section of modern-day London. This movie attempts to be a modern day Godfather, with different mobs of Russian and Chechen nationalities, yet it lacks the deliberative character development of that classic and it overflows with gratuitous violence.

The tag-line is "every sin leaves a mark" and it appears that these marks are both physical, as tattoos on the bodies of the Russian gangsters, and spiritual/psychological, in their cruel spirits and damaged psyches. An old adage says "there is honor among thieves." But not according to this movie. There is corruption, there is brutality, there is violence, but there is no honor.

Eastern Promises does raise a few ethical questions to ponder. Should a person's private diary remain private after death? If Anna (Watts' character) had not opened the diary and asked for its translation, none of the terrible troubles would have happened. Is this a story of redemption or merely corruption? Is Nikolai (Viggo's character), and the "hero," a better man at the end of the movie or has he been corrupted by absolute power? Was it right and beneficial to watch this movie? In my opinion, it was too graphic, too gory, and excessively and unneccesarily violent.

Copyright 2008, Martin Baggs

Life is Beautiful: A Modern Fable

Life is Beautiful begins by stating that it is a fable. Now a fable is a story often beyond reality, to provide a moral lesson. The lesson is the point. This movie defies genre but accomplishes its point as a fable. It is part comedy, part romance, part war story, part horror story. Yet it works and portrays a most beautiful and touching story.

Roberto Benigni, writer, director and star, plays a naive Jew, Guido, from the Italian countryside who makes his way to the big city in 1939. En route, he dramatically meets a beautiful woman, whom he pursues in the first part of the movie. Guido is a compelling and sympathetic protaganist who finds so much joy in life regardless of circumstances. We root for him as he woos his love, his princess. The first half of the movie is a celebration of love, of innocence in the midst of the beginnings of the war and the holocaust. Love continues despite war. Love is above war. Through a set of circumstances, Benigni wins his bride, and they ride off into the proverbial sunset on a white charger, though this white charger has been painted green with anti-semitic slogans emblazoned by nazi youth. The first half of the movie ends with Guido happily married to Dora with a young son, Joshua. They have a complete and perfect life. Life is indeed beautiful.

Then the second act opens. Guido and Joshua are arrested and taken to a train station for transportation to a concentration camp. Dora, discovering their absence on Joshua's birthday, goes to the station to complain to the German officer. There is no sympathy there. So, in an unexpected turn, Dora, a non-Jew, asks to be let aboard the train so she can go where her family is going, not knowing this might lead to death. The German agrees and she is herded into one of the cattle trucks.

The pathos is highlighted by Guido's determination not to let his young son understand the harsh reality of the concentration camp. He wants to protect him and his innocence. To do this, he tells him it is all a game, and if they play by the rules, they will win points and ultimately win a brand new tank. In an hilarious scene, amidst the horrors of the introduction to the camp, Guido acts as an interpreter for the German Kommandant and "translates" the German into Italian, while actually telling his son the rules of the game.

If the first act focused on the romantic side of love, the second act focuses on the sacrifical side of love. Guido goes to all kinds of lengths and dangers to protect his son. He also takes great risks to communicate with Dora, who is imprisoned in a different part of the camp. In one scene, Guido creeps into the radio hut to use the intercom to tell his wife she is his princess. In another moving scene, reminiscent of The Shawshank Redemption, he plays a favorite opera lp album for her (and others) to hear, to remind her of his love. At all times, he is risking death in taking these steps. But he is driven by love: love for Joshua and love for Dora. At the end, knowing he must do something to save his family before the Germans "dispose" of the evidence in the camp, he makes the ultimate sacrifice to save his son. His love for his son is greater than his love for his own life. "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" (Jn 15:13). This is a clear and tender, ever tearful, illustration of the biblical concept of love. And Guido's love for his wife, and his willingness to do anything for her, is an example of Ephesians 5.

As the movie ends, Joshua is confronted by a brand new (American) tank. He has apparently won the game and won his tank! He is lifted into it by the American liberator, and as they drive past the slowly walking line of freed Jewish prisoners he sees his mother, alive and safe. He is put down, runs into her arms, and says "we won." The fable is that love will win out in the end. Despite war, despite persecution, despite sacrifice (or perhaps through sacrifice) and loss, love will win. Life is Beautiful is a wonderful movie that beautifully communicates the message that "love, family and imagination conquer all." It is a portrait of human transcendance, in the midst of pain and suffering. It reminds us that the human spirit, fueled by sacrifical love, can and will conquer all. Whether you love foreign films or not, this is one that you simply must see!

Copyright 2008, Martin Baggs

CT's Top 10 Most Redeeming Movies of 2007

Christianity Today just released their "Top 10 Most Redeeming Movies of 2007." What an interesting group of movies. The top movie is a 3 hour documentary of almost total silence. The second movie is about a man who buys an inflatable sex-doll, and the community responds in unconditional love.

How many of these have you seen? What do you think of this list? Are your top 10 redeeming movies of 2007 included? If not, what are they? Why not post a comment to let us know your thoughts?

I intend to view most of these over the next few months, so watch for my reflections in an upcoming post.

Check out the CT list at: http://www.christianitytoday.com/movies/commentaries/tenredeemingfilmsof2007.html.

Copyright 2008, Martin Baggs