Grace Presbyterian Church, Montclair, New Jersey

Menu for This Section

• Pastor's Pulse
• View from the Loft

Pastor's Pulse

by Paul Leggett, Pastor

Summer Film Series 2007

July 2007

“The human mind plans the way, but the Lord directs the steps.” – Proverbs 16:9

I am writing this the day after I finally saw the German film The Lives of Others written and directed by Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck.  This film won the Best Picture for Foreign Language film at this year’s Oscars but that’s only a small recognition of what is one of the most outstanding films in recent years.  The film is, among other things, a superb spy thriller, a gripping suspense story and probably the most Anti-Communist film ever made.  The picture has also attracted the attention of Christian critics.

The film not coincidentally begins in 1984 in East Germany.  It focuses on an investigation by the secret police into the life of a playwright who becomes first a figure of suspicion and later an outright threat to the East German government.  Without giving away too much of the story (which keeps viewers on the edge of their seats throughout) the film deals with the themes of self-sacrifice and redemption.  A film like this offers ample opportunity for sharing the Gospel because of the issues it addresses.  The only warning note to pass on to the viewer is the film’s very faithful and therefore very grim depiction of life in the former German Democratic Republic (Communist East Germany).

This film relates to the theme of our summer film festival this year.  Once again we are co-sponsoring the festival with the Montclair Public Library.  The films will be shown in the screening room of the Montclair Library, Wednesday nights at 7 p.m. from July 18 through August 15.  This year we will be focusing on the career of Fritz Lang (1890-1976) who, in my opinion, is probably the greatest director in film history.  Lang’s films deal, like The Lives of Others, with struggles between freedom and fate often played out against the backdrop of some tyrannical social setting.  Lang, a Jew, was born in Germany and began his brilliant career there and then fled to the United States when the Nazis came to power.  Lang never claimed to be a Christian but he had a deep sense of spirituality and morality.  His films are ripe subjects for discussion.  This is a series I encourage you to invite friends to.  Discussions will be led by John Skillin, the former director of the audio-visual program at the library, and myself.

The schedule is as follows:

• July 18 – Destiny (1921) – German – A young woman seeks to rescue her beloved from Death. She must find a life to sacrifice for his. Silent. English titles.
• July 25 – M (1931) – German – Peter Lorre gives an unforgettable performance as a serial killer who preys on children in one of the most powerful films ever made. English subtitles.
• Aug. 1 – Man Hunt (1941) USA Walter Pidgeon plays a big game hunter who tries to assassinate Hitler. Very rare film not available on video or DVD.
• Aug. 8 – Scarlet Street (1945) USA – Edward G. Robinson portrays a married bookkeeper whose infatuation with a beautiful woman leads him into crime and murder.
• Aug. 15 – The Big Heat (1953) USA – Glenn Ford is a police detective faced with both organized crime and police corruption.

In addition we are considering possible weekend afternoon showings for two of Lang’s best films which are too long for an evening program.  They are the Science Fiction classic of the future, Metropolis (1927) and Hangmen Also Die (1943) where Lang shows, in effect, an American city under Nazi occupation.