The Truth In Us, The Truth In Movies

I look back on moments in my life and realize that there are instances which stand out. Five O’clock in the afternoon during a hot summer day, as the heat begins to loosen its grip, the street where I lived as a boy slows down. Mothers’ voices call out their child’s name, beckoning them back home to have supper and most importantly wipe off the grime of a day’s hard play.? The street would suddenly become strangely silent, an intermission as it were. I would sit on the cool steps of my home and look out and would have a glimpse of a deep perfection that could only be witnessed for a couple of minutes.? It was in these minutes that? I understood? the world was indeed a wonderful place.

I have witnessed moments like these within the movies as well. Moments that give us hope and let us know that our struggles as humans are reflected on screen. Movies that come to mind are William Wyler “The Best Years of Our Life” where veterans have come back to their homes, only to find that what they have witnessed has changed them and as a result has changed the world around them. It is a vital testimony to the often-unknowing sacrifice of our veterans who must face an experience that is totally contrary to human nature.

I do not think war should be glorified nor exalted. It is contrary to our humanity. I think instead of celebrating war, we should understand that at rare times war is an evil necessity and those that engage in war of this nature should be embraced, honored, and compensated for their sacrifice. We are now only understanding that combat leaves us with scars for decades. We use terms like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in order to make this a very clinical condition. The better term would be shell shock which was the term used in World War 1. Wyler acknowledged the damage that war inflicted on individuals and as a result it won 7 Academy Awards, including? Best Picture, Best Director (William Wyler), Best Actor (Fredric March), Best Supporting Actor (Harold Russell), Best Film Editing (Daniel Mandell), Best Adapted Screenplay (Robert E. Sherwood), and Best Original Score (Hugo Friedhofer). It was the box office leader in both the United States and The United Kingdom, where in the UK it sold an amazing 20 million tickets.

What is at the core of all truly great movies is that they deal with truths. There are moments in the great movies that break through the veil on entertainment and provide the audiences with glimmers of the true nature of the human experience. A great movie can be a matter of skill and deftness in storytelling on the part of the filmmaker, but in truth the greatness comes from the connectivity with the audience.

My passion for the movies is a result of the medium's ability to reveal the? truth and nobility in the human spirit. No matter what the news tells you, there is indeed great evil in the world, but there is so much more good.? Unfortunately the good is often neglected by the media, but it’s there and in spades. If you open your eyes and look around you will see a vast expanse of kindness and empathy. The problem is for some people that it is tough to control kindness, but very easy to shape venom.

I look back where in the Michael Curtiz helmed Casablanca, when Rick makes Ilsa get on the plane without him, making the ultimate personal sacrifice and then walks off with the newly redeemed Captain Renault into the Moroccan desert to join the Free French Forces. It is a scene that is repeated in daily life when father’s and mother’s give so freely of themselves that it takes away from their own pleasure. The lesson though is that pleasure if often not happiness and true happiness can only be achieved by not thinking of yourself.

There was a time when movies spoke to their audience. Movies like “Lawrence of Arabia”, “To Kill A Mockingbird”, “The Manchurian Candidate”, Truffaut’s opus “ Jules et Jim”. Now it seems that the intimate relationship the movies had with their audience is watered down. While the movie “Avatar” is a technological marvel, how does it connect with its audience? Movies like “Titanic” had no problem establishing this connection. “Avatar” and “Titanic” both were made by the same director and both did exceedingly well at the box office. I would make the argument that “Titanic” has had a much more enduring impact than “Avatar”.

The attachment that audiences have with a story allows them to interpret their world and to briefly escape from the veil that may or may not have descended on their lives. In 1962, when movies like “Lawrence of Arabia”, “To Kill A Mockingbird”, “The Manchurian Candidate” and “ Jules et Jim” were released, America was facing the cruel realities of the Cold War. This war was becoming increasingly hot and due to the October Missile crisis in 1962, we as a world were on the edge of nuclear conflict.? People need to understand their world and in some ways movies helped us cope. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. People started looking for answers and in many ways, that searching began the interest in foreign films.

Movies made by amazing foreign filmmakers such as Fellini, Antonioni, Truffaut, Resnais, Ingmar Bergman, Vittorio De Sica and? Luis Bu?uel, came on the scene during the early sixties. The shattered innocence which was created by the murder of the President gave rise to a personal and national exploration and discovery.? The movies coming from Europe were more provocative and more sexual than the ones being produced by the studios in the USA. There was a shift in society. Kennedy lay dead in the Parkland Hospital and the change brought on by Vatican II was like an earthquake within our culture. The movies produced during this time reflected this. As a result some film critics feel that the early sixties were the best time for the movies.

Others claim that 1939, the year the world erupted into war was the best time. Movies like “Gone With The Wind”, “The Wizard Of Oz”, “Stagecoach”, “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington”, “Goodbye Mr. Chips”, and “Wuthering Heights”? exploded onto the screen that year. Again, it was a time when the audience was searching for answers. Some which they thought could be answered at the movies. The questions asked seemed to be universal ones. In the late sixties, “Easy Rider” and “Bonnie and Clyde'' evolved into “The Godfather”. In the seventies, “ The Godfather” and “One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest” then handed the cinematic torch to Spielberg’s “Jaws” and Lucas’s “Star Wars”.

But in every past bloom of great movies there was a universal characteristic, that in some way they spoke to the audiences that went to see them.? As people, either fans of the movies or as professionals involved in exhibition you have to ask yourself is the movie you are projecting on the big screen truly connecting with audiences. If not you have to ask yourself what has to change.

The problem at the core is that cinema, that art of the moving picture has been diluted and diluted severely by streaming becoming the medium of choice for movie viewing. The issue is it is not the prime method in which to watch movies and in many ways the stories being told in streaming are not as effective because they are not being communally shared. The audience you see is the best special effect of any movie. When you remove an audience from a movie, you take away the impact of a movie.

For the promise of exhibition to be fulfilled you must widen and deepen the audience. It is time for movies to once again show us how wonderful the world can truly be.

My good friend Buck Kolkmeyer has been trying to lead an effort to provide screens with more diverse products. Movies in genre that one time were foundational to markets like Drive-in and rural theaters. To be candid, he has been kind of hitting his head against the wall as the theater owners do seem to want to diversify their offering but are still reliant on Hollywood for the industry leadership. So if you have under utilized auditoriums or have a drive-in that could use some lower rental fee second shows…..reach out to Buck at [email protected].

In the words of George Lucas, “The Door of Your Cage Is Open, Walk Out If You Dare”.