“Without the authority of Christ, mankind is merely left to compare ideas. A morality becomes a matter of opinion. One person says it is wrong to steal, the next person says it is not. No standard is set.” – Norris Anderson
This movie speaks about the truth and authority of Jesus Christ and the power in using His name. God has not given us another name under the Heavens by which we should call upon to be saved other than Jesus (Yeshua)- Acts 4:12. So when it comes to sharing the Word of God and His teachings we must do so with giving Him all the glory. He’s so worth it! I wholeheartedly agree to this standard and command. The Holy Spirit comes to guide us into all Truth and exalt Jesus Christ and His teachings and also convict the world of sin, God’s righteousness and judgement. If those those things are not being done.. then its not the Holy Spirit. Salvation is of the Lord and only He can change the heart and mindsets of His people.
The year is 1890 and Bible Professor Russell Carlisle has written a new manuscript. His book is about to receive an unanimous endorsement from the board members at Grace Bible Seminary until his colleague, Dr. Norris Anderson, has a “difficulty with something.” Dr. Anderson believes what Carlisle has written could greatly affect future generations. Using a secret time machine, Anderson sends Carlisle over 100 years into the future, offering him a glimpse of where his beliefs will lead.
“A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span.He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels;6 on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back.His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him.
Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle?[…]
Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel![…]
Now David was the son of an Ephrathite named Jesse, who was from Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons, and in Saul’s time he was very old.Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war: The firstborn was Eliab; the second, Abinadab; and the third, Shammah.David was the youngest. The three oldest followed Saul,but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.[…]
Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head.David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them.
“I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off.Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.
David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.
So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. (1 Samuel 18)
În viitor, oamenii au hotărât că dacă vor să obțină o pace durabilă, trebuie să existe egalitatea perfectă. Și singurul mod de a o realiza a fost perfecțioarea unui vaccin care îi face imuni la sentimente. Nu au devenit niște roboței, încă pot simți lucruri, însă nu în mod profund. Ura, gelozia, acestea sunt doar cuvinte care și-au pierdut orice înțeles. La fel sunt și fericirea și iubirea.
În ziua în care tuturor tinerilor de vârsta lui li se repartizează slujbele, Jonas e lăsat la urmă, deoarece el va deveni noul Păstrător al Memoriei. Sub îndrumarea Păstrătorului dinaintea sa, Jonas o să descopere tot ceea ce umanitatea a pierdut, începând de la sentimente și până la culori. Apoi, va desoperi toate motivele pentru care omenirea a ales să renunțe la sentimente în favoarea unei lumi în care războaiele nu mai există.
Totuși, lumea lui Jonas nu e Paradisul care credea el că e pentru că războaiele au fost înlocuite cu ceva mult mai rău. Și Jonas e cel care trebuie să decidă dacă lumea va rămâne așa cum e sau dacă oamenii au nevoie de sentimente.
Ce te face uman?
Imaginează-ți o lume uniformizată în care toți suntem îmbrăcați în același fel, locuim în case identice, avem aceeași zi de naștere, mâncăm la aceeași oră, ne trezim în același timp și totul se desfășoară după un program clar.
În acest caz, tot ceea ce ne mai face umani sunt emoțiile. Dar dacă și ele sunt scoase din joc?
În lumea distopică prezentată de filmul The Giver – Darul lui Jonas (2014) oamenii au parte de o fercire aparentă și gri – la propriu – în care nu cunosc intimitatea sau sentimentele puternice. Cu toții apar pe lume la Născătoare, sunt repartizați unei familii și trec prin diverse praguri spre maturizare, urmând ca în adolescență să fie inițiați în meseria ce li se potrivește, căci întreaga societate este un imens Big Brother care te urmărește și analizează abilitățile tale și la ce ar putea fi folosite.
The Giver este ecranizarea romanului omonim al autoarei americane Lois Lowry, tradus în limba română la editura Arthur cu titlul „Darul lui Jonas”.
