2 links; 2 divergent moods

I'm not totally sure I even understand what's going on in this story, but even though we can all agree he's probably right, it's pretty great to see a pastor actually quoted as saying:

"Jesus is not OK with it."

I had to read the article a couple times to realize the "it" Jesus isn't OK with is pornography, not the publisher's decision.

Still, Jesus is not OK with it. And Shakespeare still got to get paid, son.

***

I feel like I should have a strong opinion about this movie ... the thing is I really don't.

I probably would if I saw it, but I've really no desire at all to see it. Just watching the preview made me unbearably sad and I'd rather not have two hours of that feeling. My lack of desire to see the movie is an opinion, I suppose, but it's not a strong one.

My feeling is that I would hate the movie, just despise it. Because, for me at least, it's too soon. It wasn't even five years ago that I (like the rest of you) actually lived through that day and even watching the trailer and remembering it as I write this now causes a sadness that is literally physical (tears, trembling, shortness of breath).

But who am I to tell people what art they can and cannot make? I refuse to do that, but I don't necessarily need to patronize the movie.

Some day, not yet for me and maybe not even within my lifetime, the time will be right for a movie like this. It was more than 50 years between D-Day and when Saving Private Ryan opened and I remember many people who had lived then were even still uncomfortable with it. But for people in my (even my parents') generation who knew the stories but hadn't lived through it, the movie was a powerful lesson - it made a heroic but flat incident on the page of a history book truly come alive. Someday my children may similarly find the events of that terrible day more of a curiosity than a horror. Maybe then a movie like this could help them to understand why those two numbers 9-11 are still so powerful in our culture. God willing it will remain an isolated and shocking event, not merely the first of many disastrous days.

But, frankly, I can see no real reason to make this movie now besides money. Of course, it's the motivating factor behind everything in Hollywood. Even the few people who are in it for the art only do so at the behest of those holding the pursestrings. But my God, who really thinks 9-11 is an appropriate thing to wring for profit?

For what it is, the movie doesn't look all that bad, judging by the previes. At least it doesnt seem to Wesley Snipes-ish.

It's not that I'm not interested in stories that are in some way "about" 9/11. I've read several books in the past years that use that day in one way or another to tell a larger story ("Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" comes to mind, as do "Saturday" and "Pattern Recognition". I also hear the new McInerny book is "about" 9/11 in a way, too.). But we're talking about larger stories, not just retellings of that day's events. (In fact I have read one book just about that day's events and so far as I'm concerned it's the only one worth reading: The 9/11 Comission Report.)

I say all of this with hesitation, though - my opinion is not strong. These are vague notions if anything at all.

Even if United 93 is good, moving but not sappy, dramatic but not heavy-handed, sensitive without being treacly ... even if it's everything it can be, how much can it really be? What is this movie aiming to contribute? We all know the story already.