American Film Institute's Top Ten Movies of all Time

It seems appropriate that this entry is directly juxtoposed with the last entry. Recently the American Film Institute released its top 100 movies of all time. The list is good and full of movies that many of us, of a younger generation have not seen. So next time you go to the movie store and don't see anything worth renting go to the classic's section and watch some of them! The top ten list is great. I have seen most of the films on the list and agree that they are all brilliant. Citizen Kane was voted the top film of all time--and I couldn't agree more. It is really a fascinating story in light of the year it was made and the person who made it. The following is the Wikipedia write-up on Citizen Kane.

"Citizen Kane is a 1941 mystery/drama film released by RKO Pictures and directed by Orson Welles, his first feature film. The story traces the life and career of Charles Foster Kane, a man whose career in the publishing world was born of idealistic social service, but gradually evolved into a ruthless pursuit of power and ego at any cost. Narrated principally through flashbacks, the story is revealed through the research of a newspaper reporter seeking to solve the mystery of the newspaper magnate's dying word, "Rosebud."

Citizen Kane is often cited as being one of the most innovative works in the history of film. In 1998 and again in 2007 the American Film Institute placed it at number one in its list of the 100 greatest U.S. movies of all time. In a recent poll of film directors conducted by the British Film Institute, Citizen Kane was ranked number one best film of all time.[1]
The film's main character, Charles Foster Kane, was inspired by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst.[2] Upon its release, mention of the film was conspicuously absent from Hearst's newspapers."

The Godfather is obviously great, Raging Bull is brilliant looking and Wizard of Oz is an amazing classic. I do feel that Schindler's List should have been number two instead of eight, and that Saving Private Ryan should have made the top ten instead of Raging Bull, but as I scan the top 100 it seems that what I have believed to be true for years is confirmed: Steven Spielberg is the best director in Cinema history. It looks like at least 8 movies of his made the top 100, maybe more. Here is to the making of good films!

1. Citizen Kane (1941)

2. The Godfather (1972)

3. Casablanca (1942)

4. Raging Bull (1980)

5. Singin' in the Rain (1952)

6 Gone With the Wind (1939)

7 Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

8 Schindler's List (1993)

9 Vertigo (1958)

10 The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Ocean's 13: Big Money, Star-studded and Empty

It must be said...again: Hollywood is not about art at all anymore. It is, to state the obvious, about money. Now I am not naive enough to think that it ever was about art--spend a couple of days in Hollywood or with the people who reside there and you will quickly come to see what is at its heart--but it is just so obvious now. Ocean's 13 is a perfect example of a movie that was just made to make money. It is not smart, it is not subtle, it is not quirky, it is not entertaining and it is not interesting. It does not advance the story or develop characters. It does not do anything. It just makes money--that's it--that is its one role in the world: just to sit up on the screen and make money. It is in a word: forgettable.

Now, of course, like anything its role is to make money-- it's the same with all the sequels: Shrek, Pirates of the Caribbean, Die Hard, Fantastic Four-- they exist to make money, which is fine, but in a world that pretends to be about at least partly about art it is rather shallow. Art has always had an interplay between itself and simply making money. I am sure that many of the wonderful paintings we see from the great artists in history were done for money--which is fine, in fact we should not romantically envision art as something people just do for free; as the saying goes "There is no free lunch." And that is fine--to make money from what God has gifted you to do. But when the art--if we are calling these films art anymore--becomes so contrived that its ploys to make money are as obvious as Ocean's 13 we have to at least recognize it--if not only to be aware if it. The following is what scares me the most about all of this: this movie does not even try to be good. And I could say the same for many of the films I have seen over the last years.

But at the end of the day I wonder if the fact that these kinds of films continue to be made is more of a commentary on us--the consumer--than anyone else. I wonder if we are the ones everyone in Hollywood is laughing at: "Hahaha--I got fourteen scripts for Ocean's 13 on my desk--I threw a dart at one and that's the film we made--it was horrific and it made 40 million dollars the first weekend! Hahaha"...I hope this changes and that better films start being made. I hope we as consumers come to expect more from the art we enjoy.

Refelections on Turkey

Turkey was truly amazing. Our team of twelve was tested in so many ways to live outside the "comfort place" of regular day living. We saw a different world than the Western world--a world with Muslim symbols at every corner--a reminder of who to worship every few hours with the call to pray bellowing out from all the mosques. It was intersting to try to do Christian ministry in the shadow of a different empire than the pseudo-Christian empire that we live in from day to day in Canada. What was most interesting though, and out of all the potential reflections I could offer I offer this, was the similarities between the cultures.

In the Western world we think we are Christian but we are not. The Eastern world thinks we are Christian as well. I talked to a man who spoke of the Western world as all being Christians when I was there. I couldn't help but think of all the people I know who would have been offended. But what is propogated to us day after day is the "myth of a Christian nation" as Gregory Boyd has recently coined it. My question, echoing Brian Mclaren's question, for the US and Canada would be: "when were we a Christian nation? When we were killing, culturally imprisoning, and stealing the lands of millions of native peoples in a New World version of the Holocaust? When we were importing and exploiting millions of slaves? I believe the Christian nation myth is untrue, more than that, it is pernicious for what it does to us" (Brian Mclaren, The Church on the Other Side, 33).

