Sundance Film Festival 2011 / Take Shelter

This film had some interesting, I believe, deeper meaning behind it’s M. Knight Shyamalan style suspense.  The story unfolds to reveal a husband and father working to sort through his horrific dreams, determining whether or not they are somehow related to a true, oncoming storm.

Some of the themes that are covered here are handling and understanding fear and stress, family, and understanding the internal and unknown.

It is very evident that the main character, Curtis, played by Michael Shannon, becomes rather paranoid over dreams he has.  Each night that he does not get in to a deep sleep, he dreams that a large storm is coming, one that rains water the color and consistency of motor oil, which is how he comes to distinguish between his dream state and reality.  The rain begins to affect people, in which they attack each other, mainly him in his dreams.  As the dreams progress, the people in them are significantly closer to him: starting with his dog, moving to friends, and lastly to his wife.  It is in the final dream where he fully begins to pull away from reality, scared to even have his wife touch him.

Because of these dreams, he builds on to their underground storm shelter in their back yard.  It is in here where the title of the film begins to emerge.  Curtis seeks to take shelter, outwardly, within this new, enhanced underground shelter; all the while it is giving him his inward confidence to go about life as normally as possible.  The continuing paranoia of the oncoming storm eats away at him, and is all he can think about.  He believes he is doing the right thing, helping his family, by using all their investments and money to build up this shelter.  Here we begin to see the inward struggle that is going on, the stress and fear he has, strongly impacting his decisions and actions.

In that stress and fear he runs, and puts all his focus, time and energy in to creating a better, more efficient shelter.  He is not able to sleep, for fear of having more nightmares.  Because of the lack of sleep, he further neglects his health, in the area of eating as well.

Another struggle that is manifested because of this fear is the degradation of the way Curtis takes care of his family directly.  He, in his eyes, is taking care of his family, but strictly with the future in mind.  He slowly pulls away from the present, and just focuses on being able to save them at the appropriate time in the future.  The stress and tension within his marriage becomes noticeable, and he runs from it.  He puts that stress to work on their future, the shelter.  Oddly enough, he shows more affection to his daughter, and desires to, presently, take care of her, but loses sense of how that takes place.

A wrong turn in this area was where he pulled away from his wife.  It is not until about half way through the story that he is open with his wife about the dreams he is having.  By then he has already gotten drugs, seen a psychiatrist, and begun intensive work on the shelter.  I believe that much of the fear and angst could have been avoided had he been open with her near the beginning of this occurrence.  She may not have been able to solve his problems, nor answered all his questions.  But, most likely, she would have been able to help talk him through some major decisions that he took into his own hands.

Near the end of the film, when he and his family are in the shelter seeking refuge from a bad storm, his wife believes the storm is over and wants to get out.  Curtis feels otherwise, and has a hard time believing her.  She talks of how there is no storm.  I feel as though this has a deeper, more personal meaning to it (though the director, when asked, answered otherwise).  I believe that this is a reflection of how we are to deal with those fears inside of us, the storms raging within us, and face them with the one who can help us, Christ.  Curtis idolizes his wife, throughout the film looks to her for comfort and affirmation, in a sense, plays the Christ figure.  She is portrayed, I believe, in how we should overcome those fears and doubts, and allow His strength and peace to work in us.

I believe that this film, however unintentionally, shows an amazing story of a man understanding his own weaknesses, and striving to overcome them.  He transforms from a man torn between his inward struggle seeing a horrific, future storm, and not neglecting the present.  It is something that many struggle with, living in the present.  And I feel as though this extreme case shows the deprivation that focusing too much on the future and too little on the present can allow.

Sundance Film Festival 2011 / Redemption of General Butt Naked

What sins are truly unforgivable? As I was watching The Redemption of General Butt Naked, this question continuously rang through my head.  And, I believe this is one question that many people struggle with.

Also presented, was the topic of forgiveness, repentance, as well as the dichotomy of love and hatred.  The main character, General Butt Naked, also known as Joshua, had numerous sides to him.

Starting his knowledgeable career as Saul of the Bible did with Christians, Joshua persecuted anyone that he believed was against his own country.  He believed he was fighting for his country, to rout out those that were not for the government in place, which in and of itself was corrupt and being overthrown by many of its citizens.  Within his own logical reasoning, he was in the right.  He thought it just to murder anyone who opposed his beliefs, and did so horrifically, confessing to “no less than 20,000” heinous crimes.

