2000-11-26
The Wizard of Oz, posted at 01:37:24
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com I'm watching my third movie of the day right now. It's called "The Wizard of Oz". Heard of it?It's been years since I've seen it. And, you know what? That's years too long.
Seeing the film through the lens of (quasi-?) adulthood is reminding me just how wonderful it is. Intoxicatingly simple, yet resonatingly complex. Childlike wonder is filling me as I watch the film, but also a rich sense that this film captures much more than I thought when I first watched it twenty years before. I sit in my parents' basement, alone, with a permagrin on my face that generally is only this immovable when I'm drinking - in this case, it only tires when TNT cuts away to commercials. "The Wizard of Oz" is filling me with a hope and optimism not only that the world is a good place, but that it's a place where I'll eventually find someone to spend the rest of my life with. Sometime, hopefully in the next decade, I'll be watching this wonderous film with my very own kids for the first time. And the baton will be passed. The baton that my parents passed off to me and my sister, and that their parents passed off to them. Is there another film that this can be said for?
Films really can make you look at life differently. The classic "Wizard of Oz" has made me do this, even as I watch it for what could easily be my 15th time. For something released over sixty years ago, the fact that it can still feel like it changes an outlook on life really demonstrates what a powerful film it is. Because it's such a pop culture phenemenon, it's easy to forget that "The Wizard of Oz" is such a great film. But is is. Don't forget it.
And, you know what? The film world still produces film that make me ponder my very being and fill my soul with longing and joy. Paul Thomas Anderson's "Magnolia" from last year pretty much changed my life, with its resonant themes of pain, love, and suffering. So did "American Beauty", with its idea of beauty and cockeyed sense of optimism. Films really can be great. Don't forget it. Even when the next Michael Bay movie comes out.