We are delighted to welcome Rev. Andy Godfrey to The Praus Movement’s Fireside Chats. Andy is a film critic for Sorted Men’s Magazine, and you will often see his quotes on the front of the posters for your favourite movies. He is a full-time speaker with Outreach UK, a Representative for the Good News Paper and has been in full-time Christian ministry for many years. In the first of a two-part series, Andy talks about what we can learn from a recent shift in movies…
“WE ARE MEN, AND MEN UNITED ARE INVINCIBLE”.
That is the assertion of Ray Winston, playing a tough rebel determined to get on the Ark, in Darren Aronofsky’s 2014 film, ‘Noah’. One woman, sat near me at the press screening, clearly hard of hearing, immediately shouted, “No they aren’t – Arsenal are!”
It was funny so I forgave the interruption, but Winston’s character got me thinking. Are men invincible? Certainly, until recently, movies gave us the impression that on top of everything else, men should be invincible. Our favourite heroes never died, even though the odds were firmly stacked against them (see for example The Fast and Furious franchise!).
If the pressure on men to be handsome, charming, street smart and impeccably dressed wasn’t enough, to be an elite man we have to cheat death too? Good luck with that. Fortunately, films have caught up in that regard and I believe seeing our favourite heroes come to the end of their respective journey’s is healthy: for all of us.
Not that everyone agrees! The response to the final scene of the most recent Bond film, ‘No Time to Die’, was interesting to say the least. I will never forget the phone call I got from my brother just after he had seen Daniel Craig’s James Bond die. He simply said, “They can’t do that”. Well, they did! It turns out even Bond was only human after all.
This isn’t the first time a hero died. Captain Kirk met his maker in Star Trek Generations (cue the “bridge on the captain joke”! Hans Solo was killed off in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and even the Man of Steel himself, met his end in 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
These script twists are brave moves by film producers that give us all a reminder that none of us, no matter how strong and skilled, will live forever. For my part I think that’s to be commended because it puts the focus right back on what we do in the limited time we are here. Like our favourite heroes, do we want to stand for something good? Do we want to be responsible for others rather than living for own pleasure? Do we want to fight back against injustices rather than walking away leaving others to suffer?
To me, that’s how a man truly ends up being invincible. Not by living in this world forever, but by dying having left it a far better place than it was before he existed. Jesus did exactly this. Will you?
In the second part of this series, Andy will outline the films that can inspire men to live life well. This will be available to all, this Friday!
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