Movies

I like movies. I can watch some of them again and again. Today I watched Dances With Wolves for the I don't know how many times. I remember seeing it for the first time in Cambridge with Marsha. It was the weekend in the middle of the General Ordination Exams. I had a room at the seminary for the week of the exams including the weekend and Marsha had come in for the weekend with me. On the big screen seeing it for the first time it was unbelievable. We both wept at parts of it and were touched by others and understood that it had a message beyond itself. To me what makes a movie great is that combination of effects. With this particular movie it is the combination of a compelling historical novel with a serious look at humanity. The indian culture seeking group wisdom has always been attractive to me for example. At the same time the hostility between indians tribes and indians with the whites both show a common problem of human unwillingness to try to understand people who are different. I think we fear that if we try to understand those who look different or think different or talk different that we will have to change. Maybe sometimes that is what will make sense in the end, but more often we hold onto the values and choices which define us. I admire the two main characters who are invested in coming to know each other. I would love a world filled with people like that.