The power of film is indisputable…. There is something about movies… which succeeds in connecting to the human psyche in a deep way. Movies carry some sort of psychic charge that no other art form… can quite match.
Colin McGinn, The Power of Movies

The nexus of relationships that forms our existence… is given. We do not create these relationships; we experience them, being given with existence. And from this matrix come resources of grace that can carry us beyond the meanings of our own making, and alert us to goodness that is not of our own willing or defining.
Bernard Meland, “Culture as a Source for Theology”

This week I want to write about a movie, and I will get there soon. Think of this as a prologue to a film – and in our age of videos, dvds, t-vo, and i pods, you are, of course, capable of fast forwarding through this to get to the movie part. I hope you won’t - but you have the remote!

In her essay “Reflections on Cinema, Spirituality and Process” (in Handbook of Process Theology), Donna Bowman defines spirituality along two dimensions. The first is “discernment – a way of thinking deeply through matters of value and of finding meaning in the truth. The aim is to change one’s own practice, one’s own life, by the creative experience of applying deep spiritual knowledge.” The second dimension that comprises spirituality is “sacramental awareness.” “Here the spiritual consciousness seeks to attend to what presents itself in the moment, on its own terms and for its own sake, trusting that something valuable or sacred is therein revealed.” Bowman then goes on to argue that film has a “unique power” to aid spirituality so defined. Films invite us to think deeply about values, and sometimes cause us to reexamine some of our own, perhaps changing them. I know my views about the importance of overcoming racial injustice were formed in part by watching the made for television movie, Brian’s Song – about the Chicago Bears running backs Gale Sayers and Brian Piccolo. I was probably in junior high school, but I still remember the emotional impact of that movie, even as I remember that Billy D. Williams played Gale Sayers, James Caan played Brian Piccolo and Jack Warden played George Halas. Films also invite us to a sacramental awareness, watching a film “we practice attention to the present moment and revel in its concreteness.”

Roll film! Last week I began something new at my church, a “theology and movie night.” I did not begin by reading quotes from Meland or Bowman or McGinn (I saved these for you, my friendly reader!). I simply shared a little about the movie and then showed it, leaving time for discussion afterwards. The movie I showed was The Station Agent (and, by the way, we purchased a license to show movies in the church and we don’t charge). It is a wonderful film, one I highly recommend.

The basic story of the film is that of a man, Fin, who inherits a train depot in a small town in New Jersey. Fin is a “little person” and he carries within him a lot of anger. He prefers a quiet life, one as regular as a train schedule. But his life will not be a quiet one, for into it come Joe and Olivia, each, in their own way dealing with the pain of life – Olivia trying to cope with the death of a son, Joe dealing with his father’s illness. The film is about the intersection of these three lives and it is filled with humor, love, tenderness, anger, prejudice and odd facts about trains. The movie carries a psychic charge - find it and watch it.

As I have been thinking about this film, I believe it is a film that deepens my spirituality. It is the kind of movie that invites paying close attention to detail, to the life before one’s eyes. It also invites deeper reflection on values and meaning. I was left pondering the delightful quirkiness of individual human beings, the inevitability of grief and anger in life, the importance of finding friends to help us get through.

Beyond that, however, I saw in this film grace. People come together in ways they don’t plan or expect, but they touch each other’s lives in ways that help create meaning and goodness that none would necessarily have created on their own.

And I wonder, can watching a film be itself grace? Watching The Station Agent brought resources of grace that continue to carry me beyond meanings of my own making. Watching it alerted me to goodness beyond my own willing and defining.

Maybe watching such a film in church is just the place for it. There was something sacramental about it, especially as we shared this film together.

With Faith and With Feathers,

David