Just yesterday we finally managed to return to the movies after a month's drought. We have been going to the theater ever since and whenever it opened, mask and all. Hyperclean, pleasant and too often we have our own private showing. That is a pity indeed. Watching it on your big screen, if you have one, is not the same as experiencing it on the truly BIG screen in the theater. The sound is better; the entire gestalt is better. To be afraid is to be silly if one takes precautions and how does one go to dinner at a restaurant but is afraid to go to the movie theater?
More important is that when people attend the theater together, they discuss the movie just seen, watched, felt. Then we get to the purpose of the movies. They are meant to entertain. They are meant to make you laugh and cry. They are made to make you think. They are made to help you see the truth - or the falsehoods - that ordinarily might not be caught, made clear and understood.
So, to the Eternals, a movie unfortunately panned by those reviewers who are too impressed with their own importance and wisdom. They simply did not see the truths underlying it all, the warnings practically blaring from the screen, the appropriate acting by the cast. So, here goes.
The robotic acting, stiffness of the cast, at the beginning of the movie. Somewhat later on we understand that as they are robots, created by some god named Arishem. Robots, endowed by their creator with AI, they have managed to grow belong the supposed limitations. We see the factual proof of that in the increased emotions expressed, the active body language, the anguish on faces, even as some robotic behavior continues. Even as their breakthrough humanity, the emotions, the uncertainty that is part and parcel of the human condition grows deeper.
Their concerns mirror ours. Who is in control of humanity? Do we owe blind allegiance, no exceptions allowed, to the Creator? What free will do we have and what responsibilities to others do we owe? Do we indeed also owe concern and care to the Earth, this planet, to prevent its destruction, as seen in so many of the scenes. Are we ever improve our humanity, leave behind the warring genes, use technology for the betterment of all rather than for the subjugation of others. Can we not see the physical changes in our planet? Can we not see the lines being drawn clearly to the crises of our day? Pandemic. Environment destruction. Weather extremes. Violent volcanic eruptions - from dead volcanoes. China and Taiwan. Putin and the Ukraine. Iran and its nuclear capacity. More to follow. On and on.
"Eyes they have but do not see. Ears they have but do not hear." This we read in Psalms. Arishem is a combination of the Hebrew for Lion of G-d. There was music of the secular and music of the deeply religious, heard in a musical passage of chanting. See, no one is immune to what we are being warned about in this movie. Decisions of life and death, of sacrifice for others, to the point of death, realization, sometimes too late, of the truly important in life - and any consequences that follow, that were pending on earlier decisions.
Secrets, life changing ones, that lay deep within the souls and hearts of others, even our loved ones. Questions as to what do we owe our Creator, unquestioning, or doubting? How does mankind progress? That now includes those Eternals which represent all the famous touching points in the history of mankind. They contain within their names and their background stories the truth of the world, if only we recognize it, behave accordingly.
No, the human situation is most definitely not a sure and certain state of being. It rocks, it rolls, it shivers and is obstinately stubborn. It is immutable. We give thanks to the Lord, but also play dirty with Him/Her. Where do we go? What do we prepare for? How do we prepare? Stay tuned for the sequel, as seen in the two after movie trailers. (You must stay through the credits.) Stay tuned for what we face in existential realities of life, even as we remain blind and deaf to their portrayals on the screens of America. May the Creator help us all, for we sure as shootin' ain't doin' that ourselves, are we?
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