More Than Meets The Eye

Are you up for an intense movie experience? If so, run out and see Vantage Point. I can’t remember ever seeing another movie quite like it — and that’s one reason it’s worth seeing. It’s different.

The same event (an assassination attempt/terrorist plot) is told from the perspective of first one character and then another…and another…and so on. You might think it would get boring, but it doesn’t. So many new details come to light with each version that it becomes more and more interesting, more suspenseful, as the full story unfolds. Yes, there is violence. But the subject matter requires it. And the sad but true fact is that it could easily be tomorrow’s headlines. It’s our present day reality.

So much would have been missed if we had seen this story from the vantage point of only one character. Our first assumptions would have proved wrong. None of us could have made an accurate judgement based on the information gleaned from just one or two of the people involved. The story was more complex than that.

This unique movie concept — this Vantage Point theme — made me think about the judgements we make in our everyday lives. How many times do we witness or even play a role in an event or conversation and then immediately pass judgement based only on what we ourselves can see? Just like the storyline in the movie, life is more complex than that. There’s usually more than meets the eye involved.

Let’s be alert to looking at situations from different vantage points. Let’s give the benefit of the doubt the next time someone seems especially demanding or harsh. Maybe heavy demands or extreme stress has been placed on that person. When we feel like someone has snubbed us, perhaps she was distracted by worry or heartache instead.

Let’s look beyond the surface. After all, “Jesus said…’Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgement.'” John 7:21a, 24

*Flickr photo by Piutus

*P.S. Has anyone else seen Vantage Point? What did you think? Can you think of another movie ever being made like it? I couldn’t…

Comments

  1. Kristin and I saw Vantage Point. We kept seeing the trailer and were ready to see it when it came out. I thought for his feature film directorial debut Pete Travis did a nice job. There were a lot of cameras involved to pull this one off!

    Rashômon (1950 – set in 12th century Japan), directed by Akira Kurosawa is told from 4 different viewpoints – each revealing a little more detail, sound familiar? A very interesting film and is the only other one I can think of that has different points of view that tell the same story for the whole film. It was I think the first film to do such a thing.

    Both films do rely on all the angles to find out what really happened and like you are saying in life that does prove very useful, we just have to remember it – thanks for the reminder!

  2. I knew my expert husband would have a stellar comment for this post!

    I enjoyed the movie because of the interesting story line and the way it was revealed, but it was also so action-packed that I ended up with a headache, a sore jaw (tension!) and a racing heart! I don’t usually tell Shawn I want to see movies such as this, but it was interesting.

    Thankfully he can put up with my hand squeezes and head-behind-the-jacket at the movie theater! :) And my non-stop questions! But I was better this time, I knew I needed to keep my questions to myself because it would all be revealed soon enough, and I didn’t want to drive Shawn nuts! I liked the application in the post because it reminds me that sometimes I jump the gun and question why someone is doing something etc before I know all the details and circumstances.

  3. Shawn & Kristin, glad you guys got to see the movie! Shawn, thanks for the info on the other movie — I knew I could count on our resident film expert :)

    Kristin, I knew it would be a little intense for you, but kudos for joining Shawn for the experience. Now it’s his turn to take you to a chic flick :)

    Glad you both appreciated the life application — that’s always a blessing to hear!

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