Movie
by Paul Thomas Anderson, featuring Tom Cruise, Jason Robards,
William H. Macy, Juliane Moore, Melinda Dillon, Phillip Seymor
Hoffman, Melora Walters, John C. Reilly and more.
The movie kicks off with the song "one" (is the loneliest number
you will ever know), it is appropriate but dark and indicates
the movie as a whole. This movie makes a good (but not great)
attempt at showing the inter-related situations (connections
between people and events) from 1911 to present day. It also
alludes to what the future will bring the characters based on
their interactions with each other, which I liked, as it didn't
keep me sitting on the edge of my seat in the end. It is fast
paced; I felt it included a realistic number of characters considering
the overall spiritual messages it was conveying.
The writer has endeavored to portray triumph over adversity
in life's tribulations but I felt that while this could have
been a more inspiring movie it was just dark - even in it's
moments of being possibly uplifting - and because of this it
is very realistic. I appreciated that. It did have some psychic
spiritual philosophies fairly well outlined. Such as: what I
have coined as Life Plan Contracts, i.e.: people have "contracts"
with each other (that were made while spiritual before their
earthly lives) to interact specifically with each other in order
to learn from each other and teach each other valuable emotional
lessons. These interactions are often brief and not always recognized
as important to themselves or any of the other participants.
In fact the participants may not even know each other at all,
but in one way or another affect each other's human emotional
education. Most peoples will not understand the relevance of
another person in their life until after they have passed over
(into death) during the time they are reviewing the intricate
details of their lives and thus what they had learned while
being human.
Personally, I thought the writer(s) tried to do a great job
of depicting Life Plan Contracts but just fell short of their
mark and came in with a score of good but not great. I felt
that the movie "Convergence" did a much better job of depicting
this without being so busy that the viewer would loose sight
of the educational value in the movie. When teaching spiritual
subject matter, presentation is not only important but at times
must be kept simple to maintain it's impact for the full benefit
of the student...(aha! you see how even I got carried away there?).
I felt this movie tried to tackle too much, with too many characters,
though that is what it's like in real life therefore I also
applaud this huge effort on the part of the movies creators.
I would suggest that if the viewer is interested in the spiritual
message / educational value that this movie offers, it is best
viewed on video, as one must hit the pause button every once
in awhile to get over the heavy emotional impact the movie has.
This movie provides the viewer with hard hitting - literally
gut wrenching - scenes that can sidetrack the viewer away from
the spiritual educational message and into self reflection,
therefore, regarding educational issues only, I felt it lost
a few brownie points and in my view reduced the movie's standing
to good - but not great. As a professional spiritualist (who's
heard it all before over and over), I found myself to be a little
jaded to the plight of many of the characters in this movie.
Therefore, I realized I could not critique this movie in total,
myself, and so I asked some nice normal non-psychics for their
impressions of this movie as well. I'm so glad I did, they loved
it, and their insight was refreshing giving me a more balanced
perspective for you!
I felt this movie was a good example of one of my favorite sayings
(which I was much criticized for when I said it out loud 15
years ago--but now the Pope agrees with me so I'm safe to say
it again); "If you want to know where heaven or hell is, look
no further, your living in it right here, right now!"
I think this movie had another great message in that it re-enforced
the old adage, "no one knows what goes on behind closed doors"
which relates to why people should not hastily (or at all) judge
other people's actions particularly before they know all the
details from all the participants viewpoints. One scene shows
a streetwise young man who is obviously older than his years,
a perfect character to depict that what is socially acceptable
or unacceptable in one situation (the right or wrong thing to
do) is not a cut and dry issue, there is no black and white
issues in life they are usually gray. Then of course there is
Earl's tirade to Phil regarding regrets - but gee Earl, there
are always regrets in life and we learn from them weather we
realize it or not. This movie did not make enough of a statement
regarding that we can learn from our hard times, that (another
favorite of mine) oh so many spiritually valuable things are
learned in sorrow, not all of life's valuable jewels are shrouded
in joy.
Weather you are realistic, optimistic, fatalistic, pessimistic,
don't take responsibilities for your own actions, hold other
people responsible for your happiness, define yourself through
sexual performance, money or the job you hold or are totally
perfect and together you should know this: you will recognize
yourself in many, not just one, of this movie's characters.
