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Review: http://beta.thehindu.com/arts/movies/article66463.ece?homepage=true Questions for further discussion ( prepared by Todd Hertz, Christianity Today.com) One alien character says, “Every person is born twice. The second time is when you are part of your people forever.” What does that mean to you? How does that idea compare to Christian notion of being born again Does the spirituality of [...]

God-conversations in Film – 2

Evan Almighty There’s so much that isn’t right with our world. How do we make it right? God’s diagnosis – Build an ARK – Act of Random Kindness. That’s what Evan Baxter gets to learn in EVAN ALMIGHTY The congressman learns how to change the world, most importantly his immediate world – Family GOD CONVERSATIONS [...]

Forgiveness – What does it take?

Popular culture feeds on our instinct for anger and revenge. How do we deal with perceived ‘injustice’ and feelings of ‘getting even’. The christian message – to forgive runs contrary to the therapeutic suggestions offerred by psychologists. Is letting go one’s anger the best thing to do? Reservation Road takes us through a journey of [...]

The Second Chance

You don’t throw away a whole life just ’cause it’s banged up a little – Tom Smith in Sea Biscuit (2003) SEABISCUIT narrates a moving story of friendship and devotion in rehabilitating the main characters’ fractured lives, as it interweaves the interactions between horse, jockey, trainer and owner and their adoring fans. ( IMDb review [...]

Year 2009: Our Nemesis?!

Reflections from Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) I don’t know if all this has made sense to you, but I wanted you to know what kind of man he was.  In his quest to be more like us, he helped show us what it means to be human (PICARD) My brother was not a human (B-4) [...]

There’s more to life! Keep Watching

You have spent more time on the tree than on solid ground There’s more to you than this obsession – Tom Fairchild in Sabrina (1995) ——————————————————— Sabrina (1995) is the story of Sabrina Fairchild, the daughter of the Larrabee family chauffeur.The Larrabees are a wealthy and own a family business. While she was growing up, [...]

Familiar Strangers: Cinema, Coffee and Theology…

by Samuel Thambusamy Movies have become part of our lives and they (re) shape us – our values, our beliefs, our character (for the better or worse). I wonder why we don’t enage in a conversation on films and help young people reflect on the movies they watch. Robert Johnston (Professor of Theology and culture [...]

First Take: Bachna Ae Haseeno

This is supposedly a film about Raj (played by Ranbir Kapoor) repenting about life’s decisions concerning love. The theme is not entirely new. Indian cinema, (both hindi and regional cinema) have dealt with this theme before. Raj has a (failed? or flimsy?!) love relationship with Mahi (played by Minissha Lamba), a live-in relationship with Radhika [...]

Reclaiming Passion For Work – Insights from Collateral (2004)

Watch Collateral Collateral ( 2004) is a interesting story involving three people: Max, the cab driver, Vincent, a contract killer and Anne, a lawyer. As fate would have it, the three people meet each other one day. In the casual conversations that unfold between them we get to see/understand their perspectives towards work. It also [...]

Handling Lonliness

A discussion based on the Tamil movie song New York Nagaram (Sillunu Oru KAdhal) Watch the Youtube Video ( The video is used only to further discussion) Questions for Reflection 1. What is this song about? ———————————— 2. How do you describe lonliness? Why is facing lonliness such a challenge? Why do you think this [...]