Saturday, January 14, 2006

After six days, I still get the shivers

Now I'm calmer, more collected, and it seems like logic has creeped into my senses again—though I presume it's not going to be this way for a long time. It's been almost a week—six days, to be exact—since I had last written about my going to SM (it's where the cinema is) to watch The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. And I needed six days to process everything: the movie has reeled into my head like crazy, and the scenes in my mind don't stop playing until I immerse myself in other thought-provoking activities, like studying.

I'm not going to give a detailed review of the movie. To do so would require that one should have watched a million movies already so as to give a good tongue-lashing (it's common to see people thinking of good reviews as rants) and to be able to compare this and that movie with all the other movies that one has watched. I must say that my movie-watching habit is limited to the CDs my brother buys or those shown on HBO or those recommended by friends (and I do not necessarily watch what they recommend unless they say something like, "The world will end, Lance, if you don't watch it!", which, of course, rarely ever happens) and those I download from my dorm's network.

After Church, Manong Ralph and I headed straight to SM, as planned. I was taken aback when I saw the humongous crowd of people queuing at the ticket booths. I was then reminded of how prolific Filipinos have become through the years, and so it's not a wonder to see our population booming explonentially like it has for the past years.

By God's grace, we had managed to buy our ticket, after minutes of lining up. We figured that the show wouldn't start again until 3, so we went to the grocery to buy things. It was only 1:00pm (I think), so we had all our time. We headed back to the cinema 15 minutes before the scheduled time of showing it again: who would want to spoil a movie that one has been looking forward to by coming in late?

When we entered, the entire movie house was jampacked. There were no longer any seats available, so we stood for 15 minutes, then found a great spot where we sat on the floor.

And so I will talk about the movie. Do I like it? Do I?

Of course, I like it! No, like is a light term. I bloody love it. The movie is, to my estimation, a faithful rendering of the book, though some details have been added, some removed. But these are small ones, anyway, and TLTWTW would still stand as it is without them--the details, I mean.

I was teary-eyed the whole time, especially during the Aslan-will-die scenes. I wanted to exclaim, "That's salvation! That's what the Lord did to me. I am Edmund (though more handsome than him), a wretched liar and traitor! But look at Him! He died for me!"

I must also say that the movie also gave me shivers. I cannot explain it in detail, really, but it's something one feels when he is witnessing something he has been looking forward to seeing for a long time. Tumindig ang balahibo ko.

That's why I can't fully understand why some people think it's boring, or that it's for children, or that it's only for those who've read the book. I think the movie is universal, in as much as its message is: that we, sinners, are loved by a holy God whom we have grieved, and to prove such love, God died for us.

I must confess, though: even after six, long days, I still get the shivers.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I loved it, too. :) Well, I didn't like the child actors much - I actually think that the only one who gave a great performance was the boy who played Edmund. But I got teary at the Stone Table scene, too. :)

Sat Jan 14, 05:12:00 PM GMT+8  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i agree with you lance. i felt the same way you did as i watched the first time. if i could only go in front and tell all the people how true was it (although in reality that would be O.A.), i just kept it within me, standing and all.

after the movie, i could not help myself as i clapped the loudest clap i can give to the Lord, teary-eyed and thankful for His grace i did not deserve to have.

God bless you...

Mon Jan 16, 08:55:00 PM GMT+8  

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