The BAND’S VISIT

Reviewed by Mike Gunn

The “Tag Line” for this movie is, “Once, not long ago, a small Egyptian police band arrived in Israel. Not many remember this...it wasn’t that important.” That pretty much sums up this movie. Its humdrum pace moved a slow story along very slowly. That certainly may seem to put quite a negative spin on this witty and important movie, but that’s not my intent. I would say if you are looking for an action movie, don’t see this film, but I think its pace is intentional to the film, and most likely the problem with many American moviegoers. Action, sex and drama allow us to escape, movies like this force us into a conversation we may find uncomfortable, yet quite rewarding in the end.

The story is about an Egyptian (Muslim) police orchestra who has been asked to do a concert in an Arabic cultural center in Israel. When they arrive at the airport there is no one to there to meet them, so they comically look for alternate transportation. Their newest member and ‘wanna’ be playboy Khaled, attempts to charm the woman working at the bus station and proceeds to book his group on a bus to a wrong town, which angers his superior Tewfiq, who already is dealing with political issues back home that are threatening budget cuts that would do away with his band. They end up stranded in a very small Israeli town with no place to go, and no one to talk to. With his men tired, hungry and alone in a ethnically hostile environment, their stoic leader finds aid in an unlikely, but hospitable café owner named Dina, who is pretty, gregarious and witty, yet lonely and strong willed. Dina finds herself immediately attracted to the much older, and much stodgy Tewfiq, which makes for a humorous odd couple, but even a better metaphor regarding how two separate cultures can learn to love one another. Dina takes Tewfiq and Khaled (Who was forced to come by Tewfiq as a punishment for booking the bus to the wrong city) to her home for the evening, while the rest of the group follows the other hosts to their homes.

The movie then develops three different scenarios played out by band members and their hosts. Tewfiq and Dina go out for Dinner, Khaled becomes a “Fifth Wheel” on a double date with one of the hosts, Papi, a shy, demur young man, who is forced on a double date with his cousin, his girlfriend and her less than attractive silent sister, while the rest of the band heads off with Itzik to eat with his family who quite obviously disdain Arab Muslims.

All three scenarios demonstrate their own unique comedy and tension, but all three of them reflect our struggle to relate to one another, especially when those struggles involve meeting someone different than us. We so badly want to connect with people on a deep level and feel loved by some one else, but our prejudices and quarks keep us at bay and force us to retreat into pretense and personal gain. This movie wanted us to feel what happens when humans get together, and place their hatred and misconceptions at the door, and coerce us to face one another. We may just find that we have similar interests, and care about many of the same things, and actually are not that much different from one another. We may find that we have been settling for seconds when we could have a smorgasbord.

We soon find out that Dina grew up watching Egyptian films with Omar Sharif, and Itzik’s family loved the concertos played by Simon (The bands second in command). What we find in this film is that hospitality, and sharing of our interests and desires can often overcome years of hate and misconception. Director Eran Kolirin confirms this when he writes, ““What’s certain though is that we’ve lost something on the way. We traded true-love for the one-night stands, art for commerce, and human connection, the magic of conversation for the question of how big a slice of the pie we can put our hands on.”

It is clear that this is what the movie drives this theme and Eran Kolirin does a fantastic job communicating a cross cultural and political message without preaching at us, or making us hold hands and sing “We Are the World”. He does it with a fantastic job of demonstrating it, and allowing us to feel what it’s like for tension to be relieved through hospitality, mutual sharing and love.

It will take a patient and astute moviegoer to enjoy the fine nuances of this film, but in the end it will be worth it, because the best things are discovered through enduring and thoughtful searching, which is what this movie says to us.

This movie is rated PG and in spite of its tedious pace, thoughtful theme and subtitles, would be suitable for the whole family. There is one short and veiled reference to sexual activity.

The Counterfeiters

Reviewed by Mike Gunn

“Aye, fight and you may die, run, and you'll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade All the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM! William Wallace


“Counterfeiters” really wasn’t a movie like Braveheart, but it was a movie about courage, and I believe about life and surviving. The movie is set in Germany during Hitler’s Third Reich. Karl Markovic was a man trying to exist as a Jew in Hitler’s hellhole. He begins the film as a self-centered, womanizing counterfeiter who gets caught for his crime and thrown into one of Germany’s infamous concentration camps. And as anyone could imagine the conditions were horrible, but it became the context for his motto, “One adapts or one dies.” The movie forces you to experience the result of this slogan, and to live the horrific events with the characters, which makes for a powerfully eerie movie.

Early in Markovic’s imprisonment he is transferred to another prison to use his expertise as a counterfeiter. The prison is run by the man who arrested him, and was since promoted to this position. The new prison is like a country club for those that are willing to cooperate with the Nazi regime and make counterfeit pounds and dollars to help with the German war effort. The new commandant (Friedrich Herzog) is a businessman more concerned with promotion and comfort than he is the Nazi war machine, but he needs that machine for his comfort. He also knows he needs Markovic’s expertise and treats him well. Markovic agrees to work with Herzog as long as he can get him medicine to help his ailing friend’s Tuberculosis. Herzog complies only to kill the ailing friend later because of the chance that it could spread to the entire camp, which would kill off his efforts to further the Nazi efforts, and get him in good with Hitler.

In spite of the fact that death was all around Markovic, he continued to do his work in order to survive, and to help his fellow workers survive. The movie revealed Markovic’s slow redemption from a self-centered egotist, to a man that was truly concerned about the people around him. He began to take the blame for mistakes of others knowing that the commandant needed him, and would not kill him, as he would with the others. This slow metamorphosis was often confronted by the morally upstanding Adolph Burger who was imprisoned for protesting the Nazi regime. His wife was also imprisoned and killed, and he refused to be part of the Nazi war effort by sabotaging the work they were doing. This caused great tension between Burger, Markovic and the rest of the inmates, but Markovic consistently protected Burger from both the Germans and his own people in spite of the fact that he vehemently disagreed with Burger as to what was best for their people.