Take note of what you discover about yourself, your loved ones
and how they interact with you, and common overall human behaviorism.
I simply call this "retrospective viewing" and it is an integral
tool in spiritual awareness education.
To make it easier for the viewer I have listed the characters
and their general roles without giving away anything important
but with which I hope will also have you asking deeper questions
that tend to get sidelined when caught in the emotional roller-coaster
of this movie. After all, the first time you really should watch
it for it's hard hitting entertainment value, but why can't
one learn while being educated made easier with some pre-viewing
preparation?
The primary characters:
Frank: Dead Lilly's beautiful, successful, rich, crude
unapologetic woman- bashing and hugely popular male-oriented
self-help dating guru. He is also Earl's completely estranged
(and considered-by Linda-evil) son. When confronted with his
reality he fights it, knowing he can't fight forever, although
he feels he has been fighting for what seems forever. Are you
confused? Yeah? Well, so is Frank. As much as he has come up
with a schtick that instructs men to stop being victims of women,
and while experience makes for a good teacher, he is insecure
and hasn't really been able to step out of victim-mode himself.
But, has he unwittingly become just an exaggerated version of
his own worst desires, or not?
Earl Partridge: Frank's Father, dead Lilly's ex-husband,
Linda's current husband / sugar-daddy. Sadly, Earl is in the
final excruciatingly painful stages of a lengthy terminal illness
and striving to define his life's meaning or is he just working
toward a last ditch effort to guarantee salvation/redemption
in the face of death? Does anybody care?
Linda Partridge: Earl's trophy wife and very conscientious
care giver, who, like many people in real life, was initially
motivated for marriage by money and bountiful creature comforts.
She must find it in herself to forgive herself her own trespasses
when Earl's impending death and horrific care-giving requirements
become an overwhelming amount of stress…but particularly when
self-imposed-guilt bites her ass. (Nobody else seems to care
about, much less condemn her activities but her). Can she pull
it off?
Phil: Home Care Nurse to Earl, while compassion is a
teacher he perhaps doesn't understand that sympathy is a crippler.
Who takes care of a caregiver when the job is done - and is
it just a job?
Donny Smith: A highly nationally-celebrated child genius
(now adult) who gained his fame on the TV Quiz Show pitting
adults against above average intelligence children hosted by
Jimmy Gator. He was hit by lightening and lost his above average
intelligence - or did he? Is he just a simple man who really
has a lot of love to give but just doesn't know where to put
it, or perhaps only guilty of assuming that money makes a person
successful?
Stanley: the newest child star of Jimmy Gator's quiz
show. He has the IQ of a genius and the EQ (emotional quotient)
of a man of conviction rather than that of a boy. Or, is that…
the emotions of a boy with the self-imposed (due to intelligent
self-rationalization) responsibilities of a man?
Stanley's Dad: simply put, is a self-serving creep scrabbling
up his kid's earnings with little to no compassion who's son,
Stanley, is not only smarter than he is but is also is his sorely
underutilized moral compass - or so it seems to me. I wonder
if he will recognize Stanley for what he is, or maybe he shouldn't
at all, perhaps by doing so he'd screw Stanley up even more
than he already has-or has he? Well…you decide.
Jimmy Gator: TV Quiz Show Host for 30 years. Father to
Claudia, husband to Rose, dying of end stage cancer.
Rose Gator: Jimmy's wife, Claudia's mother, who faces
the suspicions she harbors for too many years - but only when
she finally has nothing to loose and needs to protect/ensure
her future. Is she a coward or just finally taking the bull
by the horns?
Claudia: a coke addict and daughter to Jimmy and Rose.
She seemingly takes life by the horns after looking into her
own reality, and does something about it. But is she searching
for the truth or honesty and would either heal her?
Jim: a socially awkward, single cop, who is compassionate
and a methodical, faithful Christian who continually talks to
God trying to justify his every action and life event. He knows
himself well it seems. Could everything in life really be that
black and white? What about the gray areas where black meets
white? Hmmm. |
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