Over the next few days I want to share some of my favourite movie moments with you.
Favourite? Let me rephrase that.
“Favourite” doesn’t cut it, because I also use that word to describe fifty-one flavours of ice cream or the coolest t-shirt in my closet. My favourite movie moments are better than that. They’ve jumped me with almost violent epiphanies that un-dragoned my heart with merciless talons of truth; the proverbial toothpaste was out of the tube and there was no putting the sticky stuff back.
Sure, I could sling some pithy buckshot from The Terminator, like “I’ll be back.” Or T2: “Hasta La Vista, baby.” Or maybe a forgotten oldie from Cobra, one of Stallone’s vapid, pre-botox flicks: A terrorist with a bomb strapped to his body was going ballistic in a supermarket until Sly showed up wearing cool shades to face him down. “I’ll blow this place sky high,” the baddie threatens, to which our hero replies, “Go ahead. I don’t shop here.”
But those are just laugh out loud moments, not real favourites.
Here’s favorite #1.
The Matrix: Spoon Boy
You can watch the Spoon Boy clip here, if you’re interested.
On his first cryptic visit to the Oracle in The Matrix, Neo steps into an apartment full of children doing “impossible” things. One boy seems to be using his mind to bend a spoon like it’s made of rubber. The little master notices Neo standing there and takes him to school.
Spoon Boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. That’s impossible. Instead… only try to realize the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Spoon Boy: There is no spoon.
Neo: There is no spoon?
Spoon Boy: Then you’ll see, that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.
Spoon Boy Theology
Caveat: I don’t believe in telekinesis or relative truth.
I do, however, believe many of my life problems are like that spoon. I cast blame and ascribe power to all kinds of people and external forces, when in reality the real problem lies with my perception. A good number of my problems are magically “solved” when my attitude changes, for example. Or I see an obstacle in front of me and waste all kinds of sweat and tears trying to move the mountain when the real mountain sits untouched in my mind in the guise of an unhelpful opinion.
As a Pastor, I’m in the spoon bending business—life change, I mean. The problem is, I can’t change anyone’s life. Only God can. The more I focus on changing lives—bending spoons—the fewer lives and spoons change. The more I let God change and bend me, the more he is able to work miracles in and through me.
When Adam and Eve sinned, they pointed to spoons. The serpent made me. That stupid tree is the problem. The woman you gave me totally caved. The wind took it. The sun was in my eyes.
God sighed, I know he did.
Because the only real spoon that needed tweaking was inside them, in their hearts. And the only thing more exciting than changing the world is allowing God to change me.
Hey, I’d love to hear about one of your favourite movie moments.
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Love that moment, too. But your post brought new realization for me. So often, the change really needs to come from within ourselves. I’m going to try and apply this to my own life more often. I don’t think I’ll ever watch that scene again without thinking about that concept. Great post!
I, too, have many favorite movie moments. But now I want to take some time and really think about those moments which contain a real message, as opposed to just being “cool”. Will need to give this one some thought.
I can always count on you to go deep, Tom. Love that about you!
My favorite movie scene is in Braveheart. William is standing at his fathers gravesite. His heart is being strangled. The lump in his throat is so raw and sore that he is unable to speak. All he is capable of doing is breathing, and even that is a toss up.
He knows he can’t stay there, it hurts too much, he wouldn’t survive it. But to keep going feels like the deepest sort of betrayal to his father. The cruelest part about loosing someone you love is that your life keeps going. It feels like the entire world should stop, that nature itself should take notice of the shift in the universe. But it doesn’t, people carry on and do chores. It pushes you into a kind of parallel universe. You don’t belong in the world where nothing changed any longer. It’s a desolate place, the kind of desolation where you want to curl up in a ball and simply disappear into nothing.
That was where William was, between worlds. And yet Murron was able to look into that parallel universe and saw him, I mean really saw him. She handed him a thistle, the flower that means remember. She spoke directly to his soul and told him that it’s okay to remember. To not push his father out of his memory, not to forget where he came from and who he is. She gave full recognition to the pain and magnitude of the injustice. She pulled him back. She invited him to keep on living, to engage. She quelled the lie that to live meant betraying his father. She saved him, and he thought of her everyday after that. I think that because of her and that moment, he was able to live the life he did.
Sounds like something Jesus would do.
Just wow. I feel humbled to have you share that.
I’m echoing Brad’s ‘wow’ here. Braveheart is among my favorites movies (I know, I have many…) and I’ve always loved this scene. I don’t think I’ll ever see it the same way again though. Your insight into Wallace’s character is incredible.
I find it interesting to compare that scene to the one where Wallace dreams of Muron and tells her he wants to stay there with her. She, once again, pushes William out of that parallel universe, compelling him to carry on. That doing so is not a betrayal to her memory either.
I find myself in that place sometimes with Jesus, where I just want to shut the world away and remain in His presence alone. And yet He always pushes me onward, gently telling me to “wake up” (another Matrix tie-in there) and carry on.
Man…I’m never going to watch The Matrix and Braveheart the same way again. I mean that in a good way. Now I want to go home and watch them both. 🙂
Good insight about the dream, Tom.