This film may find its way to the kids' section of the store or library, but if a child can fathom all the ideas it raises and catch all the details of the intricate construction of the scenes, I'll buff his halo. We've only scratched the surface of the film. So, delve a bit more deeply here:
1. Anthony undergoes a transformation of sorts by the end of the film. His experiences broaden his understanding at least of his brother, if not of a broader expanse. Does Damian’s character develop over the course of the film? If so, what changes and what significance does this hold? If not, what significance does his static position carry?
2. The saints in this film are hardly stiff icons of pious suffering. If we are to take them as guiding figures – and they do offer advice to Damian --, what kind of behavior do they promote? What does a faithful life look like if they are the representatives of such a life?
3. Miracles are pretty obvious in Millions, aren’t they? We even get a definition of them from St. Peter himself in his conversation with Damian. He tells Damian that “something that looks like a miracle turns out to be dead simple,” as he recounts the feeding of the multitude. With this information in hand, think about our two previous films. Are Gran Torino and The Son stories about miracles?
Since we’ve all seen the movie, please resist the urge to summarize the action. As you respond to ONE of the topics above, focus on selecting the information that will support and develop the idea.
If a miracle really is as St. Peter defines it in Millions, then I do believe that both Gran Torino and The Son are about miracles. In both cases the protagonist does something relatively simple or ordinary. Even though the action itself is ordinary, the way it’s responded to is essential to understanding how these actions are miracles. For example, in Gran Torino Walt pretty much walks into his own death in hopes of saving the family, Thao and the neighborhood. However, as bold as Walt showing up to the gangster’s house is, especially after their recent brawling history, his action is really quite simple. Just don’t bring a gun. Walk into it completely unarmed and let the gang hurt themselves. In The Son, Olivier performs his miracle through out the film. Simply, by continuing to do his job. Olivier strongly believes that he can somehow shape the poor content of the boys and save them from a life of crime and jail. So Olivier kind of performs his miracle by doing his job and helping troubled teens every day. I do not know yet if I feel that Millions is about miracles, still have not had enough time to think about it. But, if what St. Peter said is true, then I do believe that the other movies are genuinely about good deeds seeming miraculous but end up being ordinary.
ReplyDeleteQuestion Two:
ReplyDeleteThe saints in the movie are extremely human. From smoking joints to teasing Jesus, they are not the pious and remote images seen so often in Christian depictions. To Damian, the saints are interesting people to whom extraordinary things happen, like the saint whose house was moved for her by angels. He seems less concerned with the otherworldly aspects of the saints and prefers instead their human elements and stories, such as their birthdays and deathdays. Because of this view of the saints, and after all we see only Damian’s view of the saints, the saints are more human than holy. They provide Damian with what he needs at that moment—reassurances of the infiniteness of heaven, advice about locks, and a rebuilt cardboard castle. According to them, life improves after death—which is exactly what Damian needs to hear. They promote a life filled with goodness, but in a less severe way than some biblical scholars promote. Saint Peter followed his love of keys and jokes and ended up the gatekeeper to heaven. Saint Francis released doves, as Damian did, and was sainted. The saints to Damian are more reassuring parents than strict enforcers of biblical law, which he needs in his current state with a deceased mother and constantly working father. The saints are representatives of a life that encourages doing what you love but being willing to sacrifice for what you believe in. To Damian, this message is more important than pious suffering.
In response to question three, Gran Torino and The Son are pretty solidly films of miracles however big or small but certainly on par with what Damien accomplishes in Millions. Walt in Gran Torino's miracle may be the most explicit of all of them both symbolically and dramatically. So explicit, that he ends up in the position of a cross after he has been shot. Walt goes against his strong inclination towards survival and uses his death to for a greater purpose than himself. Earlier in the film Walt would have never done something like this, which makes it all the more miraculous. Oliver's miracle is having the courage, curiosity, or bravery to reconnect with his son's killer. The rules dictate that Oliver should never feel the way that he does about Francois. In fact, Oliver should despise him beyond words which he probably does, but he has the ability to forgive when forgiveness should be impossible. Finally, Damien's miracle is perhaps his gift of sight. The boy can see through the vortex of the material to things of actual value and morality. Damien's miracle allows him to see saints and ultimately his mother. somethings that all of these films has in common is that each of the protagonists is able to stay true to themselves after rigorous testing and numerous trials. This is perhaps the greatest miracle of all in the films. All of these characters end up taking a leap of faith for what they believe whether it be a personal sense of morality or the greater good. In every film previously listed there are example of people who have fallen by the wayside, failed in their attempts to achieve such accomplishments. Damien's miracle, ultimately is that he never lets the money affect him . This is culminated when at the end of the movie he burns the poisonous money. I'm not sure that i could let 200,000 burn, but Damien does it with barely a second thought.
