Adventures in Faith, Honesty, and Courage

Posted on August 12, 2008 at 8:00 am

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	4th - 6th Grades
MPAA Rating:	NR
Profanity:	None
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Some peril
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to DVD:	August 12, 2008

The great “Adventures from the Book of Virtues” animated series has three new releases today: Adventures in Faith, Adventures in Honesty and Adventures in Courage.

These are classic stories that have thrilled audiences through the ages because they are about fascinating characters and exciting adventures from history, fables, myths, literature, and the Bible. Harriet Tubman helps people escape from the cruelty of slavery. Daniel enters the lion’s den, knowing that his faith will protect him. Androcles removes a thorn from a lion’s paw and finds his kindness repaid. The good Samaritan helps a stranger who has been injured. George Washington answers truthfully when asked who cut down the cherry tree. A child is the only one who will answer honestly that the Emperor has no clothes.

List: The Top 25 Law Movies

Posted on July 26, 2008 at 8:00 am

The magazine published by the American Bar Association has assembled a list of the 25 best movies about the law, with another 25 on the list of runners-up. I am a lawyer from a family of lawyers and we all love movies about the law. Just about every lawyer I know would agree with the ABA’s assessment that “To Kill a Mockingbird” is the all-time best.

I’d like to say that it is because I am a lawyer that I have such a passion for courtroom dramas, but I think it is more accurate to say that I became a lawyer because I was so inspired by films like To Kill a Mockingbird and Anatomy of a Murder. I even wrote a law review article about two of my favorites, Miracle on 34th Street and Inherit the Wind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y5Baa0IV1I&feature=related

I am partial to the movies based on real-life cases like “Philadelphia,” “Amistad,” and “Erin Brocovich.” Another of my favorites, “Inherit the Wind,” includes dialogue lifted straight from the court transcripts. “Anatomy of a Murder has the additional distinction of being based on a book by a judge and having a real-life judge and American hero playing the part of the judge on screen. And it is the only law movie I can think of where one of the highlights is a lawyer finding the right precedent in the law library.

I know it is a popular movie, but I was surprised to find “The Verdict” on the ABA’s list, even with Paul Newman’s Oscar-winning performance. It is wrong on so many points of law that my law professor sister said she could ask her students to find all the errors as an exam for her Civil Procedure class. All of the movies on the full list, including the honorable mentions, are worth watching. There is something inherently gripping about a courtroom drama, as “Law and Order” shows several nights a week.

Interestingly, though, one of the most widely seen and highly regarded of the films takes place entirely outside the courtroom: 12 Angry Men. A friend recently gave me a copy of a a special issue of the Chicago-Kent Law Review dedicated to the 50th anniversary of that classic movie.

In , all but a few moments of the film take place in one room as a dozen men deliberate in a murder case. A teenager has been charged with stabbing his father to death. In the initial vote, all but one (Henry Fonda as Juror #8) vote “guilty.” I go on jury duty myself for the first time after Labor Day and will keep this movie very much in mind as I try to live up to one of society’s most important responsibilities.

‘Lord Save Us From Your Followers’

Posted on July 23, 2008 at 9:00 am

My good friend Brandon Fibbs has a characteristically thoughtful review in Christianity Today of a new documentary called Lord Save Us From Your Followers from writer-director Dan Merchant.

Merchant’s documentary turns on a deceptively simple question: Why is the gospel of love dividing America? Christianity, he contends, is far more interested in the “gospel of being right” than the gospel of Jesus Christ. Fed up with the strident language and angry rhetoric that have come to define modern Christendom, Merchant, a veteran of the entertainment industry, set out to explore the flashpoint of faith and culture in America.
Fibbs says that
What makes the film so powerful is its intractable ability to embrace both the baby and the bathwater. This is a film made by a follower, and therein lies its unique musculature….”If the first half of the film is showing how we’re missing the mark,” Merchant says, “the second half is really an examination of who we’re trying to be. If (the world) wants to criticize (Christians) for the things we do wrong, we should accept it and apologize. But let’s also be honest that that is not the whole picture….” also reveals Christians acting in ways that bring honor to the God they serve, earning the respect of all those around them. Rather than using the Bible as a weapon, these believers use it as a salve, and the response is as simple as it is astonishing. Suddenly Christ and Christians are synonymous again. Says Merchant, “Let’s be so like Christ that others say, ‘You can always count on the Christians when they come around.’ I’d love for us to be that. That’s how Jesus did it.”
I was very touched by Fibbs’ description of Merchant’s open and honest communication and spiritual generosity and look forward to seeing the film.

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Spiritual films

Mandela

Posted on July 14, 2008 at 8:00 am

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	NR
Profanity:	None
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Disturbing material about apartheid
Diversity Issues:	A theme of the movies
Date Released to Theaters:	March 21, 1997

Celebrate the 90th birthday this week of one of history’s greatest leaders, Nelson Mandela, with one of the fine films about his extraordinary perseverance, vision, courage, and leadership. The story of the massive social change he achieved without violence is profoundly moving and inspiring and one that all families should understand and discuss. Perhaps his greatest contribution is the notion of reconciliation and forgiveness rather than retribution and punishment, a lesson the world will need to recover from its current conflicts.

The documentary, Mandela: Son of Africa, Father of a Nation follows Mandela from his early years as one of nine children of a polygamist father assigned the name “Nelson” by a teacher instead of his tribal name to his 27 years in prison, his election to the Presidency of South Africa and the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize. The made-for-television Mandela & De Klerk (PG-13 for disturbing images of political violence) has Sidney Poitier and Michael Caine as Mandela and his co-Nobel awardee F.W. de Klerk. Both are outstanding.

Kavanah Productions:

Posted on July 10, 2008 at 8:00 am

Kavanah is a documentary production company dedicated to creating films on Jewish themes to be used in educational settings. It was established by Lauren Shweder Biel, a Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology at New York University. The word “kavanah” means “intention,” “concentration,” or “focus” and is an essential part of meaningful action of all kinds, including ritual and prayer.
Beil has made two films so far:
Abraham’s Daughters: A Bat Mizvah Story, exploring the multiple dimensions of this life cycle ceremony as it is practiced and experienced in contemporary Jewish life (35 minutes), and 1-800-GO-KOSHER, a day in the life of New York City’s only rapid-response kitchen koshering service (10.5 minutes).
For more information or to order a film, contact info@kavanahproductions.com

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Shorts Spiritual films