The myth is pervasive though and needs to be questioned and challenged at every moment. Remember the facts of history stated above are not just blips on the map of our culture--they are our cultures founding story and thus the authoratative metanarrative of our lives--tha is if our identity begins and ends with citizenship of a country--but that is another story for another day. The fact that this is our founding story then shapes so much of who we are and what we do--even how we live out our religious committments. One thinks on the question of how a faith built on a person who taught enemy-love became the most violent in history--and we see the answer lies in fusing religion and nationalism together. It is important to remember that this is our founding story--and that we don't whitewash it--thus though we should read history books written by the victors, but one must also read alternative histories of nations, written not from the perspective of the wars and the politicians, but from the people: the slaves, farmers and housemaids. Which is why Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States is so staggering for people to read because it looks at history from a different perspective--the perspecitve of the farmers and the slaves and the powerless--

But back to Turkey--to my surprise Turkey was more secular than I expected and not extremely Muslim in its commitments. In fact, thoug it is 99% Muslim on paper, I wonder if most of the people I met even know much about the Koran, Islamic history or why they even go to Mosque or pray 5 or six times a day. In the same way that I wonder about many in our so-called Christian west--whether they understand what praying the Lord's Prayer is really about. If people understand what the gospel really is--beyond going to heaven when we die--and what the Bible actually says about things like Hell, Salvation, God, Sexuality and a whole host of other things. They, like us, hear things by people talking and assume its true even when its not. In regards to Islam, the point about the Koran is that it is a miracle in its original language--Arabic, but none of them can read Arabic so they trust their Imam (Muslim teacher) to teach them about it. Many of them don't handle it themselves and see what it says. In the same way, many Christians trust their pastors/teachers to tell them about the Bible which is dangerous because I am not sure the Pastors are actually handling the text themselves anymore!

I asked one fellow why he didn't go to Mosque one Friday and he said that he had had too much sex to be accepted there. "I go once in awhile to say hello, once a year or so" he said--he had no sense of forgiveness or grace. I wondered about how similiar this is with us. Prostitutes, those who get pregnant before getting married, liars, homosexuals--they all feel uncomfortable in the presence of Christians because they feel judged, they feel as if church is the last place they should be, but, of course, church should be the first place they should be because we serve a God of grace and forgiveness and reconciliation. He has as a top priority restoring broken people. "Who needs a doctor" Jesus asked "people who are well or sick? Sinners or righteous? Sick people need a doctor and that is who I came to save and restore" Sick people (sinners) are Jesus' people; the people he loves and the people he spent time with--not the 'already righteous' because the perception of their reighteousness is the first sign that they are in fact sinners--they just don't perceive it as such.

Oh how the gospel could be a welcome word in the Muslim world if only it could be heard through the religious and national pride. Which leads me to me second and last point. Even more than religious dynamics, I think the nationalism is what holds Turkey back from hearing and responding to the gospel. More people are committed to the myth of Turkey and Ataturk (the founder of Turkey) than to Islam. It is interesting that even in the story of Paul in Ephesus (in Turkey) in Acts 17 the problem the gospel causes revolves around nationalism. Before we left I preached at DSF (night service) about this fact of Nationlism holding us back from the gospel from the aformentioned story of Paul in Ephesus (see DSF Podcasts/Sermons Online at the top of this blogpage)--it was amazing to see how true what I was saying that night really was and conintues to be there and here. So, for the gospel to go forth in Turkey the nationalism must also be challenged alongside the religious elements of the nation...

It's good to be back and many more things should be said, but for now I offer these humble thoughts from a cultural tourist...

Greeting from Turkey: The First Week

Well I have been silent for the last week or so. The reason? Well, as most of you know I have been in Turkey. We (a group of twelve people) came over to come alongside "workers" over here; to support and encourage the in their work. We have had an amazing time. Been involved in so many things that I would love to write about but I can't from here...for different reasons, but I will when I return.

I just wanted to let everyone know that things were going great and that the hardest part of all is my emotional struggle to stay strong when I am away from my family (erin and sienna). But the L*** is faithful and will see us all through!

Tomorrow we head out to Ephesus, a key location for the history of the C*****; we are excited to visit it as it is the most extensively excavated and most beautiful sight of all the ancient sites in Turkey and one of the greatest in the whole world! It was the city that had one of the ancient wonders of the world--the temple of Aretemis...so we will travel by night (8 to 10 hours) by bus arrive visit, sleep help in an orhpanage in Izmir and the bus home through the night--shop at the Grad Bazaar on the European side (if we can stay awake!) and then sleep and get up at 4 to catch the plane home where I will get to see my family again...

Miss you all but enjoying exploring the world!

Blessings