Movie Review

Thought I'd share a movie I have reviewed:

Movie: City Lights (1931; dir: Charlie Chaplain)

The movie "City Lights" is regarded by some as Charlie Chaplain's greatest silent film. It centres around a tramp (Chaplain) who falls in love with a blind woman (Virginia Cherrill). By accident the blind woman assumes the tramp is a "distinguished gentleman". Chaplain accepts this assumed role because of his longing to be longed for. Through a rich acquaintance Chaplain's comes across a large sum of money. Rather than use it for himself he uses the entire amount to heal his blind friend and is subsequently taken to prison. The movie culminates in the tramp and the healed blind woman meeting. In the closing scene the blind woman comes to know of the how much Chaplain gave up to heal her.

Chaplain's film adapts the biblical theme of love and sacrifice to his film. Explicit biblical references can be seen in the cinematography during the boxing scene (burial in the tomb) and more implicitly of theme of blindness. More impressively Chaplain is able to capture thought and emotion without words to speak deeply about the inner workings of the characters. We get a deep understanding of who these people are through his use of comedy. In "City Lights" Chaplain is able to portray humanity in its simplest but most profound form. In this sense I regard Chaplain as a philosopher.

Some things I think Chaplain communicates through the movie is:

* The longing of every human being for love and acceptance as seen through Chaplain (the tramp) and the blind woman.

* Real love will sacrfice everything: seen in the tramp willingness to go to prison to heal his friend.

* The response to real love is true thankfulness and love: seen in the moving final scene as the woman looks into Chaplain's eyes feeling overwhelming love combined with utter unworthiness.

In this way Chaplain communicates some truths which the bible centres on in the work of Jesus. Christ's willingness to give up the glories of heaven and become not only human (tramp like) but then also to descend to hell (prison) to reconcile us with God (healing) speaks of the depth of his sacrificial love for mankind. I think we'll be in disbelief and astoundment at the true cost of his sacrifice when we finally meet him - the Lion who became a Lamb for us.

N

Heading South

On Friday we head off to Warm Beach campsite in Washington state for Regent Retreat. All college students, lecturers and their families are invited. We're looking forward to the trip away - all except the long wait at the border that is. We have to pay 6US dollars each for fingerprinting (supplied by student association) and are expected to wait 1hr at the border, plus the trip (bout 2 hours I think)
We'll have lots more stories after the weekend.

Meet the Teacher night went well yesterday, but it was a long night. Got to meet most parents, go through the year's plan, so it was helpful.

M

Regent

I am extremely thankful for God bringing me to Regent College. The atmosphere is wonderful. There is a huge focus on community. I don't think I would be exagerating by saying that there isn't a bible college in the world similar. Regent has a very big push on incorprating christianity back into culture. A huge part of culture (the literature, painting, music) etc is the way a community expresses its history and ideas which reveals its identity. Christianity really led this area from 300-1500 AD, but has been neglected particularly in the past couple of hundred years. They encourage students with talents in these areas to share them with the world. Intellectually they are doing are great job also... Some of the proffessors missed the Wed class as they went to accept an award from Yale for the Regent course I am doing called Christian Thought and Culture. This course has a different Lecturer each week as we look at the evolution of christian doctrine. The cool thing is that the the other professors join in the lecture and will share there own views and questions in question time at the end of each lecture.. Mareesa is enjoying her Job at Westside Christian School. She has a few challenging subjects like maths composite class - Yr7,8,9 &10, as well as PE and Home Ec/Business/Technology combined subject and Science. We are missing home, but really enjoying our time... N

Another Beautiful Day in Vancouver

8.40am, Tuesday September 11.
I must say, that yesterday was absolutely beautiful! The wind wasn't cold for a change, and the sun was out. I was glad I had the opportunity to be outside for parts of the day. I taught PE for the first time - maybe it wasn't such a good sign that a girl threw up afterward??? We're looking at fitness & exercise, so that will help me stay motivated to jog with Nathan of a morning, so that I'm not hypocritical. Today I teach one 40 minute class, but I am also starting teacher aide work with Grade 4-6, as one of the students needs individual attention. We also (finally) are having a staff meeting, which is very much needed. And Wednesday, our new Office Administrator is starting (we haven't had one for 2 weeks). Basically it means the school will run a lot smoother =)
Nathan has gone off to his first lecture in Hebrew, he has 3 subjects today plus chapel (I joked about taking his picture on the first day of 'school'). I am about to go over to Regent and sign up to audit Intro to Christian Counselling, which runs on a Tuesday night. It wasn't my first choice, but it fits in with our schedule, and I know that it will be helpful! Christina, another international spouse I know, is also auditing that class.
Tonight there is a 'soup night' here at St Andrews, and Thursay we are having people over for dinner for the first time - thankfully I bought another 2 plates at a garage sale on Saturday hehe (also some other useful things - sleeping bag, thermos, canisters etc).
Even though I am teaching, I am still waiting to hear back from the BC Teachers College for my certification, so I'd appreciate some prayer about that.
M
Nathan now has a facebook for those who also have one.

First day of school

Today was the first day of Fall Term, so I got to meet my new students, some other middle school teachers, and find out a bit more about my role. I also met my "sister", the school's first teacher Melissa who was from Townsville. It rained this morning, so I got out my second-hand brollie and walked the 20mins to school.

There are 9 kids in Yr 7-9, and 4 kids 10-12. Today was mostly administration, getting to know you activities and some introductory lessons. I do a little bit of mentoring with the seniors, which is helping them to plan their day for when they do online lessons, and help encourage/motivate them, particularly with math/science as they seem to lean more to the art/humanities side of the curriculum.

Orientation 31/8/07

Mareesa and I attended the International students orientation at Regent on Friday. It was good to meet people finally. In the afternoon I also met some 2nd and 3rd year Regent students playing soccer. One of the existing students invited us to their church on Sunday morning and for breakfast which was nice. We have noticed that Canadians are getting up pretty late (maybe its because we are staying on the uni campus), and often they don't have evening church services. Saturday we went with a bunch of international students to tour Vancouver. It was interesting to meet each other and find out how we have arrived at Regent. Among the highlights was visiting the Vancouver lighthouse, Canada Place where the Alaskan cruise ships leave from and coffee in downtown Vancouver. The next week will be more orientation with the Americans and Canadians. All up there are about 120 newbies doing Master Christians Studies and Master of Divinity. Highschool students begin this Tuesday so it won't be long before we are both in routine.

N