3.29.2008
Vantage Point
We saw the film Vantage Point this evening, starring Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker and William Hurt.
I'm not going to post any spoilers, I'll just say we fairly enjoyed it. It maybe wasn't the caliber it could have been considering the cast; some parts were very predictable and some were quite implausible. Still, it was entertaining and I don't regret seeing it.
However, something about the way the film was put together really got me to thinking, and this is what I especially liked about the film, because it captures something so true of life and spirituality.
The story centers around a major political/terrorist event, which initially we only see from one person's perspective, or vantage point, and therefore we don't really know what happened. Our understanding is limited by the scope of this person's location and view.
The film then loops back the same 30-minute block of time surrounding this event, but from another person's perspective, which provides us with different and additional information about the events. The film proceeds to do this several more times, each time from another individual's point-of-view. Some people simply saw the same course of events from different locations; however, some people saw things that actually seemed to contradict each other.
No one person in the story could tell you exactly what had happened, for their perspective was limited based on where they were when the events took place. They each only saw a small piece of the puzzle, a small part of the events that unfolded.
However, when what each individual saw and experienced during that period of time is put together with all the others, it forms a complete picture of the events.
This highlights what I believe about life in the Spirit...we each only have a small piece of the puzzle, we each only know about God what our perspective and experiences show us. We can argue incessantly about what we each see and how what the other person sees is wrong because we didn't see it the same way. However, we really each see the same God, just through different lenses.
I wonder if that is really what relationships are all about; each of us providing the other with a different view of God, not so that we might determine whose perspective is correct, but that when we put them together along with all the other perspectives of everyone around us, only then do we begin to have a more accurate view of God.
Maybe we are meant to each offer up our unique perspective of God to share, so that we all might see God more clearly.
I'm not going to post any spoilers, I'll just say we fairly enjoyed it. It maybe wasn't the caliber it could have been considering the cast; some parts were very predictable and some were quite implausible. Still, it was entertaining and I don't regret seeing it.
However, something about the way the film was put together really got me to thinking, and this is what I especially liked about the film, because it captures something so true of life and spirituality.
The story centers around a major political/terrorist event, which initially we only see from one person's perspective, or vantage point, and therefore we don't really know what happened. Our understanding is limited by the scope of this person's location and view.
The film then loops back the same 30-minute block of time surrounding this event, but from another person's perspective, which provides us with different and additional information about the events. The film proceeds to do this several more times, each time from another individual's point-of-view. Some people simply saw the same course of events from different locations; however, some people saw things that actually seemed to contradict each other.
No one person in the story could tell you exactly what had happened, for their perspective was limited based on where they were when the events took place. They each only saw a small piece of the puzzle, a small part of the events that unfolded.
However, when what each individual saw and experienced during that period of time is put together with all the others, it forms a complete picture of the events.
This highlights what I believe about life in the Spirit...we each only have a small piece of the puzzle, we each only know about God what our perspective and experiences show us. We can argue incessantly about what we each see and how what the other person sees is wrong because we didn't see it the same way. However, we really each see the same God, just through different lenses.
I wonder if that is really what relationships are all about; each of us providing the other with a different view of God, not so that we might determine whose perspective is correct, but that when we put them together along with all the other perspectives of everyone around us, only then do we begin to have a more accurate view of God.
Maybe we are meant to each offer up our unique perspective of God to share, so that we all might see God more clearly.
No comments yet