This lent to many interesting questions and scenarios as to what our lives are for, and what constitutes survival. Burger was an advocate of force and change, while Markovic was a representation of the status quo trying to survive in a world of confusion. His world was defeated, and change appeared impossible. The only hope was to survive in the midst of the horror. Burger’s is summed up in his conversation with Markovic when he says, “No one is willing to die for principle; that’s why the Nazi system works!” Both men had a similar goal. Both men desired to help their fellow men. Both had vastly different methods that clashed and caused tension. This is not unlike many of us trying to survive in a world that doesn’t make sense, and feeling hopeless to change it. Do we act out in rage and violence or do we acquiesce and live within it? Or is there another way?

Whatever the solution this movie does a remarkable job of displaying the human condition. Every character in this movie is tainted. Even the moral Burger struggles to strike a balance in this movie.

This movie is about surviving and adaptation, interestingly two elements found in Darwin’s theory of evolution, and two elements that can make for a dastardly way of living. This movie depicts surviving as meaningful, only when there is a purposed existence in the end. These men resorted to their base animal nature when purpose and dignity was taken from them, and then resorted back to civility when they were given dignity and a job. As William Wallace reminds us, “Every man dies, not every man really lives.” Life is more than existence and human life is more than the will to survive and adapt. Those are much needed aspects when life has meaning.

In the end, the remaining prisoners are released as the allies defeat Germany, and Karl Markovic is last seen recklessly gambling thousands of dollars away (Counterfeit money he had made in the concentration camp) as a symbolic throwing away of the blood money, which represents his guilt for his complicity in the furthering of the Nazi war machine.

The last scene sees Markovic sitting on a beach in Monte Carlo, completely broke and by now, a changed man. He’s still a womanizer, but his guilt will haunt him for the decisions he has made, in spite of the fact that many of his decisions saved many people including himself. As the tagline to the movies says, “It takes a clever man to make money. It takes a genius to survive.” Survive he did, with a memory that he will take to his grave. What would you do to survive? What would you compromise for comfort?

This movie would not be appropriate for children. There is brief nudity, course language, adult content, and a realistic picture of the horror of the human heart when it is left to it’s own.

City of Men (Cidade dos Homens)

Reviewed by Mike Gunn

Directed by Paulo Morelli
Written by Elena Soarez

‘City of Men’ is a sequel to ‘City of God,’ but directed and written by different people, giving it a completely different feel stylistically as well as content. ‘City of God’ was frenetic in your face film, with lurid sexual content, and graphic violence that sickened even the most ardent moviegoer. You finished ‘City of God’ feeling violated; yet educated in regards to the chaotic and violent life of young teens in the Favela (Shanty Town) in Rio de Janeiro. ‘City of God’ was brilliant, moving and brought to light the horror and results of poverty and corruption. ‘City of ‘Men lacked both the pace and the intensity that made the former film so powerful.

However, ‘City of Men’ is a good film, though it pales a bit in comparison with its big brother. It depicts two boyhood friends (Acerola, “Ace” and Larinjinha “Wallace”) who are struggling to makes sense of their fatherless past, and their hopeless future, under the watchful eyes of two rival gangs. The movie is a continuance of the boys violent life from the ‘City of God’ some seven years later. Both Wallace and Ace lament their lives sans a father figure. While I liked the ‘City of Men’ much of the film was predictable. Wallace and Ace are great friends, the gang wars and the discovery of a terrible family secret split them up forcing them to pick sides in the war, yet friendship and love triumph.

The movie begins with Ace and Wallace and one of the rival gangs going to the beach. Ace brings his young son along with him, because his girlfriend has to go to work. Ace decides to leave his baby under the irresponsible eyes of a reluctant friend, and the baby is left to wander dangerously close to the crashing waves before he is symbolically swept away by the lead member of the gang. Within that opening scene captures the reality of chaos for a child growing up as the child of a child without a caring father. All these boys know is the security and community of these gangs, who provide for them, and look after them. This is not unlike the situation in many of our cities right here in America. We are told by many irresponsible sources that fatherhood doesn’t matter; yet we see strewn throughout our cities and suburbs the results of a fatherless culture. Men lacking courage, vision and the manly tenderness that is able to properly lead his family. Instead we have boys that don’t grow up and display a reckless machismo that destroys the boy and the family. This movie is about the sins of the father passed on to generations of boys that can’t see life beyond the barrel of their AK 47’s. Both boys seek after love by using women for their own need assuaging their own pain instead of having a deep well of love in which to give.

In the ‘City of Men,’ the gang war is a weird background effect for two boys trying to become men by searching for the missing men in their lives. While Wallace locates his alcoholic father, both boys discover a secret that causes division and a hatred that may perpetuate the gang war in their own lives. In spite of this the love the boys have for one another wins out in the end, and they find a way to reconcile their heinous past and the sins of their father’s to make for a better life for themselves and the life of Ace’s little boy.

The movie ends with Ace reconciling with his girlfriend who had moved away to find a better job, leaving you with the sense of redemption in this movie.; a redemption that the ‘City of God’ failed to leave you with.

‘City of Men’ was a different movie. It gave us a softer story of redemption and love. It was not nearly as violent or as dark as the ‘City of God.’ With that said it still earned it’s R rating for language, violence and its intensity.