ReplyDeleteIn response to question 1:
ReplyDeleteDamian’s character, like Anthony’s, also develops over the course of the film. While his desire to do good was a constant presence in the movie, Damian’s thought process behind his good actions changes. In the beginning, Damian attempts to give his money out to anybody that was ‘poor’ or poorer than they themselves were. He constantly asks different saints questions on “how to become a saint” and “what did they do to become a saint”. For each of the saints respective answers, Damian attempts to mimic their actions. He lets doves go free, he builds a well in Africa (through his donation to a charity), and he goes around giving his money to the needy. However, what Damian does not do until the end of the movie is think for himself. Constantly, Damian follows the actions of past saints as a guideline on “how to be good.” Only by the end of the movie does Damian do a ‘good deed’ with the money that was purely his own idea. Damian could have continued to donate the rest of the money to various charities, or even handed out cash bundles to the people that lined the streets toward their house in the final scene. However, Damian finally realizes the trouble and horrors that the money causes for his family, and understands that he must get rid of the money not for the sole purpose of doing good and being saintly, but because it was truly the right and necessary thing to do.
Throughout the movie, Damian acts on rigid morals. His motivation is always to ascertain the “right” thing to do and then to carry it out. The money featured in the movie serves to capitalize (no pun intended) on this trait, as it gives Damian a major moral dilemma to puzzle about. Though Damian’s preoccupation with idealistic morality does not fade, he changes as a result of realizations about the morality of the “real world” and the adults around him. Anthony’s liberties with the money drive Damian to search for the morally correct solution. However, when the adults in his life, the apparently saintly Dorothy and his own father, use the money for themselves, Damian finds his moral foundations cracking beneath him. The saints who guide Damian also prove morally grey. Whereas at the beginning of the movie the appearance of a saint surprises him, he acclimates to these presences and stops treating them with as much reverence as might be due to a saint. During the course of the movie, Damian also finds that his mother was not made a saint. Though he doesn’t abandon his striving for morality, Damian finds that the foundations of his faith, the heroes of his childhood, are less perfect than they once seemed, and he finds that under pressure, morals shift and lose definition.
ReplyDeleteIn response to question two, the saints in the film portray a realistic view of our life on Earth. The saints show Damian that he must focus on his life on earth rather than worrying about what comes after. During St. Peter’s conversation with Damian he speaks about predestination; the Christian belief that God has already decided our fate. He tells Damian that whatever he decides to do with the money regardless of it being stolen or not should come from his own moral beliefs rather than what he thinks God wants him to do. As we said today in class, it seemed whatever St. Peter said to Damian went in one ear and out the other; but I think that just reminds us that he really only is a 7 year old boy who hasn’t truly experienced the world around him. The saints in the film promote the idea to live in the moment, and not trying to figure out what will happen tomorrow or years down the road. They try to make Damian realize that there is more than one right answer in a situation like his, and not to be so close minded. Damian doesn’t seem to have a very realistic idea of how society works, and that is simply because he is still a child. Clearly there are going to be people whose moral compass strays very far from his, but there are also the people in between – the grey area. These people are similar the saints; like St. Peter tried to explain to Damian: miracles aren’t necessarily other worldly acts, they can be as simple as sharing the fish and the loaves. Damian has too much faith, it relies solely on what he must to be pleasing to God and to get in to heaven; he doesn’t realize that even the saints have imperfections. The saints allow him to take a look at the bigger picture and make him start to come to terms with the faults of the world.
