Believe It: When It’s All Up In The Air

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (Deut. 6:4, 5)

So in the last entry I shared how my first cinema trip brought up some thoughts about the glorification of science and reason and the problems that can bring when it comes to giving a fair hearing to things like faith.

That leads me to the second cinema trip that I’ve been privileged to have this year so far.  As the first was the last in Stoke-on-Trent for the foreseeable future, the recent was the first one in the new area in which I live.  Although I’m classed as living in the greater Manchester area and the such like, I’m actually nearer to Bolton than Manchester.  I’m only 15 minutes drive (max) away from the Reebok Stadium where Bolton Wanderers ply their footballing trade in the Premier League.  It’s an impressive stadium … from the outside, I’ve yet to go inside, but hope to do so soon.  In any case, the stadium is evidently built as part of a larger commercial and retail venture and the area around it is decked with a number of big name retailers and entertainment venues.

It’s a fairly impressive industrial estate and shopping area.  So obviously a part of the whole complex would involve a cinema.  Also thankfully for me it’s a Vue cinema, funnily enough like the one I went to in the Stoke-on-Trent area (it was in Newcastle-under-Lyme, there is a difference, but they’re so close that you’ll have to allow this).  I’m a guy for loyalty to certain things more out of routine than anything and if a cinema sucks in one place I’m less likely to try it in another, likewise if it rocks in one place … So I had no complaints about the numerous experiences of Vue and so was pleased to see it was the cinema in the complex.

So very recently my dear friend from university, Lloyd Clarke (pictured left), who lives in Bolton, invited me to catch a film at the cinema.  Well, I thought that was only fitting because if I wanted to catch a bakers in a cinema then I would have been sorely disappointed so the film seemed most appropriate.  Anyway, as ever, I was so very pleased to get the invite to watch a flick with a friend and it was good way to settle into the new area.  It was Lloyd’s choice of movie and he elected to watch the latest starring George Clooney – Up In The Air.  I’m sure I wouldn’t have gone out of my way to watch it if left up to me, but I had no objections to the selection and although I’d come across one or two mixed reviews, I knew little enough about it to approach it without prejudice.

Unlike Sherlock Holmes where you can just say it’s a detective story, Up in the Air requires a bit more work to explain.  It could be a classed as a drama with comedic elements or a serious comedy, maybe someone going for the simple life would class it as a comedy/drama.  The story is centred around Ryan Bingham a man employed by a company who works on behalf of other companies to deal with redundancies.

Ryan goes from city to city, accumulating his mile-points as he goes around the country and basically fires people, but does it in as humane a fashion as is possible for such a very devastating act.  From the outset we see just how devastating it can be on the lives of those who have evidently invested their whole lives into work and are identified by it and without it face the perils of identity crisis, financial crisis and the other painful consequences.  Ryan’s job is to present this as positively as possible even though realistically the chances of people taking him up on the options ahead are slim.

As well as this Ryan is also a motivational speaker and the heart of his talk is a celebration of the philosophy underpinning his lifestyle.  He is constantly on the move and lives in the air as well as experiencing life more in hotels than in his own dwelling.  He likes that.  He has no baggages in terms of possessions or relationships.  That’s how his life is and when he comes across Alex, a business woman who has a similar lifestyle it’s the perfect match for a casual relationship.

Things change for Ryan though as the company he works for employs a young tyke, Natalie, who has revolutionary ideas for the business and seeks to do all the sackings that were done face to face over video conferencing thus cutting the costs involved in travel, accommodation, etc. and offer those workers more chance to stay at home and strengthen the relationships, etc.  Ryan is aghast at this development and to make matters worse has to take Natalie with him to let her experience first hand what his work entails, etc.

The story then goes on to challenge Ryan’s commitment to not committing to anyone or anything especially as he’s called on to help out at his sister’s wedding.  Natalie challenges his belief and over the course of the film he develops feeling for Alex that are no longer casual.

As I’d recommend you give the film a go if you can, I won’t spoil anything any further other than to say that although it is by no means an Oscar-winning film of any kind, I enjoyed watching it for the themes it brought out and it was good story-telling that wasn’t just about a good old romp, but actually evoking other things from those who watch it.  It is not overtly serious and has funny bits in it, without being laugh-out-loud hilarious.

What grabbed my interest among other things, however, was the way that the film worked on not just challenging Ryan on his beliefs but actually exposing the fact that everyone to an extent lives on faith and hope.  To explain this further … read the next blog entry on how faith, hope, worship and gods are not concepts left to religious nuts, but impact everyone of us.

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

dmcd