Personally I believe that everyone should see both the ‘City of God’ and the ‘City of Men.” They are movies that remind us of the violence that lie at the heart of everyone of us pushed up against the wall of despair.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: The Life of the Mind (on Film)

Reviewed by Mike Smith

I predict that this film will be another powerful foreign movie that few will see. And that will be an utter tragedy. The film is based on Bauby’s most unusual autobiography, which he dictated letter by letter by blinking his eye. His ability to dictate his story via his soaring intellect and uncontrollable emotions—if expressed only through the simple act of blinking his thoughts letter by letter—is a wonder of human achievement rivaling any of the man-made wonders of the world. The screenplay does credit to Mssr Bauby’s creativity and grace, and the camera work is also absolute perfection. This film is a masterwork by Julian Schnabel. His sensitivity to the subject matter was no doubt inspired by the sheer unimaginable work of genius and persistence exhibited by Bauby and his aides. The film handles this difficult subject in creative and comedic ways. Schnabel brings a rare ability to make a film out of an inert subject. Read More

August Rush: Other Than Music, No Need to Rush

Reviewed by Mike Smith

In short, this is a heartwarming film. But the acting is phlegmatic with few outstanding performances (except for August’s dimples). Special kudos to Terrence Howard as Lyla’s social worker, Richard Jeffries, though. Keri Russell is a lackluster disappointment as Lyla, and Robin Williams, as August’s mentor Wizard, is a little too sinister for young viewers. Despite the dead giveaway which is telegraphed from the outset, the story is interesting. In fact, familiar as the story may seem, there are some fun surprises—and I like the comfort of a familiar tale. And the fact that August feels and hears music in everything gives August Rush its underlying spirituality. Read More

Outsourced: Finding Culture Elsewhere

Reviewed by Mike Gunn

Apparently when John Jeffcoat first plugged his screenplay to the Hollywood heavyweights they loved the script, but balked at the idea of having an unproven director direct the movie. Thankfully Jeffcoat took his script to a small independent company (Shadow Catcher Entertainment) and the result is one of the more delightful, original, and funny movies that any company has put out in over a year.
Outsourced is a romantic, cross-cultural comedy about Todd Anderson. Todd is a manager at a Seattle-based customer call center until his job—and the entire office—is outsourced to Mumbai, India. It gets even more sinister when Todd is manipulated by his insensitive, greedy boss to go to India to train his replacement. Read More

Sharkwater: Immersed in a Different World

Reviewed by Mike Gunn

“The animal we fear the most is the one we can’t live without”—so the movie begins. Right away we enter into Rob Stewart’s world of sharks, and his obvious love affair with the species. It is actually hard to be critical of the film in the sense that you feel you are treading on Stewart’s very sacred ground. This project has clearly been a focused passion since he was eight years old, and his telling of this story is infused with his intensity and his obvious love for the animal.
This 90-minute film is filled with incredible footage, especially of his loving embraces with hundreds of sharks, as he strokes their mouths and sides with the touch of a mother with child. There are times when you would swear that the footage was digitally enhanced with CG sharks since there are so many of them, debunking the myth that sharks travel alone. Read More

Blame it on Fidel (Subtitled)

Reviewed by Mike Gunn

Directed by Julie Gavras

Blame it on Fidel is a delightful film about a precocious nine year old girl named Anna (Nina Kervel) trying to make sense of her vastly changing world. The time set is 1970 at the zenith of a massive socio-political changes in Europe and America. Anna’s first eight years had been spent mostly in Paris in a large house owned by her parents who deeply loved her, and had created a very comfortable environment for her to grow up in. She attended a private, catholic school, and lived a very ordered, safe life until her uncle was killed as a “militant” under the fascist regime of Franco in Spain. This soon extricated Anna from her comfort and the illusion of control to a chaotic mess of politics and a crumbling worldview.

A trip to Chile transformed Anna’s attorney parents into communist ideologues, and overnight Anna’s world of innocence was pulled out from underneath her and changed forever. Her family moved from a nice, big comfortable house in a wealthy area to a small apartment in a working class neighborhood. Her quiet evenings with her mom and dad were consistently interrupted by questionable characters holding meetings and saying unspeakable things such as, “Mickey Mouse is a fascist!” Her world of classical training was replaced with protests for women’s rights, group solidarity, and the overthrow of oppression everywhere. Her beloved nanny was fired for her political leanings, and Anna’s dad forced her to leave her religion classes at her school, which caused her public embarrassment and was ostracized by some of her friends. These things affected Anna greatly, and created an unstable foundation for her to make sense of her changing world.

Her favorite subject in her religion class was Genesis, because it made sense of her world. It was a meta-narrative explaining some of life’s biggest questions, and it gave her comfort. For her dad, that kind of comfort was an “Opium for the people.” It was garbage, a myth that uneducated people use to make sense out of mystery. The movie gently reinforces this idea as Anna goes through several nannies from different cultures that all seem to have their own “Fable” explaining similarly how the world came in to existence. This disillusions Anna, and allows her to realize in a simple way that all of these “isms” are empty and meaningless, and the only truth comes from our own ability to reason. And so Anna was converted! She threw off the shackles of control and oppression, and realized that answers do not come from religion, myths or these weird political people, they come from her own sense of knowing. This is cemented in a conversation with her dad, who himself began to realize that human ideologies (Religious or political) aren’t the answer to our human problems, but our gut feelings are what tells us that Mickey Mouse really isn’t a fascist.

In the end, Anna relinquishes her demand to stay in her rigid Catholic school and agrees to go to the public school. The movie ends amazingly with Anna showing up her first day at the public school where she is struck by the lack of order and chaos surrounding her in the play yard. While the scene depicts a definite fear and confusion in her eyes, the camera angle changes to a birds eye view (The Heavenly Gaze), and in the midst of chaos and kids running and bumping in to one another, some kids take Anna’s hand in a gesture of acceptance and form a circle of unity as the shot pans higher above this spiritual scene, depicting a sort of unity in the midst of chaos reminding us of the messiness of this world. The shot reminds us that the only heavenly gaze are the ones we create, and that meta-narratives (Grand stories that make sense out of life) don’t really exist. It is only through our own human devices that we can make sense of this world in a small way.

First, I would like to say that I loved this film, and thought that Nina Kervel was fantastic and deserving of many awards! The film was thought provoking, humorous and brought you into the life of a nine year old in a way that many of us have forgotten about.

