Restless Men are Lawless

The movie Lawless is an example of everything being right about a movie except that the director totally failed to bring it together. Great actors, beautiful scenes a few punchy lines, but nothing that brought the disjointed scenes and character development into an engaging storyline.

Some of one-liners were sharp and well delivered though. The one that I loved was at the beginning of the movie. The 'invincible' Tom Hardy is being challenged by a simple thug. Tom Hardy takes one long hard look at him and 'growls' something like, "you know what we are... we are but birds... all of us are like birds, we don't know what is coming at us". Before the slow-minded thug could understand what Tom Hardy was getting at he finds himself  lying on the floor, face caved-in.

This reference to the bird analogy in the movie reminded me about another reference to a bird in another movie 'Of Gods and Men'. This is a movie based on the true story of some Roman Catholic Monks serving the villagers in Algeria who eventually get assassinated by the Muslim extremists. The Islamic rebels threaten the Jesuit Monks that they would be killed if they did not leave the village.

In the movie there is a scene where the Monks are discussing their options with the poor villagers. There is a beautiful metaphor about men being birds. The monks tell the villagers that they are like a 'bird on a branch' trying to decide whether or not they need to leave. A sharp lady replies, "We are the birds, you are our branch, if you leave, we lose our footing". The monks decide to stay and get killed.

Man like a bird, is helpless and hurrying about his business. Without a 'footing' or a place to nest a bird can no longer go about its business of being a bird. Likewise men we need a place for a sure footing in life. To the villagers, the Monks are their 'footing' - their place of rest. To the monks, 'the love of Christ' is their place of rest. Life is really about finding this place of rest. St. Augustine said of the Lord, "Vast art Thee Oh Lord. We do not find our rest until we find our rest in Thee".

In fact, in the movie Lawless if there is a central theme I think is that of finding rest. The movie starts with the three brothers fighting their way through a lawless, pointless, restless life until Shai LaBeouf falls in love with a girl who is the daughter of the village priest. Interestingly, the movie has the theme of the Church running through it. The first time Shai LaBeouf interacts with the girl it is in a Church. The movie even ends with tune of a hymn (which I did not recognize).

The Church, theologically and culturally symbolizes a place of rest. It is a place which gives man a 'footing' in life. But this does not mean that the Church is a place for docile people. In fact, being IN a Church requires a sort of unearthly discipline, love and compassion that not everyone can cope with it. In the scene where Shai LaBeouf meets the girl at the Church, the congregation is singing the haunting hymn 'I am going home' (this youtube video gives the same rendition of the hymn in the Church people moving their hands likewise and all). The girl is washing  Shai LaBeouf 's feet as this hymn is being sung. The experience scares the devil out of  Shai LaBeouf and he runs out of the Church.

 Shai LaBeouf realizes that he has to go up and beyond who he was to court this girl and he single-handedly change the course of life of the three brothers leading them to find their 'footing' in life. In the movie, the brothers don't so much find their rest in the Church per se, as in their families. In fact, a good family is sort of like a Church that it requires an unearthly discipline, love and compassion to be able to run a family. In fact, when Christ talks about His Kingdom, he talks about 'birds of the air' finding their rest.

Matthew 13:31-32: He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

It is no wonder that as the influence of the Church on the society goes down, people become less disciplined, loving and compassionate to be able to run families. Divorce rate spikes, families disintegrate and people feel lost as the birds of the air. The Church built in the Kingdom of God is a place of rest for the people who feel as lost as the 'birds of the air'.

Without good Churches that transform men from within, men find it hard to inculcate the discipline, love and compassion to have good families. Without good families, man will be as the 'birds of the air' without a place to rest. Men that are restless are usually lawless too.

Days of Heaven - A Story of a Family that Wasn't

I saw the movie 'Days of Heaven' last weekend. 'Days of Heaven' is made by the legendary of Terrence Malick, the director of the recent 'Tree of Life'. Like much of his other movies, it is a narration/thoughts of one person witnessing life.

The movie is about a few parent-less kids, a nomadic group of three and a lone guy who is a rich young farmer. The group of 3 nomads is a boy, Bill, and two girls the younger of which Linda, is the narrator. The elder girl Abby and Bill are sort of in love, but they behave as brother/sister to the outside world. During the narration little Linda says they are sort of family, but not quite.

During their nomadic journey, they work at the farm of the rich young farmer in Texas. The rich young farmer finds Abby attractive. Bill learns that rich young farmer is terminally ill and may die soon. The rich farmer wants to marry Abby. The shrewd Bill concocts a plan. If Abby would marry the rich young lonely farmer and then he dies soon, the money would all be theirs.

He cajoles Abby into marrying the rich farmer. Of course, there is a whole lot of confusion. The movie ends with gun fights and painful tears. Bill and the farmer are dead. Abby and Linda are separated. The last scene is that of Little Linda, along with another nomadic friend, walking along the railway track not quite sure where they are going. It is a sad ending.

As I sat back and wondered what was missing in the movie, I realized that the movie had no real family. There wasn't a man and woman who were fused into one body, there weren't kids taken care of by a family, everyone was restless and yearning for something real in life.

There is a poignant scene in the movie. On the night of the phony marriage, Abby is on the bed, her Groom walks in looks at her and says, "you look like an Angel". She looks troubled and says, "but I am not one". Then Abby tries to be the Angel and really falls in love with her husband. For a short while, they have a real family resulting in a brief interlude of peace and rest, which I believe is what Linda considers the few 'Days of Heaven'. But one day, the Abby's Angel goes to sleep and the devil shows up. All hell breaks loose. Little Linda observes later on, 'we are all half Angel, half Devil'.

God created the family for it to be a place of rest, peace and contentment. In as much as we do not value family life, we miss the God-given gift to rest, nest and enjoy our little 'days of heaven' on earth. The problem is, the Devil-half of us will ruin even the best of gifts that God gives us. So to be an Angel and enjoy the 'Days of Heaven' (on earth) one needs supernatural strength and thus, 'a family that prays together, stays together'.