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BEYOND
THE MOVIE :
X-Men
(2000 - 96 minutes, PG-13) - Chicken
Run (2000 - 85 minutes, G)
by Raymond Teague
The
need for tolearance in human affairs and the courage to overcome
all the psychological fences in our head that hinder our spiritual
progress are the main messages of the two films we have chosen this
month. They're both spectacular and very advanced technologically,
but our movie critic invites you to go beyond special effects to
discover their true meaning...
X-Men
X marks
the ugly spot of intolerance among human beings. At its thematic
heart, this first outing for the popular Marvel comic X-Men
characters is another compelling plea for tolerance.
It's
not a new plea for the cinema, by any means. Tolerance, acceptance
and brotherly love and cooperation were urged in D. W. Griffith's
silent classic Intolerance in 1916. The need for tolerance
and understanding was never more dramatically portrayed than in
Steven Spielberg's Shindler's List in 1993.
There
is a connection between the latter movie and X-Men. The events in
Schindler's List take place in Nazi-occupied Poland during
World War II; X-Men opens with scenes of Jews being taken
to death camps in Poland in 1944.
The
treatment of Jews during the Holocaust is certainly one of the most
horrible examples of intolerance that humankind has known, and conversely
one of our greatest symbols for the need for tolerance.
The
intolerance in X-Men is aimed at mutants, people on an evolutionary
fast-track who have developed a wide assortment of amazing powers,
including the abilities to read and control minds and to display
unusual physical capabilities and prowess.
Nonmutants
hate and fear the mutants in their midst, and United States lawmakers
led by Sen. Kelly (Bruce Davison) in "the not too distant
future" are urging passage of legislation requiring the registration
of mutants.
Mutants
are against the legislation because mutants who come forth already
are met with fear, hostility and violence. Sound familiar? Of course
the allusion to the McCarthy era with its Commie-haters is strong.
Viewers
also can't help but think of the attitudes of intolerance among
many in more recent times toward homosexuals and people of certain
races and ethnic backgrounds.
Beyond
the action hero theatrics and dazzling technological displays, X-Men
is essentially a fable about humankind's seeming inability to be
tolerant of differences. The mutants themselves are divided on how
to respond to the intolerance of the majority.
One
group, led by Magneto (Ian McKellen), doesn't have any faith
in the majority to change and thinks that a war between mutants
and nonmutants is inevitable. The child does make the man, and we
know where Magneto is coming from: we've watched the rest of his
family being carried off to death at the beginning of the film,
while the young boy Magneto escapes.
Magneto
says sarcastically, "America was going to be the land of tolerance,
of peace. There is no land of tolerance. There is no peace. Not
here or anywhere else." Magneto and his followers thus represent
the aspect of society that answers intolerance with more intolerance.
Other
mutants led by Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) respect humankind
and want to use their powers to make life better for mutants and
nonmutants. These are the X-men. They represent the aspect of society
that advocates tolerance and understanding in the face of intolerance.
"I'm
looking for hope," says Xavier, who runs a school for gifted
mutants. The school recalls another popular fictional world — the
world of Harry Potter — and the intolerance found at Harry's Hogwarts
School of Witchcraft and Wizardry between those with magical powers
and those without (the regular humans or Muggles of the world).
The
movie isn't implying that all those who are victims of intolerance
are perfect. Within the mutant world, there are mutants who use
their powers for good purposes and others who use their powers to
further selfish aims. But the movie does suggest that a whole group
of people can't be stereotyped or condemned.
"We're
not what you think — not all of us," Xavier says to Sen. Kelly.
With Xavier and his X-men, we're left with hope that perhaps tolerance
is possible, that perhaps people eventually will learn to love people
everywhere. Where there is hope . . .
Chicken
Run
Never
underestimate the power of one individual with faith, passion, a
conscience, and determination to accomplish wonders. The individual
may be a person, as in the movie Erin Brockovich. Or perhaps
a pig, as in Babe.
Even
a chicken, as in Chicken Run, the clay-animated gem from
Peter Lord and Nick Park. The latter is the creator
of the Oscar-winning Wallace and Gromit series about a British
inventor and his savvy dog.
In
Chicken Run, the wonder-working individual is a chicken named
Ginger (voiced by Julia Sawalha). Ginger is no ordinary flighty,
head-in-the-feed chicken. She has pluck and courage. She has vision,
and looks beyond the barnyard and longs for freedom for herself
and all her kind.
What
are the odds she can pull off an escape from the Tweedy chicken
farm? They may not seem very good. Ginger keeps trying to lead an
escape, but each time gets caught and thrown into solitary confinement
in a coal bin.
Ginger
asks a would-be compatriot what their chances of escape are, and
the reply is a million in one. "Then there's still a chance,"
Ginger replies resolutely.
That's
the kind of spunky chicken Ginger is. She puts thought and action
into her dreams and into her desire to better the lives of all the
chickens at the farm -- especially when it becomes known that Mrs.
Tweedy (voiced by Miranda Richardson) intends to turn all
the poultry into chicken pies.
Regardless
of her species and the jokes about them, Ginger is truly a worthy
role model -- a determined, purposeful, unselfish, courageous activist,
and a true feminist.
Ginger
also is something of a spiritual role model. She knows where true
strength radiates — from the faith-filled individual. Ginger tells
the other chickens that the fences that are really holding them
back, that are keeping them from living a life of freedom and happiness,
are not those around the barnyard, but are the fences in their own
minds.
"The
fences aren't just around the farm -- they're up here -- in your
head," Ginger tells them. Here's a chicken who knows and lives
by the power of positive thinking! "Where there's a will, there's
a way," she says. Here's a chicken who knows that thoughts held
in mind do indeed produce after their kind. Ginger
intends to show the others how the removal of mind fences can lead
to greener pastures.
Plus,
Ginger relies on prayer. When all her plans have failed and doom
seems imminent, what does Ginger do? She prays, "Heaven help
us." Hers is a sincere prayer for the welfare of the whole flock.
And
that prayer is answered. Perhaps not in the way that Ginger would
have envisioned it — with the arrival of the cocky Rocky the Flying
Rooster (voiced by Mel Gibson) — but then prayers are like
that.
In
the long run, Rocky probably answers more than one of Ginger's prayers
— proving that Spirit knows best and sees the Big Picture when mere
chickens (or mortals) cannot.
Chicken
Run is pleasing not only because of its inventiveness and humor
but also because of its empowering message and role model for chickens
and humans of all ages.
Copyright
© 2000 Raymond Teague
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