ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

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Onward: The Magic is Within

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“Long ago, the world was full of wonder. It was adventurous, exciting and best of all, there was magic. And that magic helped all in need. But it wasn’t easy to master. And so the world found a simpler way to get by. Over time, magic faded away….”

Disney/Pixar’s Onward is set in this world that used to be so full of wonder, adventure, magic. But technology made it easier to get by without the magic, so things settled into a ho-hum suburban lifestyle. The world is still filled with magical creatures—elves, pixies, unicorns, mermaids, cyclopes, centaurs, fauns, manticores, dragons—but because they haven’t been in touch with the magical nature of the world, all those gifts have become dormant.

It is in this fantasy world that elf Ian Lightfoot (voiced by Tom Holland) is turning 16. Ian is shy, but wishes he could be bold. He feels a bit empty because he never knew his father. His older brother Barley (Chris Pratt) has three memories of their father and though they are rather banal, because of their rarity, both brothers venerate those memories. Barley is as boisterous and outgoing as Ian is reserved and quiet.

Because it’s Ian’s birthday, their mother Laurel (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) gives the two boys a gift from their father meant for when they are both over 16. It is a magical staff with a note that includes a spell to allow him to come back for one day so he can see how they’ve grown up. Barley can’t make it work. But when Ian picks up the staff, it is obvious that he is the one with the magical gifts. When the spell goes awry part way through, leaving Dad materialized only up to his waist, the boys must set out on a quest to find another magical crystal so they can complete the spell before the day is over.

The odd-couple nature of the brothers is the engine that drives the story. Ian is quiet and timid. He has no idea of what magic is or how to make it work. Barley has no fear (even when he should). But he is a veteran Dungeons and Dragons player who believes that the game reflects the real history of the world. He knows spells, but he must encourage Ian to use them when needed. As they try to complete the quest, the brothers learn about each other and themselves. They find a way through their common grief. They also begin to show that the world is full of magic, if only the world will connect with it.

As I look back at previous Pixar films, I think of films that rely on stories that touch the viewers. Onward touches us, but not to the same extent of other Pixar films. That may be due to the frenetic pace of the brothers’ journey. It feels more like an action movie than some of the more thoughtful nature of past films. Because of the pace, there is little time to appreciate the comedy involved. There are some funny spots, but they blow by way too fast.

In the end, we may see this as a film about faith. Barley is a man who believes and trusts in the magic of the world. Even though others don’t see that magic, for Barley it is waiting to be rediscovered. Through the brothers’ journey, that forgotten nature of the world becomes visible yet again, changing not only Ian and Barley, but everyone who sees what they have done—and come to believe as well.

Onward casts its spell in theatres on Friday, March 6th, 2020.

Photos courtesy of Walt Disney Studios

Waves – A Family’s Darkest Hours

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In Waves, from director Trey Edward Shults, a suburban African-American family faces struggle, then tragedy. Healing is surely needed, but in what power will they find it?

Ronald (Sterling K. Brown) is a demanding and domineering father. He describes himself as “the wise and noble father”. It is said lightheartedly, but we know it is not a mere jest. He expects perfection from his teenage son Tyler (Kevin Harrison Jr.), especially in his wrestling. Ronald constantly pushes Tyler, both physically and emotionally, to achieve.

Tyler is dealing with other pressures as well. He has an injury he keeps hidden from his parents. His girlfriend Alexis (Alexa Demie) announces she is pregnant. His whole world is facing collapse, which will not sit well with his father. In an alcohol induced rage one night, Tyler tracks down Alexis at a prom party. They fight and the tragedy occurs that will tear this family apart.

The dynamic of these relationships (especially the contentious connection between father and son) give the first half of the film great energy and emotional power. Tyler, on whom this first half focuses, is obviously in a downward spiral. He senses no support from his father. Viewers may think Ronald is overly demanding, but we also sense that he is acting out of love to give his son the best possible world.

