Reading this beautiful book is like having an endlessly fascinating conversation with two friends about film, when those two friends are always wise, thoughtful, and funny and have inspiring things to say about the movies they love. They invite the reader to consider films that have something to tell us about how best to live: how we can protect the innocence of children, how we can find a job that pays the bills and also nourish a vocation in the arts, how we can counter greed and violence with self-sacrificing love, and how we might choose to remember our lives once they’ve ended. Movies for every stage of life.
I was especially taken by their conversation about one of my all-time favorite films, Babette’s Feast, a gem of a movie about a mysterious visitor to a small nineteenth-century Danish community, which always stirs good conversation. I know few people who are unmoved by this gorgeous movie, based on a short story by Isak Dinesen, author of Out of Africa. Gareth comes at the film one way—seeing it as a story about priorities; Kathleen comes at it another, seeing it as a kind of parable. It’s a testimony to their love of that film—and all films under consideration—that no matter which perspective appeals to you, the other one will have you nodding your head and saying, “I never thought about it like that!”
Of course, the best way to approach this book would be to watch these films with a friend, discuss them afterward, then turn to Gareth and Kathleen. Or, if you’re more of a loner, you might watch them privately and then have a kind of virtual conversation with these two authors. For me, the first thing I want to do after watching a powerful film is see what others have to say about it. At heart, it’s a desire for conversation, for learning, and for being challenged. This book is an answer to those common desires.
Some of the films in this book are well known, others are not. None of them are specifically religious, but they insist that human beings are much more than flesh and blood. Coming from directors and screenwriters of diverse backgrounds, they reveal that common to us all is a desire to live more fully and to draw on kindness, mercy, generosity, and love to help us live more humanely in this world. In keeping with this book’s spirit of hospitality, the authors provide a list of suggested questions at the end of each chapter to help the reader engage with the film and to keep the conversation going.
Enjoy the conversation you are about to have!