Intriga începe atunci când Jonas (Brenton Thwaites), un adolescent aparent banal, este desemnat să joace rolul Primitorului – cel care va fi depozitarul întregii memorii a omenirii. Căci, atunci când orice urmă de unicitate a fost îndepărtată, au fost șterse și amintirile despre întreaga umanitate. Jonas primește de la înaintașul lui, Jeff Bridges în film, cel care devine The Giver,amitiri despre o vreme în care existau zăpadă și sănii, deșert, munți și păduri, muzică și dans, sentimente puternice precum dragostea, tandrețea, prietenia, dar și multă durere – violență, războaie, masacre, nedreptate. Și atunci te întrebi, lipsa iubirii justifică prezența unor asemenea atrocități?
Dar poate cel mai pregnant contrast și momentul în care îți dai seama că ceva se va schimba, este acela în care Jonas ajunge în locuința îndepărtată și ciudată a Dăruitorului. „Se numesc cărți.” Află el despre obiectele ciudate ce tapetează pereții de jur împrejur.
Și acum începe călătoria inițiatică a tânărului printre amintirile unei omeniri întregi ce îi vor fi transferate lui de către Dăruitor, ghidat de sutele de tomuri. Acesta este momentul în care culorile apar pe peliculă. Odată cu merele roșii, umanitatea reapare în scenă :).
Ca orice adolescent, Jonas vrea ca prietena sa, și cea de care s-a îndrăgostit, Fiona (Odeya Rush), să experimenteze și ea sentimentele. Cadrele apropiate de chipul celor doi redau ciudățenia situației într-o lume în care nu ai voie să atingi alte persoane.
Chief Elder e personajul jucat de Meryl Streep, liderul înțelepților, cea care se străduiește să mențină totul conform ordinii existente și care are un rol ceva mai amplu în film față de carte. Una dintre replicile ei este și cea care rezumă cel mai bine motivul pentru care s-a ajuns la situația respectivă: „Atunci când oamenii sunt lăsați să aleagă, ei aleg prost.”
Dar se pare că memoria oamenirii poate fi redobândită de la unicul Purtător de către toți reprezentanții ei.
Concluiza: Oamenii trebuie sa detina dreptul de a alege: binele sau raul. Nici o constrangere nu va elimina imperfectiuna, doar o va musamaliza si ii va da o noua denumire, o noua infatisare.
Great movie. I definitely recommend it. !Based upon a true story Download link
Storyline
Elderly Tom Nickerson recalls how, in 1819, he went to sea as cabin boy on the whaler ‘The Essex’, leaving Nantucket. Its recently promoted captain George Pollard is a kindly man, unlike first mate Owen Chase and Tom notes their mutual animosity though, inspired by tales from his grandfather, envisages life at sea as romantic. A storm and a food shortage puncture his illusions but spirits are raised when a whale is sighted and caught. However some two months later another whale attacks and sinks the ship – in what Tom believes to be an act of revenge – and the crew take to the long-boats. Chase overrules Pollard in deciding that, rather than risk cannibals on the nearby Society Islands, they make the gruelling 2,000 mile journey to Peru. Ninety days later only five of the crew are rescued, the others either dead or never found. An end-title relates what happened to Tom, Pollard and Chase in later life. (imdb)
Detailed Synopsis
“The story of the Essex is one of those examples of fact being stranger than fiction. Commanded in 1819-1820 by the young and newly promoted Captain George Pollard Jr, the ship was notoriously attacked and sunk by a gigantic sperm whale in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, forcing the sailors to board the small whalers and survive upon the vast expanse of sea for several months. A tale of ill luck, personality clashes, man .vs. nature and survival by cannibalism, it inspired the first mate (and one of the few participants to emerge from the experience alive) to write a book entitled ‘Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex’, which in turn inspired a certain chap named Herman Melville to write his enduring classic Moby Dick.
