Christmas movies

Submitted by Peter on Wed, Dec 17, 2008

Christmas Movies with A Course In Miracles themes

I thought I'd write about some favorite movies that bring to mind Christmas with a touch of A Course In Miracles themes in them or simply nice movies that invoke a sense of inner peace. The three movies I'd recommend for Christmas are: The Princess Bride, Babette's Feast, and Matter of Heart. These days, it hardly makes sense to own physical copies of movies, unless those would be movies you'd want to watch many times. I think these three movie picks fit into that category. Here is something about each one:

The Princess Bride

The Princess Bride is one of the best fairy tales in a movie that you'll find anywhere. It's a love story. It's an adventure story. It's been described as the good parts of S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of Love and High Adventure. Written by William Goldman, The Princess Bride is more than a fairy tale. And, in the hands of director and master story teller, Rob Reiner, with a bit of narration by Peter Falk, this is one of the most beautifully told fairy tale stories in a film.

The adventure is not specifically related to Christmas, but with the love story woven in, and the good natured, oddball characters, and a little satire, it is fun. But there is a tiny Christmas motif in it: the story begins and ends with Peter Falk telling the story to his grandson, played by Fred Savage, and it is Christmas time as this takes place. All together, it makes for a good film for both kids and adults.

In the movie there are also Andre the Giant, Carole King, Cary Elwes and Robin Wright Penn as the lovers, Mandy Patinkin, Wallace Shawn, and Billy Crystal. And the final theme song, sung by Willy DeVille, is divine. Some of the film was shot in a castle built in 1065 with original tapestries on the walls. It's a wonderful movie for Christmas.

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Babette's Feast

Babette's Feast is based on a novel by Karen Blixen, the same author who wrote, Out of Africa. Screenplay and direction by Gabriel Axel. This is a movie of angelic substance and heavenly proportions. It is a Danish film with English sub-titles. Plan time around this film. It is long, yet not a minute is wasted. Perhaps even plan an intermission for yourself. There are many layers to the story and they are all worth your time in order to comprehend the big picture of what happened and all the intertwining threads that make this story so memorable and heart touching.

In brief, Babette is a renown chef in France at the start the story. The French Revolution is coming and she is given a letter of introduction asking two spinster sisters in Denmark to offer her shelter. Babette becomes the housekeeper for the elderly sisters. One amusing scene is when one of the sisters instructs Babette on how to make the daily gruel of old bread, boiled in beer, that the sisters eat; they have no clue that Babette was a famous chef before coming to be their housekeeper. It would be easy to put words in Babette's mouth at this time, but the silent facial expressions speak for themselves. And I am writing this from memory, not having seen the movie for many years.

The story of the two sisters is a layer that could almost be a movie of its own. They maintain religious services for a dwindling community of their father's faithful followers. Among the tenents of their faith is a swearing off of enjoyment. Babette has a friend in France who renews a lottery ticket for her once a year. Later in the story, Babette wins this lottery. It is not millions, but thousands. Babette asks the sisters if she could prepare a dinner for them and their small community. They agree, but draw a pact among themselves not to enjoy the food. Then they become suspicious when they see a live tortoise and live caged quail being unloaded from a boat and carted to the sisters' home.

It is winter and there is the long deceased father's birthday to celebrate, so this gives the movie its Christmas sentiment. Babette prepares the full course dinner she was famous for, including the wines and the Veuve Clicquot champagne. The guests cannot resist the sheer pleasures of the meal. Only the General, the one who wrote the letter of recommendation and, who decades past, was beau to one of the sisters, explains the meal to the other guests, even though they do not understand the significance of the meal nor his explanation. It is assumed, by the sisters and the little congregation, that Babette will leave them after the holiday. Now, I will stop because this brings you very near to the end of the film, without divulging the very end.

If, by chance, you happen to get an edition with English dubbed, do not use the English audio. Use the sub-titled version instead. Except for a few explanations, primarily during the meal itself, when the General narrates the meal, you do not need words to guide you through the film. The scenes are beautifully shot, and the facial expressions are superb and tell much of the story. Watch carefully every facial expression.

The clock strikes and time goes by
Eternity is nigh.
Let us use this time to try
To serve the Lord with heart and mind.
So that our true home we shall find.
So that our true home we shall find.
- the dinner guests at the end of the evening, after
Babette's Feast

Babette's Feast won an Oscar in 1988 for Best Foreign Language Film.

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Matter of Heart

Matter of Heart is unlike the the other two movies in this review. It is not a "Christmas" film, nor a scripted story, as the others are. Matter of Heart is a documentary on the life and work of Carl Jung.

Carl Jung was a contemporary of Sigmund Freud. They knew of each other's work in the study of the human mind. They met and analyzed each other's dreams while on a cruise from Europe to the US. They were friends until the end of the cruise when they disagreed on the nature and purpose of dreams.

Freud's theories became popular due to his backers and their marketing, and because Freud was often able to bury his mistakes. More people died or committed suicide in the course of Freud's therapy than were helped, but this was not well known at the time. Who would know? The more disturbed patients were locked in private homes. There is a documentary on this. Email if you're interested, and I'll look it up or update this later.

I mentioned in an previous blog post that A Course in Miracles is essentially an intellectual path to spirituality. As such, A Course In Miracles leaves nothing of Freud unexamined, but the conveyance of its message is more Jungian than Freudian. In this documentary, you hear from a woman who was a patient and friend of Jung's. She said that she got mad at Jung over something he said and that, one day, twenty years later, she woke up with the realization that he was right and she was wrong. She said she wrote him a letter (no email, no twitter at the time) explaining this. He wrote back saying simply that he'd been waiting to hear from her. This is the forgiveness of self that always comes when dreams are over.

Jung informed us of what he called The Collective Unconscious, archetypes, and synchronicity - the stuff of dreams. A Course in Miracles speaks frequently of dreams. It addresses our need to satisfy and understand them, and realize their unreality. The Course often forms its spirituality around this need in us.

The opening scene in Matter of Heart is a panoramic view of a placid lake, golden light reflecting on in and all around it. One imagines it was late afternoon. There is one small row boat on the lake. Rowing the boat is Carl Jung, who has retired to a cabin on this lake in Switzerland. In the background are the Swiss Alps. The film will return for moments in and out of the cabin with short statements and observations from Jung.

For most of the film, we are treated to interviews from people who knew Jung over the course of his career. The insights derived from these interviews are what make this film. The film is often visually stunning and the editing of the film is well done.

Jung was brilliant throughout his career. At the Association for Research and Enlightenment in Virginia Beach, there is an old video tape of Jung in an interview in the 1950's. This was another brilliant interview where the interviewer also exhibited some extraordinary talent in the interview. What was amazing about this interview was how the interviewer let Jung complete his thought before asking another question, and then, the next question was succinct and responsive to what Jung had just said. Some of this interview is included in Matter of Heart.

In the past, this film was difficult to obtain. I watched it once in a movie theater, and a few more times when it was shown at a Jungian Society function. I would go to see it anytime I had a chance to.

Related pages you may like: 
Christmas Day Prayer
Favorite Christmas Movies
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