...that was before you started to enjoy your work too much.I watched this on my tablet in bed last week before I went to sleep, a little each night to soothe my soul and put myself in the holiday spirit that watching old movies only puts me in.
Three things strike me about this movie, and one is how modern this film still feels. You get a lot of movies from this era and you get a lot of slang and period specific tropes, here, I don't get that feeling. Despite the cars, the prices of food, and the clothes, this could have been filmed today with the same story and the same style and I would have felt fight at home. You don't have to overlook much, the characters and drama makes this movie stand well against the slow progression of time.
It helps this was made in the time, so it has an authentic period feel despite that timeless story. A lot of films made today have to try really hard to get across this look and it feels as fake as the CGI and VFX work they force feed us these days. I go back to movies like this after the films of today insult my eyes with pointless 3d spectacle, I get this feeling that after the modern era of film is over we will look back at 2000-2020 computer VFX with the same sense of nostalgia that we do those red and blue 3d glasses they had in the 1950's.
The second thing that strikes me about this movie is Alice Faye's character June Mills, despite everything the no-good leading man puts her through, despite all his flaws, and his down-on-his-luck low life status - she still believes in him. Her faith ultimately serves as his redemption, and it is that sort of 'sticking with it' sort of power a good woman has in a tough spot in a marriage that warms my heart here. Even when she has every right to slap him on the face and leave, her womanly power of faith and yes, even religion, carries her through that rough spot and she saves him.
Through her faith she saves a fellow soul with her love, and this guarantees her a spot in heaven.
In a way, this message of not only redemption, but sacrificing to become the one who redeems, is one I feel we all need these days. So many these days are conditioned that we are all worthless losers, with no job and no hope, no future and dependent on the handouts of others, that I feel we have little sense of pride and self-worth. These feelings lead to anger and lashing out, which I feel many in the current generation are afflicted with. But it doesn't have to be that way. Redemption is there, waiting for us, if we would just see it and accept the power it has to change our lives.
And to be the one who sees this power and guides the lost, even if it is just one soul, to its power?
An angel not so fallen, in my humble opinion.
The final thing is the sense of how applicable the plot of this movie is to the troubles of this modern day. The central conflict in this movie is about the abuse of power by authority through the weakness of man. "Enjoying your job too much," is the quote which stuck into my heart like a dagger, and I felt the same pang of guilty familiarity that this sin has never left us. When those in charge of our lives have no faith in God, no sense of moral service to the people they serve, and no humble sense of responsibility - then I feel those feelings that we have lost our way have some merit.
We see here a misused justice which is not blind, and it seeks to cover for its own misdeeds. We see the terrible hurt this causes to the innocent. We understand the damage which power misused can cause to those just trying to live a good life, and maybe failing to live but with good souls out there trying to guide them along. Right or left should be able to understand this, they should, but I fear the moment to seize upon what is just and what is good has been lost to us in the constant chatter of social media deafening us to what was once 'the common good.'
Our guiding light.
And I fear we have also lost that sense of forgiveness. That someone so hated and who commits such despicable acts with despicable words cannot be led to the light and forgiven. The leading man in this movie commits deceit of which that turns my stomach, yet our heroine still forgives him. She guides him. She shows him mercy. She leads him out of the darkness, despite what we would do these days to someone so despicable.
Today, I feel such people would never be given a second chance. I know, in these days when we pull back the curtains of both Hollywood and power our stomachs turn at the misdeeds, but there is a part of me which seeks to guide those lost souls from the darkness and to the light, and if we lose the power of forgiveness that we have lost a part of our souls.
Granted yes, don't kill anyone (like the villain in this movie) or hurt people, and never do it again - but there is in each one of us that power to live a good and hopeful life. We are human and we fall off our horses from time to time, but the righteous and guiding path is to stop and help that fallen person up, not trample them with your horse and joke about it later.
We need to guide and love, not attack and hate. We need to remember what it is to forgive, and realize the second part of forgiveness is guidance towards that better life. And that involves sacrifice from ourselves. I forgive you. Let's do better next time. Let's work together to help others. We may not agree, but let's work together on what is right. Giving up a little so others may live a better life.
It is so hard to sacrifice in these days I know. What is mine is mine. But we can never grow if we are so selfish, and through the lifting up of other is the way in which we grow to be better people.
A message from the past echoes back to the world of today, and it has not lost its power or meaning.
A classic film, and one which put me in a special mood of caring, giving back, and hope for the future. But also, one that serves as a warning for the conceited and self-centered dangers of the modern day - and where they can lead us.
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