My wife and I like foreign films. We sat down a few nights ago to watch Water, the third in a series of films about India by the director Deepa Mehta. Like the previous two films, Fire and Earth, this film approached the religious traditions of India and their effects on the human condition, as well as how human beings deal with those effects.
For me personally, I find many indirect parallels between these experiences in Indian culture and some of our experiences here as a country. While (for better or worse) we have been spared this type of ostracism, oppression, and upheaval in this country, there are still cultural barriers to many things that are rooted in faith that are influenced more by secular things than by true religious teachings. Religion plays a significant role in all three of these films, but in different ways. There are also positive examples of these types of cultural influences, as witnessed by another of our favorite films, Monsoon Wedding.
I wanted to get this out about these movies and their impact on myself and wife, because in a way it will be a penance and a redemption of sorts for escorting five teenage boys this evening to Jackass Number Two out at the Carmike. No, there isn't a link to this, and for good reason.
It is funny at times, but mostly extremely gross and not for anyone under maybe 15. My son and most of his friends thought it hilarious, and I guess I was that way when I was their age, though I have probably blotted it out.
My advice? Make an excuse to not be able to get the boys past the "intense" Carmike "R " Rating security (the place is run by teenagers half the time, why should they care?), and rush out to rent or buy A Prairie Home Companion when it comes out on DVD on October 10.
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