MOVIES: "I AM POTENTIAL"

The new movie, "I Am Potential," is based on the true story of the Hughes Family whose son was born without eyes and unable to walk. I almost didn't want to even tell you that, because I had the experience of coming at the story cold, and was hit by the element of surprise at every turn. However, there's no way to review this film without setting up a few essential background facts. If you've seen the film (with Cloris Leachman) "The Woman Who Willed A Miracle," you are in for a similar, heartfelt, triumphant, soaring ride.

The film begins with a rather strained relationship between new parents, a sports-obsessed father, Patrick (Burgess Jenkins), and doting mother, Patricia (Evansville, Indiana's own Jama Williamson!) When the extent of their son's disabilities come to light and then become a daily reality, the marriage and paternal commitment is stretched even further.

SPOILER ALERT: I'm just going to have to tell you a little bit of the plot here, but the joy of watching the film (it is a joy) will be the well-executed details. Do you want to witness a conversion? The depths of a father's love? Observe Dad slowly bonding with his little namesake--who will never be an athlete--but whom Dad recognizes has a love and talent for music from his youngest years. These scenes could melt boulders, and can be applied to any Dad who has the eyes to see and appreciate who his child really is, to give up trying to fulfill his own ideas and dreams through his progeny. I really thought Dad was going to walk out for the whole first part of the movie. Just the opposite.

Patrick John and Patricia go on to have two more boys (able-bodied). Their firstborn, Patrick Henry (Jimmy Bellinger) grows into an optimistic young man with an upbeat disposition who simply never feels sorry for himself. I watched some YouTubes of the real Patrick Henry who cheerily states: "So God made me blind and unable to walk. Big deal! He gave me musical gifts!"

Even though the family has their many trials and makes many sacrifices, the love and positivity is, well, overwhelming at times. I'm not a fan of saccharine movies, but there are no "Hallmark" artificial sweeteners in "Potential." This family is really a "can-do" family. We know there are families like this out there. We know there are physically and otherwise challenged individuals out there who act like Patrick Henry: overcomers. When I found myself skeptical at different points, I realized what was happening was that this film simply showed up my own healthy stores of cynicism and limited reserves of hope! Shamed by a film!

My glowing praise does not mean that this is a perfect film. There are lulls with absolutely no dramatic suspense or tension. There are bland scenes that begin without a hook, when there is not even one question in the audience's mind (I wonder how this will get resolved? But what will happen when...?), but "Potential" is still worth every minute of eyeball time. I wouldn't classify it as a "feel good" film because it's too understated for that. It's much more an examination of fatherhood. One father's hard decision to love his son without measure, to help his son succeed the way his son wants to succeed. To be a team of two. If Patrick John Hughes isn't a reflection of God the Father, I don't know who is. (You can also watch the real Patrick John Hughes being interviewed on YouTube.)

The soundtrack can be a bit Americana-grandiose and mawkish at times. And some of the sets, scenes and dialogue actually might be a little too "Leave It To Beaver," golly-gee-whiz affable.

Patrick Hughes, Sr., reminds me of a man named Mike I met at a Blackhawks game. He had rink side season tickets. His nineteen-year-old son Mike (also a "junior") had severe autism and would go absolutely nuts (like any good Hawks' fan!) when the team scored, shouting and banging on the plexiglass for all he was worth. Mike, Sr. told me his story: "I used to think there was something wrong with him [his son], and I was ashamed of him. Then I went to Medjugorje and realized that my son is fine: there was something wrong with me. Now our relationship has totally changed and I just enjoy him."

"It's not about what you see, but how you see it."

MOVIES: "SELF/LESS"

The idea and ideology of "transhumanism": that human beings are basically just brains in containers, and that if we could just find a way to upload our brains into computers or robots and ultimately the Cloud--we could live on forever--is the subject of the new film "Self/less." It was also the subject of the recent film "Transcendence." (Incidentally, Ray Kurzweil, director of engineering at Google, is a transhumanist--that is, he holds this view of the human person and is seeking to make it happen.) The trailer to this film looked intriguing and the premise clever, but I'm sorry to report that the actual execution of the film is a shambles.

An older, powerful New York business tycoon, Damian (Ben Kingsley), has six months left to live. He lives alone and has one grown daughter whom he rarely has contact with--a fact that he begins to regret. He decides to look into a company that does "shedding" or life extension. It's all very secretive and extremely expensive, but the company's head tells him they aren't as interested in the money as they are in prolonging the existence of "the world's great minds" (eugenics, anyone?). Just what Damian has ever done for humanity (or will do in his new skin) is unclear.

ONE LIFE TO LIVE

The shedding process is basically putting Damian's mind/consciousness into a younger man's body (supposedly one grown in the lab). The younger man is played by Ryan Reynolds (Canada's Ben Affleck). The process goes well enough until Damian starts to have flashbacks and memories that are not his own. In order to keep these flashbacks at bay, he must take pills provided for him by the company, who dole them out very sparingly. It starts to become very clear that Damian wasn't told, and presumably didn't ask, all that "shedding" entails and what the future really holds for him. The company is ever-present in his life and we start to see that he is practically owned by them. He is a guinea pig, an experiment.

