Invictus Movie Review...

This past weekend, my DH and I had the chance to watch Invictus. I was completely unaware of the story that was portrayed, other than what I had previously gathered from the movie's previews. I don't want to give away too much information and ruin the movie for you, but here is a general overview.
The story is about the underdog South African rugby team, the Springboks, and Nelson Mandela's encouragement/inspiration to the team captain leading up to the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

In the development of the rugby story, the relationships between the English South Africans and the native South Africans come to life and how Mandela mediated between them.

The title of the movie comes from a poem that Mandela used as inspiration for himself and later passed on to Francois Pienaar, the Springbok's captain. The poem, titles "Invictus", was written by William Ernest Henley.

From a Christian perspective, the poem has questionable assumptions, primarily the closing lines (which are the summation of the movie).

"I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul."

These lines brought up a discussion between my DH and I about the validity of these lines. In regards to a Christian interpretation, I understand it to mean that an individual can choose whether or not to let a given situation be the cause of ruin for their life. In the case of Mandela, even though he spent 27 years imprisoned he didn't resign himself to being the victim for the rest of his life.

The movie wasn't without some bad language, but overall was had good content. To get a better review on objectionable content, you can go to Focus on the Families Plugged In Review.

I am curious if any of you saw Invictus? What did you think of it?

Australia (The Movie)...

On Saturday night my DH took me on a date. We had dinner and then went to see Australia. I have wanted to see it since I saw the preview for it. I am a very big fan of period films because of the costumes and I am intrigued by the clothing in the early 20th century. The fact that the story involves WWII (which I am very interested in) made the movie a must-see for me.

I don't want to spoil the story for anyone wanting to see the movie, so I will try not to spill too much of the plot. I must admit that from the previews I saw, I expected the story to be little different than it was. I thought that it would show more about the impact WWII had on Australia and less about a particular child of aborigines descent. The part of the story about the cattle drive is very intriguing and really gets you cheering for them. The story is neat and entertaining, just different than I expected.

In regards to questionable material, I know that there was at least one use of a foul word and there is a rather short intimate scene. (I am not sure what all it contained because my DH and I didn't pay attention during that scene.) There are several sexual innuendos and crass talk. There is also the appearance of an ongoing intimate relationship between the two main characters who are not married. Australia is rated PG-13 for some violence, a scene of sensuality, and brief strong language.

All in all, I enjoyed watching it but probably won't watch it again, mainly because of the storyline and length of the movie.

If you have seen Australia I'd love to hear what you thought of it.

Prince Caspian...

Today, my DH and I went to the theater to see the next movie in the Chronicles of Narnia series, Prince Caspian. It was really good and I completely enjoyed it. The first movie "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" was such a wonderful movie that I feared the sequal would be a let down but it wasn't. I think that it is really neat how even through the movie God spoke to me about having the courage to trust Him. I don't want to give the story line away, but it is so neat how C.S. Lewis used Aslan as an allegory for Christ.

The first time I saw the first movie, I was moved to tears by the direct correlation that Lewis tied to Aslan's sacrifice and Christ's sacrifice. I had seen the Passion of the Christ, but the Narnia movie showed the ultimate sacrifice in such a different light. If you haven't seen the first one, I highly recommend it. The Prince Caspian will make a lot more sense if you do.

As for the movie rating, it is rated PG. There is some violence and presence of mythological creatures which can be scarry for little ones. But, there are no gory scenes or anything like that. You can watch a trailer by clicking on this link.

I actually haven't read any of the Chronicles of Narnia; but, I really want to. I might make reading all of them a goal for this summer. We'll see.