The second half of the film is a drastic shift in both focus and tone. It shows us the family in the aftermath of the tragedy. Ronald and his wife must deal with grief and anger, but that mostly plays out in the background. But their daughter Emily (Taylor Russell) becomes the real focus. Emily is Tyler’s younger sister. She is quiet and withdrawn, even more so in the aftermath of what happens in the first half. She lives in the shadow of her brother and his actions. Her parents are deep in their own issues. She feels abandoned.

We watch Emily as she slowly begins to come to terms with who she is. She is befriended by Luke (Lucas Hedges), one of Tyler’s wrestling teammates. He is not put off by her connection to Tyler. The two begin an innocent, tender, and romantic relationship that gives Emily a chance to grow, to love, and to feel love.

This becomes the beginning of restoration in her life, and perhaps also for the family as it searches out what it means to love each other in the darkest of times. Finally, Ronald knows that he must reach out to his daughter in a different way than the demands he placed on Tyler.

For all the turmoil and energy of the first half of the film, I personally found the subtlety and quiet of the second half to be far more powerful. It allows us to see that even in the darkness that seems to overwhelm the family, there can still be hope if they continue in love—and more importantly, find ways of sharing that love with each other.

It is not an accident that in an early scene when the family is in church, the pastor reads from 1 Corinthians 13 about love. In that scene, the words just seem to wash over the family, but later that becomes a seed that may blossom in their lives.

Photos courtesy of A24.

First Man: Man on a Mission

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Directed by Oscar-winner Damien Chazelle (La La Land), First Man tells the story of one of the most iconic moments in history as it tracks NASA’s quest to be the first to put a man on the moon. Following the journey of Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling), the film explores the human side of the mission, without shying away from the sacrifices and losses that came as a cost for their victory.

In the development of First Man, Chazelle has stated that he wanted to show the intense risk undertaken by the crew and staff in order to make this historic event possible and he certainly accomplishes his mission. Told over the span of 1961-1969, the film does not shy away from the highs and extreme lows that NASA endured during their journey. Through his use of editing and sound design, each launch sequence is equally thrilling and terrifying. Ranging from the noise of the launch to the limited view from the cockpit of the shuttle, Chazelle has sought to help his audience to experience the sheer peril in every moment of the experience.

However, rather than focus entirely on the moon landing itself, Chazelle instead allows the Armstrong’s personal battles to inform the narrative. Interestingly, unlike other ‘space race’ films (is that a genre?), First Man spotlights the journey to the moon through the eyes of Armstrong himself, as opposed to the entire team. Although their impact is never ignored, Chazelle is most concerned with Armstrong himself, both for his contribution and the emotional struggles he suffered after a family tragedy.

Gosling handles himself admirably, portraying the legendary astronaut as heroic for his efforts yet struggling with grief and loss. By juxtaposing his family struggles with his passion for the mission, First Man allows one to inform the other. Faced with insurmountable odds, Armstrong is still a man whose soul has been damaged by tragedy and is looking for answers. Is he driven to reach the moon to avoid his pain through achievement? Or does he seek to achieve the impossible in order to stare down the darkness inside him? While his motivations remain somewhat ambiguous in the film insofar as Armstrong rarely speaks from his soul. Still, First Man clearly believes that the two issues are linked in a such a way that the answers impact one another.

With this in mind, First Man also begs the question of whether or not the sacrifices are worth the glory in the end. Although their quest ends (um… spoiler alert?) on the surface of the moon, there still remains issues at home that need to be confronted. Despite the glory associated with their historic victory, there are personal losses at home along the way that must be weighed in the balance. In midst of global celebrations for their achievement, the challenges of parenting and maintaining a happy marriage with his wife, Janet (Claire Foy, whose performance steals the film) remain very much in the forefront. Armstrong may be a hero to the masses but he is simply a man with responsibilities when he’s at home. As such, First Man serves as a reminder that there can be failures in the midst of successes when we deny the pain of our soul in the process.

In the end First Man walks a thin line between thrill ride and grounded dramatic piece. Wildly different than his previous two films, Chazelle continues to prove his skill and creativity behind a camera by shedding new light on a familiar story. As intense as it is compelling, First Man challenges the nature of heroism in a way that also humanizes the men and women who helped make such a significant moment possible.