A woman and her little girl enter Damian's life, and he begins to realize that they are something worth living and perhaps dying for. The girl is like a stand-in for the daughter he never spent much time with, so there's a kind of redemption here. But if we only have one life to live and we refuse to repent--will we really repent in our extended life? (Failure to repent while you can is probably the worst kind of procrastination.) "It is appointed for men to die once." --Hebrews 9:27 "You are merciful to all, you overlook our sins and give us time to repent." Wisdom 11:23

HOLE-Y PLOT, BATMAN!

The way it's presented, it doesn't seem like we are supposed to "like" this idea of shedding...however, I wonder if some people in the audience might be saying to themselves, "Yeah, I'd do that." How it actually occurs scientifically is never explained and the process (two MRI-like machines for the two bodies) is reminiscent of the 1950's sci-fi movie machines that "just do the job." By not giving us any details, it's a bit of a leap for the imagination, but the leaping doesn't stop there. The plot has as many gaps and holes as a slice of Swiss cheese. Also, important plot points are not made crystal clear and it takes us a while to catch up. The one thing you don't want audiences to keep saying to themselves over and over is: "But why don't they just...?" and I found myself repeating that internally many times.

Even though it seems we're supposed to have big misgivings about "shedding," it's stated over and over in the film that the body is a "prison" and an "empty vessel." Bad Theology of the Body! Bad Theology of the Body!

"The human body can never be reduced to mere matter. It is a spiritualized body, just as a person's spirit is so closely united to the body that they can be described as an embodied spirit" --JP2G, "Letter to Families," 19

FROM TRANSHUMAN TO INCARNATION

Recent convert from atheism to Catholicism, HuffPost writer and Yale grad, Leah Libresco, had to have a "transhuman to human" conversion in her thinking:

"My two biggest obstacles were the two heresies that tempted me most: Gnosticism and Pelagianism.

Gnosticism, and its attendant hatred/suspicion of the body, has made intuitive sense to me ever since I was little. I’ve been interested primarily in the abstract and the intellectual, so I’ve tended to think of my body as the thing that carries around the real me—my mind. I wanted to keep it in good enough repair for it to not inhibit or interfere with me, but, beyond that, I saw it simply as a tool, and one I wouldn’t care about switching for an engineered, robotic one, if the opportunity ever presented itself.

Ultimately, I knew I couldn’t be both Gnostic and Catholic, and I wound up more confident that Catholicism was true than that Gnosticism was. A faith that has God deliberately make these bodies part of who we are and has his own Son come down to meet us, incarnate as we are, doesn’t look favorably on having contempt for this aspect of creation.

After I made up my mind to convert, I got sourdough starter and started baking regularly, since putting more effort than was strictly necessary into eating (rather than refueling) seemed like the most anti-gnostic thing I could do on short notice." Full interview:http://americamagazine.org/content/all-things/my-journey-atheist-catholic-11-questions-leah-libresco

THERE'S A GOD AND WE'RE NOT HIM

There is lull after lull in the action and tension, even when characters are in mortal danger. There are good isolated scenes and sequences, but the storytelling seems to get lost in these semi-detours. The woman's character is totally laughable. She is, well, a dumb brunette, and her lines are ridiculous and empty. She seems to accept all the preposterousness visited upon her extremely well. Her reactions and engagement with the drama are full of false notes. I wish I had a dollar for every time she whines: "WHAT'S GOING ON??!! IS EVERYTHING OK??!!" Another example of female air-headedness in dialogue was the stereotypical character of Damian's neglected daughter. When Damian tries to make things right with her shortly before his shedding, she spouts (for the audience's sake) these "on the nose" lines: "Sure. You were never there for me when I was growing up. You hardly ever try to get in touch with me. You think your money can solve everything."

Much of the story is predictable. I was able to keep guessing what would happen next (something I don't usually have a talent for): "I bet...yup!" so there was very little element of surprise, except for the ending which has a sizeable twist. One good takeaway was: Our choices effect others, a whole web of people, even when we think we are just making choices for ourselves. There's no such thing. Also, perhaps a film like this can give us pause: Do I accept my bodiliness, the conditions of my creatureliness, my limits? Can we accept the reality we're living in as the Creator designed it? (Satan couldn't. Adam and Eve couldn't.) Of course we want to be immortal and God wants us to be, too. But He's the Man with the plan. Do I accept God's plan? Do we even know when we're playing God anymore?

People in my audience were guffawing at super-serious moments, and a few people simply left early--I almost did, too, which is something I never do. I rarely tell people not to bother with a film, but if you're at the cinema? Keep moving past "Self/less." There's nothing to see here, folks.

OTHER STUFF:

--Ben Kingsley's New York accent is hideous, affected and hammy.

--Not a big screen thriller.

--Ironically, what does it really mean to be "selfless" (in Christian understanding)?

--I love how people are the evilest hitmen or victims just about to die, but...gotta fasten that seatbelt.

--I love how round after round is shot in gun battles and car chases at point blank range and no one ever gets hit.

--I actually caught myself subconsciously (is that possible?) looking for that slidebar at the bottom of a YouTube to fast forward the film! (And I was in a theater.)

--This could've been a pumpin' good ride. But it warn't.

--"You're not a savior, you're a psychopath."

HATE SPEECH OR FREEDOM OF SPEECH?