In 1819, the whale-ship Essex leaves Nantucket under the command of newly promoted captain George Pollard Jr (Adam Rayner). The youngest member of the crew is 14 year old Tom Nickerson (Charles Furness), attempting to find his way in life by pursuing a career on the high seas. The first mate is Owen Chase (Jonas Armstrong), who has sailed with Pollard before in a different capacity, but finds his captain indecisive and ill-judged over many matters. The journey starts badly, with the ship failing to find whales; food and water being strictly rationed; and grumblings of mutiny making themselves heard among the crew. They head out into the central Pacific to improve their luck, and things seem to be working out when they immediately come across whales. However, a sperm whale rams the ship after its mate is killed by the sailors; the ship sinks and the survivors are forced to board their tiny whaleboats to stay alive. They drift upon the sea for many weeks, finding land in the shape of the uninhabitable Henderson Island. When it becomes apparent the island cannot support life, they have to once more put to sea to stay alive. Ultimately, they have to resort to cannibalism when their scarce food supplies run out altogether. Only a handful of the original survivors make it to safety after several months of desperate suffering and hardship.
As true stories go, this one is as remarkable as it is grim. The performances are pretty good, and the details of life at sea seem to be captured with a solid level of authenticity. The personality clashes among the crew – especially the stormy relationship between Captain Pollard and his First Mate, Owen Chase – are nicely delineated. Since the film is called The Whale, one would expect the whale itself to be more integral to the story… a better title may have been The Essex or The Whale-Ship. Yes, the whale is responsible for the sinking of the ship, and yes, it ominously follows the sailors throughout their ordeal, but overall the film focuses much more on the survival of the sailors, and the extremes to which they go to stay alive. The whale itself has little direct bearing upon the narrative. The latter part of the film, detailing the sailors’ extraordinary adventures aboard their little whalers once their ship has gone down, is exceptionally well done – harrowing, terrifying and utterly convincing. The film doesn’t really dwell too long on the moral complexities of turning to cannibalism to stay alive, nor does it explore the effect of this extreme course of action on the characters. It’s presented more as a straightforward account, tastefully done in the parts where it could have been quite sensationalised and gruesome, and overall a very respectable little TV movie which is well worth a look.” (imdb)
“Watching a bunch of 19th-century sailors get tossed this way and that by an angry ocean and an even angrier whale certainly put things into perspective. And it didn’t get any better when the seas had calmed and the not-so-jolly jack tars found themselves shipwrecked. A nasty case of chapped lips was just the start of a voyage through paranoid delusions, sacrificial suicides and an unexpected twist on shipboard cuisine.
Surely, when the inevitable ‘it’s turn cannibal or die’ moment arrived, I can’t have been the only one contemplating a return to vegetarian roots.
Based on a true story, The Whale was a simple tale, well told. The ill-fated whaling ship The Essex set off from Nantucket in 1819 with a fair wind in its sails, only to be buffeted and then some by cruel fate. As the stories of the crew emerged in the briny air, we were left placing bets on who would survive to the end credits.
Young cabin boy Tom was a given – Martin Sheen was narrating the tale as his older self. But as for the rest, it was a nail-biter. Would decent but weak Captain Pollard go under, scuppered by indecision and the challenge of first mate Owen Chase? Ship’s cook Mr Bond, sailing away from a broken past, was another intriguing character.
Adam Rayner, Jonas Armstrong and John Boyega put in strong performances as this trio but there was a surprise scene-stealer. Once you got over the fear that Paul Kaye was going to break out into one of his ‘Victor’ ad routines, he turned in a touching performance as the scrimshaw-carving Matthew Joy, a contrary devil who surprisingly emerged as arguably the noblest soul on board.
The whale of the title, in truth, didn’t get that much of a look-in. This was a tale of human survival built on the fraying but unbreakable bonds of comradeship.” (metro.co.uk)
“What are the implications of a device that has been created for the sole purpose of so-called entertainment. Many arbitrarily use this device thinking there is not a vast physiological and psychological effect. This documentary exposes how children and adults are manipulated by TV programming.”
“Poezia este pur şi simplu modul cel mai eficace, cel mai impresionant şi cel mai frumos de a spune lucrurile, şi de aici provine importanţa sa.” Matthew Arnold
"Oile Mele ascultă glasul Meu; Eu le cunosc şi ele vin după Mine. Eu le dau viaţa veşnică, în veac nu vor pieri şi nimeni nu le va smulge din mâna Mea" Ioan 10:27-28
Matchless God 