For today’s bulletin, I’ve decided to turn film critic! Last week, through the lovely gift of a Ritz movie voucher from a parishioner, Kathryn and I went to see The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. We loved it and highly recommend it.
The movie, set in 1946, recounts a young writer’s visit to Guernsey, where she meets a number of eccentric islanders, who at first seem stand-offish and closed. However, as she gradually learns of what had happened to them during the war, she comes to understand them, and beautiful friendships form.
For me, the movie’s one annoying feature is the landlady on Guernsey: an avaricious, joyless and judgmental old lady who is always reading her Bible! It is telling that we never heard this woman’s story, or learned what sad events had made her so cold. If we had, we might have come to understand her, as we did the other islanders. But the movie makers didn’t want us to understand her. They wanted the token Christian in the movie to be a caricature, not a true character.
The movie makers reflect our society, which shows not only a widespread ignorance of Christianity, but also a lack of desire to understand the real people who follow Christ. There is no quick fix to this problem, but undoubtedly we must pray for those around us who do not know Christ. Also, let us be people who are truly interested in the stories of others, and who are ready to share our own stories, including the role that Jesus plays in our lives.