Sunday Matinee #20 Glory
What should we do with a cause bigger than ourselves?
Welcome to R-Rated Movie Club, and thanks for being a subscriber! I can’t thank you enough for being here. Like other polls, today’s is open for one week and then we’ll look at results in two weeks. Please be sure to take it ASAP and be part of the discussion. Thanks, and here it is…
Audience Reaction Poll
Once a month, we get audience reactions from you, Dear Reader, about a movie-related poll. This month’s is a look at the R-rated movies in the Top 100 Films listed by the American Film Institute, or AFI. Their list is just a list. Anyone can make a list, and the AFI lists only have power so long as people pay attention to them, but this is one list that people do indeed pay attention to and it matters for revenue, too. I mean, it can be easier to sell your movie if it’s on a list like this.
There are 28 R-rated movies on the AFI Top 100 Films list. There would likely be more if the R-rating had been around longer for other movies (Ben-Hur is rated G in 1959, horse chariot violence and all). Our concern is with their top 5, spread out between #2 and #30. Take a look at these five movies - 3 Best Picture nominees and 2 Best Picture winners, 3 from the 70s, 2 by Coppola , the latest 30 years young this year, and every single one a period piece by at least 5-48 years - and lift up your voice.
Which of the highest-ranked AFI Top 100 Films that is R-rated is your favorite?
The poll closes in one week, so vote today!
We’ll talk about the poll results right here in two weeks, and thank you.
Quotes With Notes
Acts 2:12, 21
Full Text: Acts 2:1-21 (Revised Common Lectionary)
Day of Pentecost (May 28, 2023)
Sign up for a free course at EnterTheBible.org to learn more.
Context: We return to the second chapter of Acts (because that’s what the Lectionary likes to do sometimes, weird isn’t it?) where a gathered crowd experiences a powerful event they can’t explain. Jesus’s disciple turned apostle, Simon Peter, steps up and offers his take on it, relying on quoting scripture to proclaim prophecy fulfilled.
12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”
21 [Peter invoked,] ‘Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” 38 Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Glory (1989) | TriSTar Pictures, Freddie Fields Productions
Starring Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, Cary Elwes, Andre Braugher, Jihmi Kennedy
Written by Kevin Jarre, Lincoln Kirstein (book), Peter Burchard (book) | Directed by Edward Zwick
Context: This film based on the 54th Massachusetts regiment of the US Army is a tale of the first Black soldiers enlisted to serve in the US Civil War. It follows a tent of soldiers and their commanding officers as the company undertakes an uphill battle of racism, classism, and war. After a hard-fought battle from muskets to hand-to-hand combat, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw (Matthew Broderick) approaches Pvt. Trip (Denzel Washington in his Oscar-winning role), a runaway slave, to bear the flag in their next battle. They have had a hard relationship leading up to this quiet moment alone, including Col. Shaw overseeing Trip being whipped for going AWOL.
Trip: I ain't fightin' this war for you, sir.
Colonel Robert G. Shaw: I see.
Trip: I mean, what's the point? Ain't nobody gonna win. It's just gonna go on and on.
Colonel Robert G. Shaw: Can't go on forever.
Trip: Yeah, but ain't nobody gonna win, sir.
Colonel Robert G. Shaw: Somebody's gonna win.
Trip: Who? I mean, you get to go on back to Boston, big house and all that. What about us? What do we get?
Colonel Robert G. Shaw: Well, you won't get anything if we lose.
Trip: [nods, scratches his head, looks back out over the water]
Commentary:
We’re coming full-circle with the same scripture text and scene from the movie Glory in the Sunday Matinee #15. The Revised Common Lectionary that many churches follow for their regular worship schedule does some back-and-forth dancing like this, so here we are. But, it gives us a good opportunity to revisit the scene from a new angle.
When the gathered group feels the rush of a mighty wind, feel the tongues of flame dancing on their heads, feel the Holy Spirit in their midst, they have no idea what it means. They asked that, verbatim: “What does this mean?” Simon Peter stepped up with a response and I absolutely adore this. He stepped up many times in the gospels only to not do so well. He sank in the water when he walked out to Jesus, he told Jesus he didn’t have to die, he got many things wrong. But here, he’s the leader now, and he had to make a judgment call.
He named that something good is happening here, something with saving power. It compelled people enough that they asked what they should do in response and Simon Peter said repent - make a turn in your life - and partner up with the Spirit to do something good. Embrace what is happening here as God has embraced you!
Glory tells a complex story from two points of view, that of a White officer and a tent of Black soldiers. They don’t always see eye to eye, and I don’t think any of them truly understand everything about one another. But there are moments like this when Col. Shaw (Matthew Broderick) and Pvt. Trip (Denzel Washington in his Oscar-winning performance) meet and exchange their way of thinking.
Before this scene, Trip was called out for bullying a fellow soldier, Thomas (Andre Braugher). When called out, he yelled at Sgt. Rawlins (Morgan Freeman) who further called him out for not just bullying but lashing out at any and everybody around him. Trip’s anger was controlling him, and he was letting that rule over his heart and actions. To Rawlins, Trip had to repent. He tells him to “ante up,” to be part of something bigger than his selfishly selfish self. Now, Col. Shaw asks Trip to bear the regimental colors. Let’s think about why he says no:
A few weeks ago, we looked at the ending of this scene. Trip recalls Rawlins’ call to “ante up” and while he doesn’t agree to carry the flag, he does indeed decide to be part of something bigger than himself. But this moment comes before that. Here, Trip told Shaw he isn’t fighting the war for the Union cause. It’s for his own cause, perhaps the broader cause Rawlins spoke of the night before. He was still figuring that out. It’s why he went to the water’s edge in the first place, to sit and contemplate all that was before him. His mind was swirling with one question: “What does this mean?” I’ve had my fair share of sitting by the lake wondering what something means, maybe you can relate to that?
This conversation between Trip and Shaw is an attempt to answer the “why” of war. Why fight? Why try? What is there to gain? What is there to lose? And how is that different for different people? Shaw offers a thought: Trip may not get Boston and a fancy house like Shaw will. But if they lose, he will get nothing. Even Trip can agree to that, giving a slight nod before turning back to the water to ponder.
Things aren’t always so clear cut. In Acts 2, the crowd trusts Simon Peter’s interpretation of the Spirited event and his feedback on how they should respond. In Glory, Shaw and Trip go back and forth trying to figure the war out between the two of them. What about your own life? What does it take for you to name what’s happening in your life and take action on it? Who do you listen to? Who listens to you? What cause are you invested in that’s bigger than yourself? It is 100% impossible to say whether Trip ends up carrying the flag or not, and why or why not, without major spoilers, so you’re just going to have to check out Glory for yourself, Dear Reader!
A Word of Encouragement
Be kind to yourself and watch out for each other. May what you seek be found, and may what is found have an abundance of love at its center. And to today’s preachers, may the sermon you crafted and the prayers you lift reveal the everlasting presence of the Holy Spirit. God’s peace and good movies to you!
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