As Craig Detweiler puts it, “I truly believe there were Spiritual forces at work within him.”  To understand how someone could, to that magnitude, conduct such atrocious acts, especially in a stable, right mind, is likely inhuman.  I agree with Dr. Detweiler in saying that there was something super-human at work within him.  To further this understanding, there are numerous accounts of people telling of how he could be penetrated by neither bullet nor sword, that he was protected somehow.  And knowing of the evils Joshua committed, it is easy to say that the power he had was of an evil nature.

Yet, remarkably, the Lord worked within him to change his life and actions.  He was convicted of wrongdoings, and showed sorrow for his fighting.  After running in to hiding for a number a years, he emerged, as appeared, a changed man.  He began preaching and teaching, speaking of God’s redeeming power.  As he began to attempt to live a life signifying his change, people began to believe him.  Moreover, he sought out those he had wronged in the past, seeking reconciliation from the families he had destroyed and the lives he had ruined.

This is where the story gets tough for many people.  At the Q and A one of the director’s, Eric Strauss, speaks of how his desire for the film is for people to “wrestle with [their] own idea of Josh’s ingenuity,” and furthermore, true redemption as a whole.

It is easy for us, in this society, to see someone change from being a petty thief, or possibly even a drug dealer, and be realistic in his conversion.  But, once someone has stepped across that invisible line of no return, we cannot accept that their change is real.  There is a tendency within humans to create a boundary, a point in which people cannot cross, in which to allow for true repentance and change.  For many, this is the case with Joshua, and it was very evident within the Q and A after the film, as many of the questions centered on this.

As for me, I believe that there is nothing the Lord cannot do, and that He has the power and choice to redeem whom He wants.  After only sitting down and watching about an hour and a half of Joshua’s life, it appears, to me, that his transformation was genuine.  How else could a man go from a pure, unrelenting desire to kill, to laying down his weapon to go and seek reconciliation from those he had hurt?  There is a good quarter of the film devoted to showing him seeking out such people, and asking them for their forgiveness. Not only does he say that he is sorry for what he has done, he goes deeper and asks these people to openly and honestly forgive him of his deeds.  To add to this, he talks a couple of different times, with a couple of people, about how he begins to realize that this is going to be a life journey, going to be a constant struggle to find these people, to live his life the right way, and to be genuine.  He understands that it is going to be tough to the end, but he moves on from this, and acts out what he is saying.

Yet, many would bring up how he is not fully living his life as he ought.  Granted, he is human.  He makes mistakes.  He is not always there for his family and wife, and should reevaluate his tactics for seeking forgiveness.  But, I feel as though he has begun to take the right steps towards turning his life around.

I wonder if one of his main struggles is going from being the strongest, toughest, most feared man around, to now being looked at as a man who can’t, or moreover won’t, pick up a weapon again.  I believe this internal, as well as manifesting itself outwardly, struggle haunts him.  That former way of life is seemingly all he knew.  He went from being the man on top, not relying on anyone, picking himself up by his bootstraps, to now needing to rely on Christ, and unseen, unknown to him, entity that he is told will help and change him.  This alone is daunting to many people, and is what keeps many away from Christ.

In this film I see hatred, hurt, and horrific crimes.  But, past that all, on a deeper level, I see a man broken, realizing his mistakes and problems, and working to right these the best he can.

Sundance Film Festival 2011 / Gun Hill Road

Park City, UT (PRWEB) January 28, 2011

Motion Film Group, Inc., a newly formed independent film venture from entertainment financier Fotis Georgiadis, has acquired the worldwide sales and distribution rights to writer/director Rashaad Ernesto Green's debut feature Gun Hill Road, which premiered to a sold-out crowd and standing ovation at Sundance on Monday, January 24 in the U.S. Dramatic Competition. The coming-of-age drama set in The Bronx stars Esai Morales ("Caprica," "NYPD Blue"), Judy Reyes ("Scrubs"), and Isiah Whitlock Jr. (Cedar Rapids, "The Wire"). Ronna Wallace of Eastgate Pictures LLC along with Andre Des Rochers, Esq. of Gray Krauss Des Rochers LLP negotiated the seven-figure deal on behalf of Gun Hill Road producers Ron Simons of SimonSays Entertainment and Michelle-anne M. Small.
Motion Film Group plans to release the film theatrically in early summer, with an initial U.S. launch into New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Further theatrical expansion will occur throughout the summer, with video release likely in the fall. The company also plans to debut the film to the international buyers market at the Cannes Film Festival and Marche du Film in May.

