Paul Kuritz: Opinions

Friends

Paul — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 19:09:26 +0000

“Friends are God’s apology for relations.”

~ Hugh Kingsmill

Imagination

Paul — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 12:21:28 +0000

“Imagination is a good servant, and a bad master.”

– Hercule Poirot

Can You See Your Shadow?

Paul — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:43:40 +0000

Groundhog Day reminds me of the movie of the same name. The finest analysis of the movie was done by Michael P. Foley:

“Groundhog Day is the story of Phil Connors, an obnoxious weatherman at a Pittsburgh TV station who must cover the celebration of Groundhog Day in rural Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Phil (masterfully played by Bill Murray) is egotistical, career-driven, and contemptuous of his fellow man. “People are morons,” he tells his producer Rita, played by an adorable Andie MacDowell. “People like blood sausage.” Phil, in other words, is the typical product of modernity, the bourgeois man who lives for himself in the midst of others. Rita describes him—and us—well by quoting Sir Walter Scott’s “There Breathes the Man”:

The wretch, concentred all in self,

Living, shall forfeit fair renown,

And, doubly dying, shall go down

To the vile dust, from whence he sprung,

Unwept, unhonoured, and unsung.”

Read the entire review.

Groundhog Day is the story of Phil Connors, an obnoxious weatherman at a Pittsburgh TV station who must cover the celebration of Groundhog Day in rural Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Phil (masterfully played by Bill Murray) is egotistical, career-driven, and contemptuous of his fellow man. “People are morons,” he tells his producer Rita, played by an adorable Andie MacDowell. “People like blood sausage.” Phil, in other words, is the typical product of modernity, the bourgeois man who lives for himself in the midst of others. Rita describes him—and us—well by quoting Sir Walter Scott’s “There Breathes the Man”:

The wretch, concentred all in self,

Living, shall forfeit fair renown,

And, doubly dying, shall go down

To the vile dust, from whence he sprung,

Unwept, unhonoured, and unsung.Day is the story of Phil Connors, an obnoxious weatherman at a Pittsburgh TV station who must cover the celebration of Groundhog Day in rural Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Phil (masterfully played by Bill Murray) is egotistical, career-driven, and contemptuous of his fellow man. “People are morons,” he tells his producer Rita, played by an adorable Andie MacDowell. “People like blood sausage.” Phil, in other words, is the typical product of modernity, the bourgeois man who lives for himself in the midst of others. Rita describes him—and us—well by quoting Sir Walter Scott’s “There Breathes the Man”:

The wretch, concentred all in self,

Living, shall forfeit fair renown,

And, doubly dying, shall go down

To the vile dust, from whence he sprung,

Unwept, unhonoured, and unsungGroundhog Day is the story of Phil Connors, an obnoxious weatherman at a Pittsburgh TV station who must cover the celebration of Groundhog Day in rural Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Phil (masterfully played by Bill Murray) is egotistical, career-driven, and contemptuous of his fellow man. “People are morons,” he tells his producer Rita, played by an adorable Andie MacDowell. “People like blood sausage.” Phil, in other words, is the typical product of modernity, the bourgeois man who lives for himself in the midst of others. Rita describes him—and us—well by quoting Sir Walter Scott’s “There Breathes the Man”:

The wretch, concentred all in self,

Living, shall forfeit fair renown,

And, doubly dying, shall go down

To the vile dust, from whence he sprung,

Unwept, unhonoured, and unsung.

The Kingdom of Love Now Reigns

Paul — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 12:50:05 +0000

“Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is born of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God – for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love has been brought to full expression through us. And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in him.God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. ”

1 John 4:7-16

Merry Christmas!

At the Gideon’s Flame Christian Film Festival

Paul — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:45:34 +0000

A New Life has been invited to Manila’s Gideon’s Flame Christian Film Festival. I was invited to speak briefly before the screening. Here is what I said:

Thank-you for selecting “A New Life” for inclusion in your film festival.

When I was in film school I attended a book reading group at a local Baptist Church. We read a “God Story’ each week and discussed it. The discussions were fairly dull until we got to Mary Brown’s A New Life. Then the Christians divided on what we thought of the Christians in the story. Were they examples of bad Christians or good Christians? Did they succeed or fail? Was the heroine better or worse off after having encountered them? And finally, did they further the Kingdom of God or embarrass it?

I had been praying for an idea for my first film after graduation and thought maybe this one might provide the basis. The author herself agreed, and as the production demands fell into place I came to believe I had found a means to glorify God through film, my goal in venturing out of theater into the world of movie-making.

The film has both confirmed what non-Christians believe about Christians and again divided Christian viewers over the same questions as the short story.