Secondly, where I would agree with the movie’s premise that you cannot control the world around you, and that all of our political and religious ideologies do not give us answers, the writers have been converted by another ideology that fits our current, western cultural “zeitgeist.” It seems to me that the cultural feeling is that if we shun religion or the “Oppressive” gods of this world, we will finally be in control of our own destiny, but this sentiment is just another gospel story, replete with it’s own ideology and dead ends. How many times will we hear that humans are the answer, when it is humans that have created religion, politics, and every mess known to humanity? How can we know that the answer “Lies within?” Maybe the answer lies outside of us, which helps create a “New Way” to be human?

Thirdly, I would say that this movie made me think about our kids, and the way they process the world we force them into. I guess this is what we have all gone through, but is there a way to help them process these grand events in their lives in ways that are less confusing? Have we forced our children to be what we want them to be, without shaping them in a way that gives them the ability to choose well?


I would give this movie a PG rating. Content is great for the whole family, but there is talk of abortion, revolution, Communism, sexuality and a some language that may be deemed inappropriate for some children.

Colors And Glory By Jeffery Overstreet

“Auralia’s Colors” is the first in what will hopefully be a series of works from Overstreet called “The Auralia Thread”. The story takes place in the Expanse, a land of fantasy which, we are told, is ruled by four houses. As the story moves forward, we find that the forces changing The Expanse for good and evil are much more complicated.

This first novel takes place in House Abascar, a land in the northwest forests of the Expanse. Tragedy and greed rule there in the subtle form of a Proclamation decreeing that all colors and treasures in the land be gathered to adorn the castle, so that it might compete in glory with the riches of neighboring lands. Enter Auralia, a stubborn Jane-The-Baptist who is guided by different, but nonetheless mysterious forces. Tension mounts as Auralia becomes a hero of the forced labor camps, who receive not only strange and wonderful gifts, but also acceptance and love from her hands and heart.

Early on in the story, the reader becomes aware of distinctly Christian overtones in the tale, most obviously in the form of the Keeper, whom the children all dream of and the adults almost all deny. This, however, should not keep Auralia’s Colors from broad interest, as Overstreet skillfully and responsibly engages with questions of philosophy and ethics that are universal to rational inquiry.

House Abascar’s quandaries are epistemological and ethical: Are the universal dreams of children to be trusted more than the empirical observations of the old and hardened? Does the learner choose only the evidence that will re-enforce his worldview, and suppress the evidence which does not? Under what conditions should law-breakers be allowed to re-enter society? How can they prove their merit? These questions occupy not just the mind-space of Christianity, but of humanity in general.

Auralia’s Colors is exciting and dangerous, packed with betrayal, transformation, and discovery. As each wonderfully realized character is confronted by a paradigm shaking “other”, their actions and reactions are revelatory, causing a glorious picture to emerge from the devastation that ensues. By the time the story has reached its tremendous climax, many a reader will be filled with awe at the beauty, power, and creativity of one who could weave with such skill and perfection.

El Cantante: Just Whose Story is This?

Mike Smith (03.08.07)

El Cantante is described in the film's production notes as a "labor of love" for its stars Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez. Its purpose is to re-introduce the world to the music of Hector Lavoe. Marc Anthony's role is to portray the namesake, and he does so very well. But Lopez's JLo-loving production shamelessly features her in almost every scene. When she is not being featured, she is upstaging someone else in the background. JLo is artfully displayed, even in domestic fights, and never looks bad. In short, she portrays the best-preserved and least-affected life-long cocaine addict in the world. Read More

Rush Hour 3: Even Jackie Chan Gets Older

Reviewed by Mike Smith

Yet another installment of the Chief Inspector Lee and Detective Carter franchise has hit the theaters. For the enlightened fans of this series there will be much rejoicing. For those like me, it will just be great fun. There is nothing too deep in this film—just a fun time with a movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The beginning is a good mix of tension and comedy; but after the first 15 minutes, I just sat back to enjoy the show. Read More

The Hip Hop Project

Reviewed by Mike Gunn
Directed by Matt Ruskin

“’I stopped listening to hip-hop 10 years ago’…McDaniels points out that Run DMC rhymed about everything from materialism (My Adidas) and higher education (I go to St. John’s University) to Santa Claus (Christmas in Hollis). ’We weren’t choirboys, but we had multiple points of view. This past decade it seems like hip-hop has mostly been about parties and guns and women. That’s fine if you’re in a club, but from 9 a.m. till I went to bed, the music had nothing to say to me.’”
Darryl McDaniels; the DMC in Run DMC


The above quote sums it up! Hip-hop has lost its moorings. Booty and bling has been the formula for success and it has all but destroyed the artistic and socially conscious medium that grows at the roots of the hip-hop culture. Princeton University professor Cornel West calls the sell out version “Constantinian” hip-hop and says that, “Constantinian hip-hop revels in the fetishism of commodities, celebrates the materialism, hedonism, and narcissism of the culture (the bling! Bling!) and promotes a degrading of women, gays, lesbians and gangster enemies.” The problem isn’t the medium, which is often speculated by older white and black conservatives, the problem is the market, which is %72 white, who as West writes “Long for rebellious energy and exotic amusement in their hollow bourgeois world.” No longer does the mainstream hip-hop scene have the prophetic voices of Grand Master Flash, KRS One, Afrikaa Bambaataa or the Furious Five, but we have seen an upturn of the prophetic voice from underground mc’s like the Perceptionists, the Blue Scholars, as well as semi main stream rappers like Black Star, Lauryn Hill, Outkast or Alicia Keys.

This is why I can stand up and applaud the Hip Hop project! An incredibly cool production, and a heart-felt story that only the semi-dead can’t be aroused by. The story centers on Kris “Kazi” Rolle who was abandoned to the streets of New York (Via the Bahamas) first by his biological mother and then his foster mother. Kazi, by his own admission was a boy that got in a lot of trouble by the time he was 14 years old, and needed an outlet for his angst and pain. In truth it was the pain that caused the rebellion. Confusion, fear and anger forced him to steal and to lash out to a society that threw him away. Most often the Kazi’s of the world end up unknown and in our prison systems, but by the grace of God and a love for music, Kazi got involved with Art Start, a teen project in New York city to help youth express themselves through the arts. Kazi soon became the program director of a new project that centered on his love for hip-hop, and the “Hip-Hop Project” was born, taking various teens and working closely with them for 4 years to create an album that would express their voices.

