2 Films and a biased opinion

My girlfriend and I try to have a date night every week.  It's really important to our marriage.  It helps us, we believe, to be better parents.  We also believe it sets a good example to our kids.  So many people we know put their kids above everything else, including their marriage.

We want our kids to grow up believing that no other person in the world is more important than their spouse.  It doesn't mean they don't love their kids.  In fact, if their marriage relationship is where it needs to be then then I believe everything else will be right or on the right track in the family.  The kids will feel loved and they will see a good example of what God wants in a marriage.

Okay, back to our date night.

We try to go out on Tuesday night.  Why?  There is a new movie theater that is close to our house.  Every Tuesday you can watch a movie for 6 reais (our currency).  Right now that is about $3.25 in U.S. currency.

About a month ago we saw Avatar.  We read so much about how awesome it was and how much money it was making and how James Cameron is a genius.

We went expecting something incredible.  I, personally, really didn't like it.  The blue people just didn't do much for me.  I don't know if anyone else felt like you were getting the "Mother Earth" and "America is Evil" themes subtly and not so subtly forced down your throats but I felt it in different ways going on throughout and I didn't really like that.  Maybe I read too much into it but those were my thoughts.

A few days later I took our older kids to see it.  After a second viewing, my impressions were the same.  I hadn't said a word to the kids about what I thought before they saw it.  When I asked them what they thought after they watched it the general consensus was that it was just "okay" and nothing more.  Definitely not something we wanted to buy when it comes out on DVD.

Last week me and my girlfriend went to see Inivictus. The movie about Nelson Mandela and the 1995 Rugby World Cup.  Amazingly powerful story.  We both loved it.

I took the kids to see it this week and they loved it as well.  It was a great chance for them to talk and learn about Nelson Mandela.  It's also exciting to know that Bronwyn will get to spend a couple of days in South Africa on her way back home after her trip to Rwanda.

I did a little google search yesterday and found out that Avatar has made over 2.3 billion dollars (671 million in the United States) while Invictus has made a little over 90 million dollars (with only 36 million coming in the United States).

I realize that one is complete fiction and the other is a true story and that the thoughts above are completely my feelings.  I also realize that Morgan Freeman is one of my favorite actors.  I'm biased.  I get it.  But can someone explain how a movie (for those that have seen both) as good and inspiring as Invictus makes less money than say Beavis and Butt-head do America made 14 years ago.  Nelson Mandela draws less of a crowd to the theaters than Beavis and Butt-head?  (That double reference was just for you Birdwell.)

I'm a history nut and no movie critic.  I will go see a true story movie any day over some fictional movie (especially science fiction).  I know I'm biased.  I guess I'm having a tough time trying to understand why hardly anyone had an interest in seeing the story of Mandela and Francois Pienaar.

If you haven't seen Invictus and it's still on where you live then I (we) would encourage you to go and see it.  Incredible insights on an incredible man.  As a Christian, you will learn much about forgiveness and reconciliation from Mandela.  I know he has his faults, as we all do, but he is a very unique man and I believe that God put him at the right place at the right time for his country.  He led with humility and not anger.

You probably won't hear from me ever again about movie criticisms.  I realize nobody cares about what I like and don't like just as I really don't pay much attention to others and their movie preferences, but I found myself kind of amazed at the differences (on many different levels) between these two films and the surprising impacts (or little impacts) that they are having on people.