Sundance Film Festival 2011 / Gun Hill Road

“What would I do in this situation?”  This is what consistently went through my mind while watching this.  How could I overcome all odds by surviving prison, needless to say truly a changed man, to come home to my family where my son is not satisfied with his sexuality?  This is exactly what Enrique does.

Enrique, the father, strives to work with his son, Mike, to get him to understand his true sexuality, that he was born a male and should remain that.  He tries many different ways: by getting irate and taking his anger out on Mike, by trying to spend time with him wanting to take him to baseball game, trying to spend time talking with him, taking him to a prostitute to “feel like a true man”.  It is evident which of these work: those where Enrique works to spend personal time and try to understand Mike more, regardless of how futile he believes his attempts of understanding will be.  In this, there is a definite change in the way Mike feels about his father midway through the film when Enrique spends personal time with him.

     
Mike’s character and change stem from a lack of his father figure, and strong desire to have him be a part of his life.  This is very evident when we see Mike have small shining moments where he accepts the love his father, however poorly, is attempting to show.  Furthermore, it is blatantly shown when he recites his poem in the little club he and his friends attend, talking about how he “will try” to do and believe the things his father desires.  All he asks for in return is his love, admiration, and acceptance.

I love how the father, Enrique, is portrayed in this film.  Despite all odds, he is able to reestablish himself back into society and his family, a changed man.  Granted he has his bouts with going back to his old ways; yet he makes giant leaps towards a positive change.  He works hard to maintain a job, meet and please his parole officer, love his wife in the ways she needs, try and regain the love, trust and respect of his son.  The actors love for the story is evident in his acting, as he noticeably throws himself in to this complex character.  During the Q and A at the end, Enrique (played by Esai Morales) answers the question of, “Why this film” saying that the “script is dripping with humanity…how the f**k could I say no?”

The character arc of Enrique is amazingly well created.  He goes, at the beginning of the film, from someone wrapped up in his selfishness, unwilling to change for anyone or anything.  He makes a remarkable 180-degree turn in his attitude.  By the end, he is willing to go back to jail to show his son that he truly loves him for who he is.

And this is the essence of the film, it dripping with humanity, a catastrophic mix of tragic mankind.  It brings taboo topics to the surface in an effort to create dialogue about these topics.

Also during the Q and A, the director talked about how he desired for the cast to be a mix of seasoned and original actors.  When he needed to ensure to give the right image of a rough and tough neighborhood, he didn’t want to take any chances.  In this, Green walked around downtown and among numerous neighborhoods to find the right people.  From the standpoint of a storyteller, it is refreshing to see how someone really wants to guarantee that they have the most accurate account that they can get.  By ensuring this accuracy he was able to find people from off the streets, many who otherwise would not have had any such other opportunity.  While talking about his rough and tragic past, as well as having people in the audience in tears, Sugar, played by Robert Salvman, says that he “went from having nothing, to having something” because of this opportunity.  On top of the true humanity that Green portrays in his film, he directly impacts humanity with his choice in actors.  I believe this is the act of someone that truly wants to positively influence the world around them.

The film for me is both difficult and easy to relate to.  Beginning with the possibly more alarming, it is easy for me to relate to because I have family members who struggle with their sexuality, due to the lack of a father figure.  I have had many conversations with, and can understand more of why they do what they do and desire what they do seems logical.  Also, it is easy for me to relate to because, to some degree, everyone has a desire to feel the love and acceptance from their father that Mike does.  This is a God-given need.  In a few different ways, it is rather hard for me to relate to.  Especially in the way of everyone’s lifestyle, both sexually and how they live, race, and age concerning Enrique.  The one that was hardest for me to grasp, yet also in some ways the easiest, is that of the sexuality of Mike.  I see this as being brought about by his deeper need for love and attention from a strong male figure.

I believe that this film is very well done for many of these reasons: showing true humanity, struggle, self-image, grief, and love.