Each Crime and Every Kindness.

“Our lives are not our own. We are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.” - David Mitchell, The Cloud Atlas

What a work of art the movie Cloud Atlas is. I watched it recently with my husband, in our annual lead-up-to-the-Oscars film cram. Since I am usually content to read a good book and fall off to sleep after the kids have gone to bed, staying up and engaged in this almost three hour film was a surprise. 

The movie is directed by the same sibling duo that directed The Matrix, in conjunction with the director who is credited with the movie Run Lola Run. There are many echoes of the Matrix (not so much Run Lola Run) in parts of this one. 

Though it hasn't received much acclaim or recognition in American film circles or on recent award shows, I am waiting to see how it does in international markets. A multi-layered and apparently, according to recent reviews, polarizing film; it sweeps through many story lines in different time periods. For that reason it does take focus and attention to begin connecting the dots that bring this movie to its conclusion. But at the end you are left with a feeling that your mind has expanded a bit closer to its edges!

A movie that stays with you days after you see it, both for its visual aspects as well as the idea on which the stories turn (see above quote), it will leave you contemplating your place in this world and wondering about the age old idea that each person in our life is there for a reason. Have you seen the movie? What was your reaction?

Facing the Tigers, Facing Ourselves.

This weekend I had the pleasure of watching the movie Life of Pi with my husband. Though I wasn't sure I was drawn to it initially, I couldn't deny how gorgeous it seemed visually, and the fact that it peaked my curiosity as it was based on the life of a man from India.

Here's the thing. I want to see it again as soon as I can. It was stunning and uplifting and a beautiful tale which speaks to all of us and is an allegory touching on the themes of

• what are our stories and why do we craft them as we do?
• what is the mind,  body and spirit capable of in dire circumstances?
• what is the role of faith and God in our lives?
• do people want to know the truth?
• why do people believe in God?
• why do people isolate themselves when it serves to alienate and encourage the loneliness that will only consume them with unhappiness from the inside out?
• what are our responsibilities as human beings and humane beings toward other people, and animals?
• what barbaric acts are human beings capable of? are we really so evolved?
• how do we face or evade our demons and project them outward?
• what compels us to look away from what scares us and what compels us to face what's difficult?
• why do people become so paralyzingly attached to the stories that cause them pain and suffering?
• when we make a choice how to frame our story in a forgiving and healing way, we become freer and more happy.

Throughout watching the movie last night and thinking about it a lot today, I realize I couldn't help but think of the many articles I read about the young woman in New Delhi who was brutally violated on a bus and her subsequent death from the horrific injuries she sustained.

One of the articles I read on this tragedy mentioned that she and her friend had just come from a screening of the movie The Life of Pi when they were so senselessly attacked. To think that this was such an uplifting and thought-provoking film, about god and faith and resilience and loss and survival --  and also about how horrible people can be to one another -- it struck me all the more. She must have felt uplifted after seeing the film - it was so hopeful and beautiful. And then out in the world she was brutally raped and left for dead by men in a society in which they felt entitled to act out as the most selfish animals might.

It is such deeply impressing and remarkable movie. I recommend it highly - it is hypnotic, gorgeous and a work of genius.