Tag: Courageous

“This requires ceremony…”

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The other night I went to see the movie Courageous with a bunch of other guys on a “man trip” ;-). I’ve written about this movie before, but over the next few weeks I’d like to mention a few other thoughts which came to mind while watching the film…

The Resolution

In the story, a group of four men decide to sign a Resolution, a statement of conduct (derived from Scripture) which they promise to follow as both men and as fathers.

In a certain scene, one of the men shows a copy of the Resolution to his wife. She gets really excited and then starts asking him lots of questions. What will the final Resolution look like? What is he going to wear when he signs it? etc. The man gives his wife a look of complete incomprehension and confusion. It’s clear that he hadn’t even considered these things. To this she responds:

“If you’re gonna do this, then do it right. Something like this requires…ceremony!” 

I had to smile at this, since, to my Catholic ears, I heard:

“If you’re gonna do this, then do it right. Something like this requires…liturgy“ 🙂

 

The Liturgy Ceremony

Later in the film we see what this ceremony looks like…

All the men are wearing suits and their family members are present, also in formal attire. They meet in a beautiful park underneath some trees. A long-time friend and minister to one of the men officiates, calling each of the men forward one-by-one.  Each man then repeats the Resolution out loud in the presence of his family and pastor, after which he signs a framed copy of the Resolution written in beautiful calligraphy, which he later hangs in a prominent place in his home.

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Courageous

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At the end of this month, the movie “Courageous” is going to be released…

I was fortunate enough to be invited to see a preview screening of this film a while back and thought it was superb. The essential focus of the movie is Fatherhood and, more broadly, masculinity. The tagline of the film is from the book of Joshua:

“But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD” – Joshua 24:15

This film is coming from the same group of people who brought us the movie “Fireproof” and includes some of the same actors. I actually think that Courageous is a more polished film than Fireproof, which I felt was, at times, slightly clunky and a little bit cheesy. Courageous has a few moments that made me wince, but they were generally few and far between.

One of the actors was at the screening I attended and he said that they hoped that Courageous would do for Fatherhood what Fireproof did for marriage. I think it certainly does hit its mark in this respect and I left the movie theatre feeling inspired. I’ve organized a group “man trip” to the cinema shortly after it goes on general release and I hope that those coming will be likewise inspired.

Oh yes, one other thing. The title soundtrack comes from the greatest band in the world, Casting Crowns…