Extremely loud and incrediby Close: the movie

I finally got to watch this movie and I'm glad that I did.

Click her to see what I wrote about the book when I read that. 

The other night my daughter brought this movie home for us to watch.  I had wanted to watch it since it came out.  Needless to say that 9 11 has been an important happening in our lives.  To have a movie that attempted to tackle that from a young boys perpective really got my interest. 

The movie did an excellent job in my opinion in showing the grief of a young boy for his father's death in that disaster.  The boy has aspergers syndrome so you shouldn't expect him to act exactly like your average boy in his grief nor in his daily life.  I felt like the movie did an excellent job of showing this throughout the movie. 

Similar to the book the movie did an excellent job of showing how the father played by Tom Hanks was a perfect father for him, engaging his son and showing his son how much he was loved despite or maybe because of his peculiarities.  That is what really impressed me with the book was the relationship between father and son.  The father turns out to be an excellent model of how we must accept our child where they are and provide the love and security that wll allow them to flourish.  The father in this movie was trying to help his son learn how to interact with others (a typical weakness had by those with asperger's syndrom) and in that way stretch his son beyond his bounds. 

The book contrasted this good father (Tom Hanks) with the grandfather who had not been presnt in the fathe's life.   Much of that was absent from the movie and all the things I found objectonable in the book were left out as well making the movie more powerful in the showing the relationship between the father and the son who are the central characters (this despite the fact that the father is shown in flashbacks). 

The movie however flipped this lesson on it's head and did an excellent job by showing something else better than the book managed.  While the whole book and movie seem to be about that father son relationship, the end of the movie lets us see something tha we missed or didn't see clearly throughout the show, that is the mother's relationship to the son and how integral it is.  Sandra Bullock does a good job of acting the part of the mother who is left out of their child's life.

Toward the end of the movie the son says to the mother: "I ddn't know you could think like me." and she responds that she didn't know that either.  With that enlightening moment we are able to see some of the things differently throughout the movie.  Yes, the boy has lost a perfect father for him, but because of that loss we are now able to see that the mother can become that perfect parent for him too, and that is a revelation to both of the characters in the movie and maybe to the viewers as well.  This movie starts out being about the father-son relationship but ends up spotlighting the mother-son relationship.   It is a movie for both parents, a movie where both can feel valued and see their potential even with the exceptional child portrayed in the movie.   

I probably will not read the book again but I would watch the movie again and I would consider reading another book by the author.  By the way, be prepared to shed a tear at this movie. 

Watch the trailer below. 

The sound track is exceptional as well an is done by Alexandre Desplat

Music can touch our soul

This evening my wife suggested that we go to the All District Band concert.  We had been a few times in the past when our kids had played in it.  This year we knew some of the kids playing in it and we decided we wanted to show them our support.

I was pleased to find that Dr. Quincy Hilliard was the conductor of the Symphonic Band.  He had conducted one of our children when they played in that top district band a few years ago and I remembered him because they played some of his compositions and one in particular had really touched me. 

Tonight he told about a song entitled The Day the Clowns Cried which he wrote after reading an article in USA Today several years ago.  The article mentioned a time during WWII when in a little town Ringling Brothers Circus had come.  It was 1944 in Hartford Connecticut and the people went to the circus to forget the war and be entertained.  The heat of the day was so much that they hosed down the huge tent to try and keep things cool inside.  However they used a flammable liquid to water down the tent and a couple of children playing with matches burned the whole thing down.  100+ people died, a third of which were children.  Click here to read an article about it. 

In the song he starts with the happy music as the circus began but then pandemonium breaks out with the fire and finally a sad dirge as the crying clown exits the tent with a child's body in his arms.  Twinkle Twinkle little star is woven through the piece to represent the children that were there.  This song really had some emotional power for me today and I thought you might enjoy listening to it as well.

Another song he composed and was played a few years ago is The Unknown Soldier.  This one had me flying out of my seat as it finished in applause.  Throughout the song I was remembering my father who was a war veteran. 

Hope you enjoy them and get some of the feeling from these videos. 

Second update on Elder Trevor Strong

Elder Strong's funeral was held today.  Click here and here to read other blogs to learn more about him.  Elder Russel M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke at his funeral and said among other things: He "was dutifully and completely on his errand from the Lord. He was a missionary in the loftiest sense of the word....To get through this," he said, "we need to couple forgiveness with faith … be faithful … live our religion … and one day you will see Trevor as he is: a brother, a saint, and a son of the living God."

Elder Don R. Clarke of the Quorum of the Seventy read a letter to the family from the First Presidency of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  "Our hearts go out to you in sympathy and love ... Our missionaries are so loved by the entire church that the loss of one affects us all deeply."

60 returned missionaries from his mission sang "Called to Serve" at the funeral.  His father read a note from another missionary serving in his mission.  This sister missionary had been talking with him a few hours before his death at a missionary meeting.  She reported he had said to her, "I want to be a missionary forever".  His father also revealed that the last words in his missionary journal were, "Boy, do I love being a missionary!"

The Deseret News article that reported on the funeral also reported on Elder Strong's companion Elder Walker who also died in the accident.  

It seems such a strange world that the only way out of is through death.  Thank goodness for the explanation of scriptures and prophets and the anticipation of a future together again that is made possible through our Savior Jesus Christ. I Corinthians 15:55, 57, 58: "O death where is they sting? O grave where is thy victory? But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren [and sisters too], be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

Elder Strong's twin brother, Scott, who just returned from his mission in Arizona leaning on the hearse that held his brother's body.