The beauty of the project is that it was much more than a music project. It was a transformation project. It was an expression of the power of one individual making the difference in the lives of others. He began by raising the bar on their art. The youth were raised in hopelessness and anger, and their art was reflective of a mainstream love affair with violence and sex. Kazi matured them, and encouraged them to write about their experiences in ways that uplift, educate and release. He simply asked the question, “If the world would stop to listen to what you had to say, what would you tell them?” That’s profound! Their music was born out of that question. What did they want the world to know about their lives, and their experiences and the social ills around them? He simply led them back to the roots of the medium that most of the world does not know, including a whole new generation of fans that know nothing of the legacy of hip-hop.

The movie seemed to steer clear of sensationalism and the digging in to the ugliness of many of these teens lives, but allowed us to understand it from the outside. It centered on rising above, individual expression and reconciliation. It allowed us to witness the fruit of Kazi’s labor create an album with the help of Russell Simmons (Def Jam Records) and Bruce Willis, who footed the bill for the needed studio time for the project.

This movie, as well as movies like “Born Into Brothels,” and “Rize,” brings out the sublime in humanity! They remind us that when we begin to get outside of ourselves, and to “Give back,” as Kazi exhorts, it is then that we begin to heal the hurts not only in the lives of others, but in the lives of ourselves. Kazi had many internal hurts, but he became a healer, a sacrificer of himself for the transformation of others. This alone is a message that we all need to be reminded of. It also reminds us that there are many talents that walk the streets of major cities in this world, never to be discovered or given the opportunity to use their talents and abilities or even get a chance to express the experiences and pain of their own lives in any kind of medium. Kazi reminds us of that when he says that the “Criminal mind is a creative mind. It all depends where you put your energies.” How true that may be, and how easy is it to judge when we’ve been afforded the opportunities to succeed when many haven’t.

As much as this movie was about music, and the power of art in broken communities, it was also about reconciliation as Kazi traveled back to the Bahamas to meet up with his foster mom, who sent him to the streets of New York at 14 years old, and finally with his biological mom who abandoned him at birth. These were not only touching moments in the film, but highlighted the need for forgiveness and reconciliation, in spite of the reaction of those that hurt you. Though the movie may have been a bit more powerful to center more on these stories, it did enough to show the integrity and courage of Kazi to reconcile some very hurtful things in his life, and to center its story on how the power of one can transform a broken community into something sincere and beautiful.

There isn’t a community that isn’t broken and in need of transformation. It is easy to look at the obvious and feel compelled, but it is important for all of us to reach to the broken in our midst, and seek peace and reconciliation.

I would not only tell you to see this movie, but it’s one of those movies to think about and dialogue with, and let its ethos penetrate our often lugubrious existence. I’d also say go out and support Art Start by buying HHP Vol. 1 (The first Hip-Hop Project’s album, with 17 tracks).

Surf’s Up: Penguins Take on Surf and Turf

Reviewed by Jeff Walls

As clichéd as the plot becomes, Surf’s Up is not without its charms. The mockumentary style pays off with some excellent gags. The way in which the opening narrative contrasts Cody’s version of his “Big Z” encounter with visuals of the truth, for instance, is reminiscent of Don Lockwood’s opening speech in Singin’ in the Rain. Unfortunately, the film seems to shift away from its mockumentary format and we are left with the story of a veteran athlete teaching a young athlete everything he needs to know to succeed both in the specific sport and in life. So Surf’s Up is nothing terrific, but it’s good enough to entertain the kids. Read More

EVERYTHING’S GONE GREEN

Reviewed by Mike Smith

It takes an unusual talent to capture the nuance of an entire culture. Writer Douglas Coupland seems to be that talent. The humor in Everything’s Gone Green is quintessentially Canadian. I am not sure I could define that quality of humor, but I recognize it. The writing and story are quite engaging, and director Paul Fox appears to revel in the same sort of deadpan irony-laden humor that Coupland—if one can be said to revel in an understated way. READ MORE

SPIDER-MAN 3: Spidey Fans Cast a World-Wide Web

Reviewed by Harambee Member Greg Wright

Despite excellent CGI, creatively-staged action sequences, and (I’m assuming) the usual effectively nerdy performances from Kirsten Dunst and Tobey Maguire as MJ and Peter, Spider-Man 3 still reaches too far—four villains (including Spidey himself) are about two too many, and Topher Grace, among others, is wildly miscast. And I’m sorry, but Dunst and Maguire—while competent enough—are being wildly overpaid, regardless of the odd chemistry that they obviously produce. But as high-priced entertainment, Spider-Man 3 starts the summer off with a solid bang. Fans won’t be disappointed—and the series will likely win a whole new legion of followers. READ MORE

Avenue Montaigne: Be Yourself and see what happens.

Reviewed by Mike Smith

I walked away from the theatre feeling good, though a little overwhelmed. There are so many themes in Avenue Montaigne, I decided to focus on just one important idea: that you have value, regardless of your lot in life. Not the smarmy, manipulative, empty, ego-feeding “You are Somebody!” that we get in public school. I mean the firm joy of living that can be found through accepting yourself as you are and reaching out to others first. I think this is the great lesson of the movie: That if I toss away my pretense, toss away my unfounded expectations of a perverted view of success and just be myself, I can affect more people more positively. Read More

Amazing Grace: Amazing and Graceful, If Not Perfect

Reviewed by Harambee Member Greg Wright

As a history lesson, Amazing Grace is beyond admirable. As a tract on the evils of the 18th-century slave trade, it’s a powerful indictment and makes a fine companion piece to Steven Spielberg’s 19th-century slave-trade tale from the opposite side of the Atlantic, Amistad. As a portrait of Wilberforce, it’s an Oscar-bait complex powerhouse. As an example of ensemble acting that might be more memorable than anything else we’ll see this year, we couldn’t ask for more. And still, the whole doesn’t quite add up to the sum of its parts. Read More

Jesus Camp

Reviewed by Mike Smith

Documentary filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady follow a small group of children to Pastor Becky Fischer’s “Kids on Fire” summer camp where kids are taught a worldview quite different from the one most, and I do mean most, Americans are familiar with.