ReplyDeleteIn the movie, Damian's behavior is very saintly in the way that he basically does whatever he thinks God would want him to do, especially in regards of what to do with the moment. He doesn't seem do anything for himself; it's only things that would make him a saintly person in God's eyes. To me, the saints - seen smoking, playing pranks - advocate for childish behavior and for Damian to lighten up. When, in Damian's class, the teacher asks who does everyone admire, everyone mentions soccer starts or rock stars, and Damian mentions a saint. These smoking jokers are Damian's rock stars. Damian was so busy roaming the halls of his school trying to find his purpose in life so he can be sure he goes to heaven when he dies so when day he can become a saint. I think the saints represent that you can still be a saintly person while still having flaws at the same time. They show that you can be human and make mistakes and that you can enjoy not being perfect all the time. Damian is being faithful in the way he does good deeds and tries to to the right thing with the money, but he is unfaithful to his childhood. He's innocent, but he worries about things that his father doesn't even seem to worry about.
ReplyDeleteThe saints in this movie are very interesting. Some of them even have blatant vices. For example, the first saint we see is smoking a joint. I think that their actions are what make them saints, but their vices are what make them human. Everyone has problems, addictions, or vices of some kind. I think that they encourage what this on Damien too. That he should do good things, but that it is okay to have vices because you are just human, even though there is something completely different about Damien. That is his selflessness. I believe that is because of his young age and upbringing. A "faithful life" then looks like one in which Damien always helps and thinks about other people but remembers to not be too extreme in his giving. Which must happen because Damien can't put too much faith in other people. And in that sense, the saints are encouraging him to have faith in himself.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 1:
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning of the film, Damian believes that being a good person is synonymous with being saintly or somewhat affiliated with religion. To him, religion is how he came about this great sum of money and religion subsequently charges him to do good things with that money. Even though the Saints "visit" him and his primary motivation for helping people is religion, Damien's charity takes on a very material sense. He helps the needy by buying things because he has this great sum of money. He buys food at a pizza hut, he gives to Mormons money to buy appliances for their home and he donates a whole wad of cash to the trash can. The material aspect of giving is extremely hard to ignore because it is entwined with the very nature of charity. Damian is simply too young does not have the means to help the poor people learn a trade or improve their lives in that sense, he can only hand them a wad of cash and say "go". Even though Damian is regarded as more spiritual than his brother, in a way, he can only accept the inevitability of the materialism of the world that surrounds him. Damian goes from believing in the power of miracles to help humanity to the belief that the world can be made better through material goods.
Question 3:
ReplyDeleteIn The Son, Olivier’s ability to forgive Francis could be seen as a miracle, but Walt’s sacrificial act is a clearer example of a miracle as defined by Saint Peter. I would consider Gran Torino more of a story about miracles because Walt seems to be performing the same sort of selfless act as described in the feeding of the multitude by the saint. In Millions, the miracle of the feeding of the multitude was that greed and selfless urges could be replaced by generosity and care for the greater good, which could lead to something extraordinary occurring. Walt accomplished this by doing something so unthinkable as sacrificing your own life for the benefit of his community. The saints in the film have this quirky, very human demeanor, and play down on the “holiness” aspect of religion. When Saint Peter tells Damian the true story, he is showing Damian that these things are within his reach, an he can be just as saintly. In a sense, Saint Peter is taking the credit away from god, and giving it to the people and showing them that they can accomplish as great of miracles as god.
Question 2:
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed how the saints were portrayed in this movie, it gave a small sense of reality in the midst of complete surrealism. I think all the saints are perfect guiding figures, especially for someone as narrow minded as Damian. Since Damian is so young, he has a very one-sided, black and white view of the world. This shows throughout the movie when he struggles with the idea of right and wrong (mainly when it comes to the money). He also struggles with how he will get into heaven. He wants so desperately to see his mom again, and has committed himself to being good to achieve that. The saints come to tell him that it's not as hard as his making it. Every saint in the movie has some flaw, but that is what makes them so saintly. They were just people, who happened to do extraordinary things. St. Pete phrases it best in the bedroom scene, through his story of the fish and loaves. He is trying to make Damian understand that it's not the miracle that is amazing, but the unsuspecting nature in which it happens. A miracle is only a miracle when the person performing it isn't trying to. If Damian tries to perform a miracle, then when some incredible happens it won't be a miracle, but just an achievement. I don't think Damian ever fully understands this concept, but I think he gets closer after his mom confesses that he, in fact, was her miracle.
