Submission to FamilyFed, July 2009

Familyfed.org Movie Reviews – July 2009

Welcome to the FamilyFed.org Movie Reviews! I look forward to diligently pursuing the best that the movie industry has to offer you. My reviews will emphasize good storytelling and character development, and will attempt to offer show how these films can generate a positive impact on your life, as well as that of your family and community. If you have any comments, questions, or film recommendations, please don't hesitate to email us!

This month, we have two films that could be considered polar opposites. One is a sweet, quintessential chick flick, while the other is a raw and violent prison film. Yet these two films are ultimately two sides of the same coin. How, you ask? Well, read on!

Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998)
Starring Drew Barrymore, Anjelica Huston, Dougray Scott
Rated PG-13
Running Time: 121 minutes

Ever After is a historical-fictional response to the age-old Cinderella story. The film's protagonist is Danielle de Barbarac, a sweet yet strong-willed young woman, educated by her widowed father to a degree that was unusual for women at the time. But when her father dies suddenly, Danielle becomes imprisoned in her own home as she cares for her step-family, who treat her as a diminished servant rather than the family member she is. They refuse to treat her with dignity or familial love, and threaten to destroy any remaining shards of her parents' legacy. Her solace is found in her relationships with the other servants, in her friend Leonardo Da Vinci, and in the crown prince Henry, with whom several chance meetings spark mutual feelings of love. But can the heart triumph against the obstacles created by her step-family, and by class separation at large?
This film, with its lush cinematography and sweeping score, seems to inevitably draw viewers into the main plot development of romance between Danielle and Henry. But for the purposes of this review, I'd like to encourage viewers to focus less on this plot line, and more on the characters as individuals; this realm of the story is actually much more compelling than the trite surface plot. Despite Danielle's deplorable circumstances, something inside of her never falters throughout the entire course of the film. She maintains a certain kind of self-respect - a determined, resilient understanding of her identity as the child of good, loving parents. Watch, and you will see that Danielle's finest moments in the film occur either when she is representing her father's intellectual inheritance, such as when she discusses Thomas More's Utopia, or when she is defending her parents' honor, such as the scenes involving her mother's dress. Even her disguise pays homage to her late mother's heritage. Indeed, Danielle never loses sight of who she is, and though she is not always a beacon of optimism, her integrity always sets her straight.

Some discussion questions for families include:
1.For most of the movie, Danielle lives two different lives – Danielle the servant, and Comtesse Nicole De Lencré the courtier. But does her personality change, or stay the same? How can this relate to our own lives? (Parents, consider your own double life of work/public life vs. family/personal life.)
2.Both Danielle and Henry are prisoners in their own life. Why? How do they deal with it?
3.Pay attention to the scene when Monsieur De Barbarac dies. Who does he say his last words to? How does Danielle react? How does the Baroness (the Stepmother) act? What might the screenwriter be trying to say by showing these two different reactions?
4.How does the Baroness's behavior at her husband's death relate to her behavior throughout the rest of the film, and how she treats Danielle? Or how she treats her own daughters?


The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Starring Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman
Rated R (due to scenes with cursing, violence, suicide and sexual referencing)
Running Time: 2 hours, 22 minutes

The Shawshank Redemption tells the story of Andy Dufresne, a young banker thrown into prison for two life sentences, for a crime he did not commit. The film chronicles the decades Dufresne spent within the walls of the Shawshank Penitentiary, including his developing relationships with the prison staff and other prisoners, and shows how his decency and hopeful spirit ultimately sets him - and others - free.
Shawshank is regarded by many to be one of the greatest films ever made, and while the film does feature superb acting, supported by a beautiful audio/visual atmosphere, none of it could function without an effective, compelling story. And certainly we can agree that a man triumphing over the grimmest of circumstances makes for a compelling story. So, what is it that keeps Andy going, in spite of being condemned to such harsh and sadistic confinement, virtually devoid of solace? Over the course of the movie, one will find that it is a combination of several things, such as Dufresne's integrity, his identity as a truly innocent man, and his hopes and dreams of his life outside of Shawshank. Andy's mind is never confined to the stone walls of Shawshank; he is always able to see beyond the daily hardships. With these things rooted inside him, he earns the respect of the other prisoners, perseveres to bring about goodness, and takes slow but deliberate steps to vanquish the injustice of the prison staff.
Andy expresses that there are some things that no one can take away from you, and he takes great effort to revive those things in the other prisoners, such as building a library and coaching prisoners to get their GED. One of many examples of this can be seen as Andy plays music over the prison intercom; as the camera pans over the crowd of prisoners at a standstill, faces skyward, we see the prisoners taste a moment of internal freedom. It is in these moments where the film soars as high as the music, and reaches deep into our souls, imploring us to soar above our prisons too.

Some Discussion Questions:
1.As Andy remarks that everything boils down to a choice to either “get busy living, or get busy dying”, what does that mean for him personally? How can we apply that statement to our own lives?
2.Being that the film is called “The Shawshank Redemption”, what are some scenes in which redemption takes place?
3.Andy discusses with his friends about how music, for him, is something nobody can take away from him. What are some things that you personally feel are irremovable?
4.What does Zihuatanejo represent to Andy? To Red?
5.Once concept explored in the film is institutionalization. Who falls victim to it? Who fights it? Are we all institutionalized in some ways?

These two films can be thought of as two different performances of the same song – one is a fairly simple arrangement picked out on the keyboard; the other is a played by a string quartet. But what is that common melody? What do a fairy tale and a murder mystery have in common? It is the idea of imprisonment, and what one does when they are given such a fate. A wise young woman I know once said that “We create our prisons... With the right mindset, a prison can become a palace.” The protagonists in both of these films seemed to have understood that. Both, though placed in grim circumstances outside of their control, maintain a sense of dignity, a positive perspective and integrity, which allows their prisons to ultimately crumble.
Though none of us will likely ever own glass slippers or be framed for murder, we can still identify with these characters. That's the beauty of movies – though many of the stories we watch are fictional (and perhaps even bordering on the preposterous), the emotions felt and the reasons behind the action are very real. Some of our greatest teachers are stories, because we ARE the stories – the motion picture is just a useful sort of carnival mirror, giving us a new and interesting way to understand our world. So though we may not be physically trapped like these characters, we can still learn from them that if we maintain our true identity and integrity, no prison will ever contain us.