Every subculture has its own pretense. We all come into this world with a self-centered worldview. We filter everything we see through that self-aggrandizing lens. Fisher’s worldview is a Christian one. She believes that she has a lock on the plans of God. But perhaps hers is not a worldview so much as it is practicum. Read More

Ethics, Hollywood, and the Church: Who Cares?

Written by Greg Wright
Posted on thinkchristian.net

Ethics. The topic is everywhere you turn. It’s inescapable. Just before I sat down to write this article, in fact, I read in the local paper about a Federal Justice Department scandal in which the country’s top prosecutor in charge of environmental abuses cozied up to a Conoco lobbyist. While two Conoco consent decrees were being negotiated with Justice, the lawyer and the lobbyist went in together to jointly purchase a million-dollar vacation home.

Almost everybody involved in the case agrees that no laws were broken, and the lawyer involved his since resigned (after signing off on Conoco’s proposed settlements, not surprisingly). But legality is hardly the issue; the issue is ethical impropriety—and, to a degree, common sense. Government lawyers have every right to know and befriend lobbyists. At the same time, the Justice Department, at the very least, needs to not only be squeaky clean, it needs to appear squeaky clean. If you don’t have confidence in Justice, who is there left to trust?

So much for the secular world. What about the Church? And, given my particular ministry niche, I will be more specific: What about the ways in which Hollywood and the Church get cozy? Read More

Is Christmas Pagan?

by Mike Gunn

If you haven’t heard that Christmas is a pagan holiday by now, you have either worked as an extra on “Lost,” or you haven’t yet heard of that newfangled technology called the Internet. There is no doubt that this holiday in particular has been controversial since the Puritans boycotted its celebration as a pagan festival in the 17th century. Many Internet geniuses are convinced that the Christmas story is a pagan rip off, and that Christianity is a fraud. While that is certainly nonsense, since many of the parallels are either not that parallel or in question as to who would have borrowed from whom. One Internet article says, “Christmas dates back over 4,000 years.” While many of the traditions may date back to this time, the idea of “Christmas” (Literally Christ’s Mass) is truly Christian. So you can see there is often confusion and misrepresentation when it comes to these ancient holidays. Read More

A Prairie Home Companion

Review by Michael Smith

Based on the National Public Radio drama of the same title, this movie is a performance of the award-winning radio show, watermarked with backstage banter and drama. A Prairie Home Companion has a wholesome and unapologetic quality, particularly in its middle-American humor, morality, and spirituality. Strongly appealing and effective, this story is the successful blending of radio and cinema—we delightfully witness how a good old yarn can be told on the screen. The beauty of cinema is its visual artistry and real-time urgency; radio is powerful as it couples the dimensions of a story with the listeners’ imagination. These elements are mixed with great success in this movie. Read More

Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift

Reviewed by Michael Smith

I’ve never seen a Fast and Furious movie before, but I didn’t want to miss this one, Tokyo Drift. It is very—ahem—fast and furious. Beauty fills the screen from the very outset: beautiful girls, beautiful cars, and beautiful colors. It is probably the brightest live-action film I’ve ever seen. The races are perfectly choreographed and have a musical quality.

Existence as portrayed in this movie is one of limitless resources spent doing nothing but building fast cars in unbelievable super-garages that any NASCAR fan would envy. Why build fast cars? “Well, so you can go fast.” Why would you want to go fast? “Well silly, so you can win races.” Why do you race? “Don’t make me mad or I’ll race you!” Why is winning so important? “It shows you are the best.” This is the thought process of the movie. Read More

The Da Vinci Disappointment

A movie review by Pastor Mike Gunn

We all know that this is a Christian Web site, and that I, of course, am a Christian. And according to men like Robert Langdon, I have no ability to remain unbiased about my view of this movie. Let the reader beware.

Maybe that's true, but certainly any amateur historian can tell that the "facts" in this movie are, er, well, even more skewed than in Dan Brown's novel. All that aside (and I swear there will be no mention from here on in regarding the theology and fictional nature of this movie), it was a huge disappointment. I should have known a movie with this much hype would fail to deliver. Read More

Da Vinci Code Seminar & Book

In the wake of Dan Brown's best seller, and the recently released movie starring Tom Hanks, Harambee hosted a seminar to help equip people for engaging in dialogue around this significant cultural piece.

Audio: Download MP3 (7 MB)
Notes: Download

Also, Pastor Mike has written a new book, The Da Vinci Code Adventure, that is now available. You can learn more about the book at The Da Vinci Dialogue News Tracker and HollywoodJesus.com. You can pick up a copy on Sundays or at HollywoodJesus.com. Here's an early review of the book:

I've done a lot of writing, reading, and editing over the last several years, and as far I'm concerned, Mike's work in The Da Vinci Code Adventure is the best I've seen. It's challenging, entertaining, thought-provoking, and completely on top of what's going on in the Church and our culture. If you like Mike's preaching style, this book will absolutely blow you away. Jenn and I are proud to have published and contributed to this book, which Catholic author Steve Kellmeyer calls "the most innovative, positive, constructive response to The Da Vinci Code on the market." If you enjoyed reading Dan Brown's book, or know people who did, this volume is the perfect follow-up.

