Dreamgirls
This film is a rollicking good time, a toe-tapping musical that pulls out all the stops in its high-energy production numbers, and features a spectacular debut by Jennifer Hudson as well as stellar performances from Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy, and Beyoncé Knowles. But since it’s about a half hour too long, anyway, and it’s not even remotely about The Supremes, after all, why cast it into the turbulent 60s and throw in all that file footage about race riots? The lack of focus detracts from an otherwise gloriously festive achievement. Even so, you still gotta love a movie where people will just break out into song at any moment.
Home Of The Brave
We’ve all seen and heard the news accounts of the war in Iraq. But how much do we know of the “after-effect” on our soldiers who serve there? Many deal with a heavy sense of loss, an inner rage that can explode into a senseless rampage, and a kind of listlessness with “ordinary” life. After living on the edge for so long, they struggle to re-assimilate to a culture that seems so intentionally oblivious of the carnage there.
Examples? An enlisted man who lost his best friend in an ambush returns to find that his job is gone, his girlfriend has left, and that he doesn’t fit in anymore in his own life. A surgeon (Samuel L. Jackson) who had to perform serial amputations in a field tent is haunted by the horrors he experienced, so he drinks to numb the pain, and becomes alienated from the family who eagerly awaited his return. A young mother (Jessica Biel) who lost her hand while driving a truck over a land mine returns to find herself no longer interested in her boyfriend, and unreasonably irritated with her bewildered son. A big, strong-looking ex-soldier (Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson) is overwhelmed with the guilt of accidentally shooting an unarmed civilian, and is like an emotional time bomb waiting to explode.
This film is awkward in many places, perhaps because of the screenplay; perhaps also because this is a still-awkward subject for us. Many pleasure-seeking moviegoers will avoid it, but perhaps it’s the movie that “ought” to be seen, because its intentional fictions feel so honest.
Questions For Discussion:
1) How is the “post-traumatic stress disorder” of returning soldiers affected by the politics of the war in which they participated?
2) Do you feel differently toward a struggling single dad than toward a struggling single mom?
Ron Salfen is pastor of First Church in Terrell, Texas.
