Moving Movies

I love movies. I watch them all the time. I used to rent them and watch them every weekend and several times a week. I would go to the movie theater 4 or 5 times a month, sometime just to see a movie for the second or third time in the theater. There's something about the experience of seeing a movie in the theater that I just love. However, if the movie is terrible, I find myself quite upset that I wasted my time and money at the theater. Luckily, I usually have decent taste in movies, when it comes to what to see in public versus what is worth waiting to rent.

There are several movies in my own limited collection that I love to watch. You've Got Mail and Bed of Roses are great romantic flicks. Tommy Boy and Happy Gilmore get played often for their humorous scenes. The Saint or Enemy of the State are viewed when I desire an action film that is littered with techy stuff. Braveheart finds playtime when I want an action/drama movie that plays on the principals and desires of humanity to escape oppression and lead others. These are just a few of the movies that I have watched dozens of times.

There are, however, certain films that I love that I cannot watch with such regularity. It's not that I don't find these stories totally amazing or the imagery utterly fascinating or anything like that. It's not that I do not own them or have access to them. No, this viewing roadblock rests on a much deeper level. I cannot watch these films as often because they touch me too deeply. To watch these films with any sort of regularity might cause me to become hardened to the reality of the stories and images. It might provoke me to take the messages woven throughout them for granted, and that is something that I would never want to happen.

Here is a list of films that I cannot watch with any regularity, but I proudly own them (or will as soon as they are available):
Schindler's List (1993)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
9/11 (2002)
We Were Soldiers (2002)
Hotel Rwanda (2004)

There are more that probably fall into this category, but I do not own them or just can't recall them at the moment. Two of the movies revolve around stories of military conflict and the ensuing battles (Saving Private Ryan and We Were Soldiers). Three of them are the stories of people who were persecuted and killed because of who they were and where they were (Schindler's List, 9/11 and Hotel Rwanda). All of them are about the heroic deeds of men and women placed in situations of extraordinary pressure and stress and somehow overcoming their impending doom to help their fellow man.

It's the dichotomy of the depravity of mankind and the love some people can express for others that truly moves me. These movies are the embodiment of everything to hate about the human race as well as the absolute best we have to offer. It's the well-known and little known stories of history retold from a perspective that forces the viewer to associate with one of the characters on some level and to then attempt to imagine living through what that character is presented with.

What would you have done in Germany if you had the position/status of Schindler?
Would you run into the skyscraper to save the lives of strangers?
Would you be willing to die for the strangers in your place of business?
Would you be willing to lose everything you have to save one more?
Would you be willing to give your life for another person?

There's no way to know what you would do in certain situations until they present themselves as the reality that is before you. There is no way to plan on dying for a stranger...

These questions promote personal reflection that I think is incredibly healthy for a person. They challenge me to be a better neighbor, brother, husband and citizen. I wonder if other people ever think of the qualities they hope to exhibit toward other people in the everyday situations of live which are not life or death. I know I do.

Character is not something that is pulled off the shelf and purchased at the moment it is needed; it is a part of a lifestyle that involves integrity, humility and respect for others; it is part of who you are; it is what calls you to action and demands your attention when others are looking the other way.