The Big Screen

I love movies. Not all of them. Many aren’t worth the cellulose they are printed on, but the well-crafted ones can truly be works of art. They’re not just meant to entertain, they explore what it means to be human. They have the power to show us that we are not alone no matter what we struggle with. They can reveal where our culture is and where it’s going. They draw from the well that is humanity and show us ourselves. Old movies, new ones…they all tell our stories. Movies are the novels of our age.

While I love the stories about the broad sweeps of history with famous people, sometimes the very best movies, the best stories, are about unknown people. Most of us will never be included in any history books. Most of us are just ordinary people who live our lives affecting the people around us and not much else. Movies can give us glimpses into the lives of ordinary people who make up the vast majority of humanity.

There are stories of love and compassion. There are stories of courage and commitment. There are stories of failure and redemption. The thing is, these things happen all around us every day. The man across the street, the woman who sits in back of you at work, the old man you pass on the street corner. They all have their struggles. They all have their stories.

We see so much of the worst humanity has to offer every day. Just turn on the evening news or pick a newspaper. As a species we have so many flaws. But, we have nobility in us too. There are stories that deserve to be told.

It’s not the actions we take at a crucial moment in history that define who we are, it’s the little things we do every day. It’s in lending a helping hand to another human being when no one else is watching. It’s in giving a cup of water to someone who’s thirsty. It’s in giving up your seat on the bus to someone who needs it more. There is nobility in the human spirit and it shows itself most often in the quiet, little actions that go unnoticed everyday all around us.

Movies have the power to shine the light on our actions. They point out the weaknesses that we’re all prone to for sure. They can glorify sex and violence to titillate us. They can also show us something of the heights we can strive for. The good stuff in us may not make the evening news very often, but it’s alive and well. The places where it thrives are in the people whose stories we wouldn’t know if books and movies didn’t bring them to us.

Movies have the power to teach us we can all be better than we are. We don’t have to go to war or travel to distant lands to do so. We can all be a hero to someone we know. We can uphold what is the best and the noblest among us in our everyday actions. Those are what fill most of our lives after all, everyday actions.

Most of us go to movies simply to be entertained but, with a true work of art, we can take away much more than that. We can come to see life through someone else’s eyes. We can learn to appreciate what is common to all of us. Best of all, I think, we can come to understand that most of our struggles and our triumphs don’t make the history books. It’s the little stories that give history its context. Great deeds ultimately come from great hearts and those aren’t born, they’re grown. Those stories too, are worth being told…