| Look to the right on the Gun Totin Chaplain Amazon.com Detail page(link above) and sign up for the Alert Me email on the right of the page to let you know when the book will be available.
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| Look to the right on the Gun Totin Chaplain Amazon.com Detail page(link above) and sign up for the Alert Me email on the right of the page to let you know when the book will be available.
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| Beyond Borders has a Powerful Message
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I've just finished watching Beyond Borders. Powerful movie in light of Darfur and our total lack of doing anything to help those poor people. Think about it: if we weren't so bogged down in a no win and senseless war in Iraq, we could have saved millions of lives. Sad.
In Beyond Borders , Clive Owen is Nick Callahan a British doctor, driven by his passion for the poor and downtrodden. Owen is somewhat living the mission of Jesus without the "f" word. The movie is about international relief, starting with the effort in Ethiopia, Cambodia, and Chechnya. Angelina Jolie plays, Sarah Jordan, a married American who falls for Nick Callahan. Working on Beyond Borders could have been the catalyst for Jolie getting involved in relief work in poor countries. This movie makes what little good we are doing seem insignificant.
Beyond Borders is a powerful movie and really makes me realize what an unbelievably powerful medium movies are; they often depict reality in a way we cannot. Movies can always make happen what they want to happen; real life is not as easy.
In the beginning, this movie is a little of a love story between Owen and Jolie. Later on, the romance picks up steam. The movie begins with him bursting into a large blacktie gathering and confronting all these "do gooders" so to speak- how little they are doing, what real suffering means? I can just imagine it as it is incredibly uncomfortable to all. He has this little emaciated black kid with him. Angelina Jolie is at the event and it is the catalyst for her raising funds and taking a load of goods to Ethiopia.
It is obvious that Nick(Owen) and Sarah(Jolie) develop a connection. The movie is fairly well done in the romance department; not a lot of "wrestling around on the hood of a truck" type action. The attraction between the two of them is the lessor theme of the movie, especially in the beginning.
Sarah works for the UN and she and the doc encounter each other again in Cambodia which brings them to consumate their love amidst incredible violence.
Nick says to her that he loves her and from the moment he has known her, she has always been in his heart. She says to him that she has thought of him every single day since the first day they met. He then says something like you must return to your world, your husband and child and I must do what I must do. Our lives have to go on as there is no way we can have each other. If you stay, those that you love will be hurt. If you go, I will be hurt and so will you, but you must go. Very poignant.
Some of us have been in similar situations in which we must face reality and do what is best. Such is life. Two motrin and driving on.
Thoughtful movie, rent it.
Two parachutes. JHL
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In The True Meaning of Pictures: Shelby Lee Adams' Appalachia documentarian Jennifer Baichwal tells the true stories behind the faces of the Kentucky Appalachian inhabitants once labeled as hillbillies. They were originally captured through the camera lens of Photographer Shelby Lee Adams 30 years earlier.
Baichwal tracks the lives of two families who have endured their share of heartache through their struggle to resist the influence of American popular culture.
If you are into documentaries, this is an interesting one to watch for lots of reasons. This isn't PC (politically correct), but ignorance and lack of education is simply astounding regardless of culture.
One segment of the documentary involved snake handling by a Pentecostal religious sect. I was mesmerized. Church members were handling copperheads based on some obscure passage in the Bible-true believers will handle snakes. Please!
The leader of the sect gets severely bitten by a copperhead which almost ends his life. After recovering from his near death bite, he makes it back home and you guessed it: he immediately started handling snakes again. See what I mean about ignorance. Baichwal, the film maker says, behaviors like snake handling are part of the struggle to resist the influence of popular American culture. I don't think so. Maybe I am just less kind. God bless them.
Two parachutes. JHL
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| The World's Fastest Indian
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What jangles a person's chimes is always interesting to me. For instance, in 1967, New Zealander, Burt Munro, played by Anthony Hopkins, set records with his customized Indian Scout motorcycle at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. But perhaps more amazing than his jaw dropping land speed at that time of almost 200 miles is the fact that he was 67 year old.
Anthony Hopkins in this role is an interesting choice. I'd often like to know how casting comes up with their choices. Hopkins was good, OK in fact, but still somehow didn't fit the role. He was somewhat irascible or maybe eccentric is a better term.
So, what drives a person like Munro at his age to set several land speed records on a motorcycle and became somewhat of a legend ? Maybe it's his heart condition or just a strong desire to live out his dream.
Burt Munro, a New Zealander and at 67 years old, participating in his first motorcycle race in America seems impausible, but it happened. And, of course, movies always throw in a few improbables. Here he is in the middle of the desert, has trouble with a tire on his trailer and ends up at a house where he can get help but also get laid; and, he's an old guy. I was smiling.
He gets to the "flats" and is rescued by various people. Finally, he gets his chance and does it justifying all those who had faith in him, especially those who follow the very odd sort of life of setting land speed records.
Let's give this a two parachutes. It's worth a couple of hours.
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New Book: VietVet Memoir 
Movie Reviews 