I think it is true that Anthony did undergo a transformation, and that was because of Damian. I don't think Damian did go through a transformation on purpose. I think they made sure he didn't because they wanted to show how committed he was in his faith. Damian and ironically the bad guy was the only constant in the movie. And it's funny because both Damian and the bad guy where the only people in the movie who was either all bad or all good.
ReplyDeleteI think the saints show Damian that in order to become a saint it doesn't mean you have to be perfect. They know that Damian is innocent and that it's easy for him to do the right thing, but when he gets older it's not going to be easy to determine right from wrong, but even if Damian messes he will still be faithful and i think he learns that to be a saint is all about where your heart is and good things will happen naturally.
As far as the story st Peter told Damian about the fish, that reinforces the point i was making earlier about if your heart is in the right place good things will come more fluently and naturally.
3. In Gran Torino and The Son, Walt and Olivier both perform the simple, but no less sacred act of forgiving someone who has wronged them. In a way, though, the ability to forgive is a miracle because, for each of the men, doing so involves a great deal of courage. In all three movies, the viewer is challenged not to overcomplicated things because, with the right intentions, it is possible to perform miracles, even when one isn’t actively trying to. Miracles lie in the fact that humans, despite our selfish nature, are capable of difficult acts like forgiveness. Furthermore, miracles begin with good intentions, whether the intention is to spend money wisely, allow someone else to make amends, or provide a young man with job skills. Humans are capable of performing the simple acts that lead to miracles. Sure, these “simple” acts are challenging, but they are, nonetheless, possible. In Millions, The Son, and Gran Torino, humans perform miracles that are, as St. Peter says, really “dead simple”, beginning with the actions of a single character, who is not afraid of challenging people’s expectations of him.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 1:
ReplyDeleteDamian does change over the course of the film, although not a substantial amount. The saints aided him, but never changed him. Instead, the saints seem to only keep Damian’s core beliefs in God and the saints in place, making him the most stable in his views. By the end when he is talking with his mother, instead of giving dates and accepting her presence like he did with the saints, he recognize that she is just a dream. He finally no long feels the need to accept her as a saint. He does not need her to be a saint, although he would like that. Damian only changes when he talks to her. Missing her was his main concern. Once he understands that she is in the state that she is, he can finally more foreward and past the one on one conversations with the saints and the danger, “the poor man”, the angel and devil on the shoulders of the money. His opinions do not change like the rest of the family because he is able to see the good and the bad side. Everyone else just gets wrapped up in everything that they loose sight of what is right and what is wrong.
Throughout the film, Damian never seems to veer from his path of righteousness. He remains an avid and steadfast, if not idealistic, supporter of the Christian faith. Furthermore, Damian begins his adventure by insisting the money should go to the poor or not be kept at all. Often times children present a kind of inherent simplicity that does little more than baffle adults. Damian seems to be a prime example of this. However, the child's morals are nearly synonymous with Jesus Christ, who also never wavers in his moral beliefs and code of honor.
ReplyDeleteThe saints in this film aren't how one would imagine them to be. They definitely don't act how Damian would expect. Damian lives his life the way he thinks God would want him to and the way that he believes will allow him to become a saint. He believes in a life of moral and religious perfection that seems unattainable when you really stop to think about it. The saints show Damian that this doesn't have to be the case in order to get into Heaven or become a saint. They bring the movie and Damian back to reality with their behavior. While their behavior can easily be frowned upon, it's a great contrast to the way Damian thinks life should be lived, with perfection and upright morals. The saints show that this doesn't have to be the case, which helps the movie return to a sense of normalcy.
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