Greg Wright
Writer in Residence, Puget Sound Christian College

Biola Responds to the Gospel of Judas

By Clinton E. Arnold
Professor and Chairman, Department of New Testament
April 10, 2006
http://www.biola.edu/news/articles/060410_judas.cfm

On the first week of April, 2006, the National Geographic Society announced the discovery of a lost gospel titled, “The Gospel of Judas.” Every major news outlet covered this event with some hailing it as the greatest discovery of the century. Others remarked that this gospel would rock many Christians and force a re-examination of our faith. Read More

The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities of Our Time

Reviewed by Pastor Mike Gunn

I would like to preface this article by saying how excited I was to hear that Jeffrey Sachs, the famed economist, had published a book with the title after which this article is named. I first heard about the book in a Time magazine article entitled, “The End of Poverty,” that I read on a flight home from India in 2005. The article stated that Sachs believed extreme poverty* could be eliminated by the year 2025. That’s in our lifetime.


This issue is dear to my heart and I firmly believe that the evangelical is amiss to exclude our responsibility in caring for the poor and marginalized. We are called to be God’s presence in this world, both with the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the living out of that gospel in suffering with those that are marginalized. Since this article doesn’t explore this theological reality, this sentiment will have to suffice. I believe that if the church put its energy into helping the world’s poor and marginalized--as it does to thwart gay marriages and teach intelligent design in the schools--we would see the world respond to the church, and ultimately to the gospel, in vastly different ways. Read More

Plaguemaker

Reviewed by Harambee Member Mike Smith

Four lives tragically intersect to stop a plot to exterminate 100 million people. The plot is the result of one man’s consuming passion; the other three are on an equally passionate mission to stop him. All four lives have been marred by personal tragedies—tragedies made more profound by the fact that they were beyond anyone’s power to prevent. The suffering and tremendous loss drives each of them to passionate action, to a life’s mission. All but one has not been able to come to terms with his own powerlessness; he realizes that God is the only one who can redeem the heartbreak. The eventual meeting of the four results in a locus of personal and mass destruction, reconciliation, and human triumph. Read More

Jessica Williams Jazz Concert

Reviewed by Tim & Mike Smith following a concert on March 10, 2006 at the Olympia Opera House featuring:

Jessica Williams (piano)
Jeff Johnson (bass)
Steve Bently (drums)

My brother Tim and I attended this terrific concert on March 10th. Jessica Williams is arguably the finest jazz pianist in the world right now. 'One of the greatest jazz pianists I have ever heard' -Dave Brubeck. See what I mean? In her career she has been the opening act for Jazz great Bill Evans, played and recorded with Phillie Joe Jones, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon and many others. She has composed over 200 songs and been nominated for a Grammy twice. She has been influenced by many artists and has focused much of her creative energy in composing pieces dedicated to her friends and colleagues. She has recently composed a suite dedicated to her friend Billy Taylor which is to be premiered in Washington, DC. in May. We were the honored recipients of a sneak preview on this night. Read More

What Would Jesus Preach: Are We Called to Preach like Jesus in the 21st century?

By Pastor Mike Gunn

Just a few short years ago you couldn’t turn on an NBA or WNBA basketball game without seeing players wearing WWJD bracelets apparently concerned about whether or not Jesus would hit the jumper, drive the lane, or most likely pass to His teammates, since He’s such a nice guy. The WWJD idea came from a classic devotional “In His Steps,” written by Charle’s Sheldon, reminding us to consider Jesus in the midst of our decision making. A noble effort, but flawed in some sense. After all, are we all supposed to remain single, wear robes and sandals and all become peripatetic preachers like some Franciscan monk? Read More

Crash

Reviewed by Pastor Mike Gunn

Crash starring Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle and Matt Dillon is a phenomenal movie outlining the subtle and not so subtle fears and prejudices that haunt our souls. The movie does a masterful job of portraying the boiling pot below the “melting pot,” which is a lot more like a stew than anything actually melting into one. Here might be the crux of the problem. Read More

Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman’s Soul

Reviewed by Harambee Member Jennifer Zug

I liked this book by John and Stasi Eldredge, let me just state that from the beginning. So if you hated this book please don’t read any further, and PLEASE don’t send me any emails about how John Eldredge is the antichrist. If you were pleased with the book, or remain undecided, or if you haven’t even read it yet, then please, be my guest. Read on.

I begin with that disclaimer because so many reviewers of Eldredge’s latest book are appalled – ABHORRED, I tell ya – that Eldredge would dare to use quotes from movies, music, and secular authors to illustrate his various ideas. So offended are they, that they have ACTUALLY COUNTED the number of secular references Eldredge makes (which, by the way, they can’t even agree on. Some have it at 32 references, some have it at 35). Read More

Standing in the Muck

By Harambee Member Dacia Ray

My heart is saddened today and not with the destruction by the forces of God, but by the issues that have so divided our country that we cannot extend a hand. A hand to those whose homes have been ravaged. A hand to those who have lost everything and are fighting for their lives. Read More

American Idiot by Green Day

Reviewed by Pastor Mike Gunn

By the title of the album you can tell that Greenday’s newest release has something to say. As most artists that have matured (Or at least been around for awhile), they appeared to have saved their best for later. This year’s rock album of the year goes to a more than deserving combination of good music and challenging, intelligent lyrics. Many fans like myself were acquainted with Greenday when “Dookie” arrived on the scene in 1994, and were treated to their pop/punk hits like “Welcome to Paradise,” and “When I Come Around,” which, like the rest of the album rocked with energy, but appeared to stay on the surface level of political and cultural punch. What Dookie failed to do then, American Idiot, more than compensated for now. Read More

American Idiot by Green Day

Reviewed by Harambee Member Sabrina Gatliff (14 years old)

My favorite songs on the album are “Jesus of Suburbia” and “Give me Novacaine.” “Jesus of Suburbia” relates America’s obsession with the media, and I have seen that media can create a twisted sense of self worth by creating an obsessive need for nice clothes and jewelry. Read More

Tsunamis and the Sovereignty of God

By Pastor Mike Gunn

If you are reading this post it is most likely for one of a few reasons. First, like me you are struck by the shear numbers that have died as the result of last months disaster in the Indian Ocean, and secondly you are searching for answers as to why this happened, and what kind of God do we believe in? Then I believe there is a third potential for reading this post; you are a skeptic looking for canon fodder to lash out in righteous indignation against all the “morons” that could conceive of a god that would allow this to happen. Well I write to all of the above, and am fully aware that no matter what I write, the skeptic will not accept it (nor do I expect them to), and this post, as you will see, is clearly not an attempt to make soft sell apologies for God, but an attempt to bring the light of truth from God’s word on such a horrible subject. Read More

