Movie gathering

When we talked about "Apocalypto," poster "jswranch" suggested that the next time a movie comes out that could be discussion-worthy, we should try to gather some folks here for a screening.

Well, Christopher West's next column (Feb. 9 issue) is on the film "Children of Men," and he provides some interesting insights into the film. Here is the opening to his column:

Movies, like all forms of art, reveal something of the human soul. They can be a kind of confession. Our sins, our fears, our inner contradictions, our worst nightmares – all the kinds of things that people don’t talk about in “polite” conversation – often find an outlet, consciously or unconsciously, on the big screen.

A new movie called “Children of Men” seems to offer just such a confession. It taps into the inevitable psychological disturbance that stems from our culture’s widespread disregard for new life and the seemingly omnipresent preference for sterilized sex: “Having sex: nothing better. Having babies: nothing worse.” Doesn’t this pretty much sum up the way the world thinks? The schizophrenia inherent in such a blatant bucking of reality is bound to cause major brain spasms. And these major brains spasms can turn into a major motion picture like this one.

I'll be honest... I didn't have a desire to see this, as the story just seemed too preposterous. I can suspend disbelief to some degree at films, but this one seemed to offer too many unanswered questions. However, after reading Christopher's column, I am interested. I am up for trying to get a small group together to watch it sometime in the next week or so. If you are up for it, e-mail me at editor@coloradocatholicherald.com with days and times that work for you. It may be hard to pull this off with everyone's schedules, but we'll give it a shot. I would like to do a screening followed by discussion over lunch/dinner, depending on when people would like to go. I live closest to Cinemark Tinseltown near World Arena.

If this works out, I would be interested in starting a Catholic moviewatching club that picks one current film release a month for a screening and dialogue.