Movie Meditations
Reflections and questions to think about and discuss before and after you watch movies.
Introduction
As a child growing up in Miami, a lot of my free time was spent either playing with my older brother, reading books in the avocado tree in our backyard, or watching movies.
Books were my escape from my daily reality, but they were a solitary activity, and movies were the one thing that all of my family gathered together for. Saturday nights after our weekly church service, my father would take us to our local video store where we would browse through the latest ’80s releases before ultimately turning to a beloved Hollywood classic. All of the Marx Brothers movies, everything that Jimmy Stewart, Alfred Hitchcock, Audrey Hepburn, or Cary Grant ever made, and of course, all things Spielberg — these were in regular rotation in our home and became a part of the fabric of my childhood.
This family tradition of watching movies turned into a spiritual practice for me as I grew older. Movies are now the place that I turn to to learn about the world, to gain new insights into humanity, and ultimately, to transform myself.
These movie meditations are musings about the movies that continue to teach me. I offer questions to think about and discuss before and after you watch.
And, hope that they will serve to uncover new perspectives and ways of looking at the world and ourselves – whether we do so alone or together.