Serenity

Reviewed By Pastor Mike Gunn

Serenity is an adventure Sci-Fi spin off from the popular sci-fi channel’s “Firefly” written and directed by Josh Weldon. Firefly, which began as a comic book series, is a story of a renegade captain and his crew, flying around the universe 500 years into the future in search of sustenance (Food, money, etc.). The earth has been severely damaged due to nuclear fall out caused by world war three (Gee that’s original?) and its people has been forced due to overpopulation to pioneer colonies on distant planets. This is where Serenity begins. Read More

Peace on Earth and Good Will to All Men

By Pastor Mike Gunn

Another year coming to a close, another presidential election in the books and another ostensible dagger into any hope of national reconciliation and unity. Our dollar bill may say E Pluribus Unum (The Many as One), but the Red-Blue states seem to indicate otherwise. We are a divided nation, closer to “One Nation under a groove” (So I stole it from George “Not Bill” Clinton) than “One nation under God, and moving light years apart ideologically at warp speed. I myself write as a soon to be 47 year old white “Evangelical” Christian male that often finds himself stuck between two competing worlds. Read More

The Passion of the Christ

Reviewed by Pastor Mike Gunn

I am writing this in the midst of an interesting news month in entertainment -- particularly in the sports world. Such an incredible Superbowl show… and of course, they played the game too. Oh yeah -- Janet Jackson got exposed and we all got imposed on. As obscene as that publicity stunt was, I was more scandalized by those using the occasion to espouse “free” speech rights -- ones that apparently mandate the individual’s right of expression at the expense of everything else. What ever happened to, “Unless it infringes on the rights of others?” Since the NFL is sure to go conservative next year, I’ll be the first to suggest getting Amy Grant up there to sing about her own Judeo-Christian values. Then we can watch the same “free speech” guerillas have a real field day. Read More

Matrix Revolutions

Reviewed by Pastor Mike Gunn

Let the reader be warned that I am a self-professed Matrix geek -- so whatever spews from my keyboard is most likely clouded by my biased “geek” lens!

After scouring countless reviews of The Matrix Revolutions I am convinced that we have all been duped by a huge conspiratorial plot concocted by Warner Brothers -- and of course the malevolent Wachowskis. They have insidiously ripped off the public by promoting a film that promised to answer life’s greatest questions, but left us with nothing but a bunch of CGI and existential disappointment! Read More

Nausea

Reviewed by Pastor Mike Gunn

“I grasp at each second, trying to suck it dry. Nothing happens which I do not seize, which I do not fix forever in myself, nothing, neither the fugitive tenderness of those lovely eyes, nor the noises of the street, nor the false dawn of early morning: and even so the minute passes and I do not hold it back, I like to see it pass.” (Pg. 38)

And so goes Jean-Paul Sartre’s Nobel Prize winning book (1964) Nausea. Many consider this book Jean-Paul Sartre’s most important novel, and a “landmark in existential fiction.” Sartre is considered one of the most prolific French Existentialist writers of the 20th century. He was skilled as a philosopher, novelist, play-write and critic, ably bridging the gap between the academy and the “lay” person. Read More

What Would Spike Say?

By Pastor Mike Gunn

(The following is from an article originally printed in “After Eden” a forum at www.hollywoodjesus.com).

I have been traveling quite a bit these past few weeks, and being on the go has afforded me the luxury of watching some films on my mini-DVD player that I haven’t had a chance to see. Two films stood out which came out in the same time period, Clockers (1995) and Get on the Bus (1996). Both of these films remind me of Spike Lee’s genius and Hollywood’s disregard of his work. Why were these films such marketing and box-office after-thoughts? Read More

Is Art Passe in an Age Of Relativism?

By Pastor Mike Gunn

“A world ends when its metaphor has died. An age becomes an age, all else beside, when sensuous poets in their pride invent emblems for the soul’s consent that speak the meanings men will never know, but man-imagined images can show. It perishes when those images, though seen, no longer mean…”
Archibald MacLeish

I in no way consider myself an art critic. That would assume I actually knew a lot about art. But I do not feel one needs to have a degree in art to comment on its meaning (I’ll leave the aesthetics to those enlightened ones). Last night I went to the Seattle Art Museum to view Morris Grave’s abstract, realism and conscience bending exhibit. My own tastes draw me to the surreal and the abstract. I love Dali, and have his St. Johns of the Cross print hanging up in my living room. I’d have to say I wasn’t that impressed with the exhibit. I found myself drifting into two permanent displays filled with renaissance Christianity, and ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian art. I was fascinated. Read More

Desire of the Everlasting Hills : The World Before and After Jesus

Reviewed by Pastor Mike Gunn

What begins with a bang ends in a whimper. “Everlasting Hills” is the third book (The first two being, “How The Irish Saved Civilization” and “The Gift of the Jews”) in a series called, “The Hinges of History,” Thomas Cahill’s sweep through western culture’s shaping moments. Cahill attempts to do what many have attempted before, ask the question “What effect, if any, has Jesus Christ’s life had on history?” particularly western history. Read More

What Would Jabez Do?

By Pastor Mike Gunn

The modern Christian market has seen a flood of Christian Kitsch, Jesus Junk, and badly ripped off slogans. After all, who would turn a time honored trademark like Budweiser into “Beweiser,” throw it on a shirt, and sell it to fundamentalists trying to be trendy. As insidious as this may seem, when the pat fads, and poor critical thinking strikes the literary world of theology, it is downright sickening. Well fresh in the wake of Christianity’s #1 best selling series “Left Behind,” we’ve hit a new low in the poor theology department, The Prayer of Jabez, Christianity’s newest best selling fad. Read More