How does a Christian filmmaker determine if his film is a success? Does he use the world’s standards – audience popularity, invitations to film festivals, awards, box office receipts? Or is there another standard for Christian filmmakers to use?

In his book on acting for the camera, Patrick Tucker distinguishes the stage actor as playing for the numerous people in the auditorium, while the film actor plays for what he calls “An Audience of One” – the camera lens.

I believe the Christian filmmaker, unlike the secular filmmaker, creates for his Audience of One. But in this case not for a camera lens, but for the Creator God Himself. I believe that a Christian filmmaker succeeds if God is glorified either within the film narrative itself or in the impact the film has on one who watches the film.

Does the Kingdom of God break into the life of a character? Does the Kingdom of God break into the life of even a single viewer of the film? If so, I believe God is glorified and the Christian filmmaker has pleased his Audience of One. To paraphrase St. Paul, “so neither is he who films or he who shows the film anything, but only God, who makes His Kingdom grow through the film…. For it is God who worked in your film to will and act according to His divine purpose.”

May God bless you, may His Kingdom come, and may His will be done in all your film experiences.

ALL THE WORLD’S A GRAVE

Paul — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:26:20 +0000

Remember: Nothing Has Changed

Paul — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 10:53:19 +0000

A New Life Heads to the Phillipines

Paul — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 08:07:33 +0000

My film “A New Life”, based on the short story by Mary Ward Brown, has been selected to be screened at the GIDEON’s FLAME CHRISTIAN FILM FESTIVAL, November 3-7, 2009 in Legaspi Village, Makati, the Phillipines.

“2009 marks the 95th year of existence of the Union Church of Manila. Its main purpose is to spread the WORD OF GOD so that its members and their sphere of influence can be United, Centered, and Maturing in Christ. The UCM strives to attain its goal through various ways. One of these is to encourage the production and distribution of local and foreign Christian films so that this innovative and easily absorbed and assimilated medium can further God’s Word in the hearts and minds of the viewing public.

“It is an accepted fact that films are a powerful force that can influence man’s actions. To this end, the UCM Library Committee launched the 1st Christian Film Festival 2 years ago which culminated in April 2008 with a weeklong showing of Christian films ending with the Awards Night. The team and those involved were encouraged to repeat the activity by both participants and those who were blessed by the films. Thus the holding of the 2nd Christian Film Festival, renamed the GIDEON’S FLAME CHRISTIAN FILM FESTIVAL, which will be the last major activity of UCM’s 95th year celebration. The Festival will culminate with weeklong activities from November 3-7, 2009.

“The name is meant to emphasize that God’s great power can manifest even through seemingly small and weak ways to gain HIS purpose. This event will showcase educational, inspirational, and empowering films even as it encourages young talents to channel their knowledge and expertise to spread the Gospel to their public.

“The GFCFF will commence with a cocktail hour at 6:30 pm on the 3rd of November. Then from 6-9 pm of the same evening up to November 7, three films will be shown daily. These showings are open to the public free of charge.

“The Gideon Flame Award will be given to the prize winner. Critically acclaimed foreign and local films will be interspersed with the entries. On the last day, November 7, Saturday, starting 9 am, children will be treated to films appropriate to their ages. The event will culminate with the closing ceremony, the recognition rites, and the awarding of prizes.”

The Significance of John Wayne, After 30 Years

Paul — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:53:33 +0000

“The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is a story about the death of the American West. John Wayne does more than simply play the title character; he also serves as a clear symbol of the American spirit, and his heroic sacrifice in this film is John Ford’s meditation on the paradox of American individualism.

“Wayne plays Tom Doniphon, the only man tough enough to stand up to Liberty Valance, the local thug. It is the arrival of Ransom Stoddard, an idealistic lawyer, that forces Tom to shoot Liberty, and in the process he sacrifices his own happiness, his own way of life, and the woman he loves.

“The core of Wayne’s appeal is not his swagger or his charm, but his willingness to act and accept the consequences, even when it means the end of his own way of life. Although we see his character dead, largely forgotten, it is Stoddard’s wife who puts the cactus blossoms on his coffin, an unspoken confession of her own love for him. She speaks for us all. We may be married to the security and safety of Stoddard’s government, but John Ford reminds us that it is the cactus roses of Tom Doniphon that grow in the heart of everry Amwrican”

— Nicholas Tucker, a San Francisco–based filmmaker. His latest project is Do As I Say, based on Peter Schweizer’s bestselling book, at National Review

Memorial Day 2009

Paul — Mon, 25 May 2009 11:58:49 +0000

Remembering grandfathers of 1917, veterans of The Great War:

Paul Kuric

Peter Briese