FIRST YEAR ANNIVERSARY

Forgiveness

Yesterday was Communion Sunday at church. So this story I picked up from TIME (Europe) was of particular interest.

Who didn't feel sympathy for the Rev. Julie Nicholson when she announced her resignation as parish priest of St. Aidan with St. George in Bristol, England,last week? The Anglican vicar lost her 24-year-old daughter Jenny in last July's London terrorist bombings. In a breathtakingly candid interview with the BBC, Nicholson said she was stepping down because she could not forgive the suicide bomber. "I rage that a human being could choose to take another human's life. I rage that someone should do this in the name of a god," she said.

But mixed in with compassion and understanding was a niggling sense that Nicholson had somehow failed. For Christians, forgiveness is, if not a spiritual duty, then at least a much-preached-about aspiration. Nicholson hinted at the conflict herself. "I have always been very in awe and humbled by those who stand up and say from a faith perspective, 'I forgive'," she said. But Nicholson decided that there are some things in life "unforgivable by the human spirit." So, she confessed, "it is very difficult for me to celebrate the Eucharist and lead people in words of peace and reconciliation and forgiveness, when I feel very far from that myself." [More]

Rev. Nicholson’s remarkable confession about her inability to forgive is a painful reminder that forgiveness is easier said than practiced. I think her honesty is to be applauded. I do not know anyone for whom forgiving came easy – not for me it isn’t, too - more so when the life of a loved one is violently taken away. How would I respond if I were in her shoes, losing a daughter to a suicide bomber?

Too many of us participate too glibly in the Eucharist that such issues of the heart are overlooked without a thought. Her resignation also drew attention to the importance she placed on matching doctrine and deed, so that sacrament comes alive in a genuine public declaration before church and God. I also think it reminds us how extraordinary the whole idea of forgiveness is, how truly amazing the very thought of grace is.

Forgiving means to pardon the unpardonable and loving means to love the unlovable. Or it is no virtue at all. G.K Chesterton

Le Fils

What is it about fathers and sons that engages us so? This remarkable Belgian movie Le Fils (The Son) again explores the deep and conflicting emotions that often engulf both parties in unexpected ways. Except that the movie is more than just about a father and his son; it's about a son in search of a father. It is also a disquieting story about forgiveness; disquieting because it speaks about restoration and the simmering tension that accompanies it.

Le Fils tells of a carpentry instructor in a vocational school for teens. We see the man Olivier, touching middle-age, diligently working and obviously passionate about his work with the kids. Before long we are confronted with an anxious man ducking along corridors, peering through windows, and behind hallways, at something or someone we have no idea of. Then he goes home to a sparse apartment that reveals the man is living alone. No wife, no children.

Back in the school the object of his anxiety becomes apparent: a teenager Francis has just enrolled. Why the furtive looks? What’s behind Olivier’s nervous obsession? Later, we meet a woman whose awkward conversation with Olivier about her pregnancy tells us she was once his wife, but who is now living with a new partner and is happily expecting.

[Plot spoiler alert!]

The story unfolds very slowly. There is no music throughout, but the film nevertheless succeeds in building up suspense. We find out that Francis had just been released from prison, after serving time for the killing of a child in a botched up robbery. The victim was Olivier’s child. It is this uncomfortable knowledge (unknown to Francis) that leads the audience to anticipate some concluding explosion or resolution.

Le Fils is a tale of an “ordinary man dealing with extraordinary emotions” as one reviewer says. I must add it is well told. The hand-held camera is unflinching in its close-ups, and without pretension or artifice, focuses on the inner turmoil of a man treading the path of grace. It’s a modern-day parable about redemption, replete with metaphors and imagery that are biblical in proportion. Disturbing too. They point to our own God who loved and forgave the ones who put his son on the cross.

However I thought the abrupt ending was too, er, abrupt. Then again, the filmmakers probably saw greater merit in challenging viewers to confront the inexplicable: why would a man accept his son’s killer? Indeed as his ex-wife asked in one emotional confrontation, to which Olivier replied, “I don’t know.”

But that’s grace: unconditional, to a point of being unreasonable. It’s costly, but it’s never cheap, in the words of Bonhoeffer. Which I think Le Fils conveys very admirably.

Le Fils was written and directed by brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne.
Read the Guardian’s interview with the brothers here.

International Movies

Thanks to a friend, we got to know about KakiKino, a company that’s screening international movies at the FINAS complex along Jalan Hulu Klang near the National Zoo. Film screenings are on Wednesdays while the last Saturday of every month features Directors in Conversation following a screening of their films (Past Directors include Yasmin Ahmad, Deepak Menon, and U-Wei). What’s great is, admission is FREE – with refreshments thrown in at the end of the movies.

Previous screenings in February include The Sea Inside, Ray, The Pianist, Downfall, and Angel By My Window/Bukak Api.

In March: Maria Full of Grace (8 Mar), Le Fils (The Son) (15 Mar), Schizo (22 Mar), Monday Morning Glory (25 Mar), La Nina Santa (29 Mar).

We caught the thoughtful Belgian award-winner Le Fils which was screened to a crowd of no more than 50 that evening. But more about it later. Here’s an excerpt from an email sent to all on the KakiKino mailing list:

It is with great pleasure that we wish to announce the return of the international film screenings that we used to organise at the Asia-Europe Institute, UM.

There have been many changes over the last few months, especially since Gareth left AEI. First of all, four of us (Gareth, Wan, Khadijah and Noorshah) have established KAKI KINO as a film consultancy through which we hope to encourage progressive film culture in Malaysia.

More importantly, starting in February the new home for the film screenings will be the National Film Development Corporation (FINAS) which is located next to Zoo Negara in Ampang. We are very happy with this new arrangement. The FINAS Director General, Fauzi Ayob, is keen to encourage a more vigorous engagement with world cinema and the screenings are part of this new direction.

The film screenings will take the same format as before. International films will be shown every Wednesday evening at 8.30 pm, while the last Saturday of each month will be used to showcase the best of Malaysian filmmakers. As usual, we will be providing a short introductory talk, programme notes and refreshments (hurray!). Admission to all films is free.

I'm afraid you'll have to write to KakiKino at kaki.kino@yahoo.com if you want more information (they don't have a website). The full address for the film screenings is:

Auditorium P. Ramlee
National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS)
Studio Merdeka Complex
Lot 1662, Jalan Hulu Kelang
68000 Ampang
Tel: 4108 5722 (FINAS)