First Man is available on 4K, Blu-ray, and Digital HD now. The special features include deleted scenes, and feature commentary by Chazelle, Josh Singer, and editor Tom Cross. Featurettes behind “Shooting the Moon,” “Preparing to Launch,” “Giant Leap in One Small Step,” “Shooting at NASA,” and “Recreating the Moon Landing” take you into the cinematic undertaking, while “Putting You in the Seat” and “Astronaut Training” are featurettes which show the audience what went into the preparation.

Mars S2E3: What Is Your Passion Worth?

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All is well . . . for now.

It seems Mars has been all the rage this week.  On Monday, NASA was able to land the InSight rover on the planet, leading to numerous cheers (and a well-choreographed celebration) from the scientists tasked with getting it there.  Over the next months and years, I’m sure they’re going to acquire an immense amount of data that will prove to be beneficial when humans take their first steps on the Red Planet.

Adding to the intrigue was the third episode of Mars on the National Geographic Channel Monday evening (9 PM/8 CT). The last time we took a look at the scientists and miners, they were engaged in a full-on fistfight over a discovery of liquid water by the Lukrum company. Commander Hana (Jihae) was also dealing with the loss of her sister and as the new episode begins, she’s not done a good job handling the situation over the previous four months.

Marta (Anamaria Marinca) was incensed in episode two about the water issue and she’s still fuming about it.  When she beings it up to Hana, the commander’s repression of grief gets the best of her, causing her to explode on her colleague.  Marta decides that she’s going to get samples to prove the existence of new life forms and despite being told otherwise, takes a rover to Lukrum and starts collecting.  It’s at this point in the show that the drama really begins.

What do you do when you’re running low on oxygen and the temperature is -40? (National Geographic/Richard Donnelly)

Interspersed with clips of scientists working in remote portions of the Greenland Ice Shelf, a solar flare damages a transformer, throwing everything into disarray. Nobody can communicate on either base. Marta loses her navigational system and stubbornly tries to drive back to the base.  This isn’t a good idea when night is falling and temperatures plummet to levels that would kill humans. Since she’s on battery power, she’s limited to what she can do.  It suddenly becomes a race against time to rescue Marta from freezing to death. All that she’s worked for up until this point is seriously in jeopardy.

It’s at this point that a distinctive message arises from the episode of Mars. Scientists aren’t always folks who work in labs, but individuals who are so called to their respective projects that they are willing to sacrifice any and everything to make their goals happen.  The folks in Greenland left family to accomplish their tasks.  Marta was so committed to going to Mars that she put the mission ahead of her boyfriend, who didn’t take the news well.  For those who wish to follow after Jesus and be his disciple, they have to be willing to do the same thing—leave all they’re comfortable with and follow him, no matter what (see Luke 9).  He never said it would be easy, but worth it in the end (see Matthew 19:29).

At the end of the episode, one of the samples Marta collected begins to show movement.  Could this be the start of something big?  Or could it be something else?  Be sure to tune in next week to find out!

Summer 1993 – A Child’s Loss of Innocence

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As Summer 1993 opens, children are playing in the street. One of them looks at six-year-old Frida (Laia Artegas), and asks, “Why aren’t you crying?” Is that part of the game or does Frida have reason to cry? As viewers we don’t yet know why she should cry, but when we find out we may spend much of the film wondering that ourselves.

It is the story of a young girl whose parents have died of AIDS. She is being uprooted from her home in Barcelona to live with an aunt, uncle, and younger cousin in the Catalonian countryside. It is a drastic change in her life. Her family is loving and supportive, but this is not yet her home. In some ways she is a pawn in the family tensions between her religious grandmother and her parent’s generation that has moved away from the church. But even though her family loves her, she frequently presses the limits of acceptable behavior—perhaps acting out what is going on inside her.

The generational divide over religion is one of the forces at work within Frida. Her grandmother encourages her to say the Lord’s Prayer daily and to pray to her mother who is watching over her. But as time passes, she senses that her mother is increasingly absent. Frida faces not just the grief of losing a parent, but is having to deal with the first inkling that the faith her grandparents taught her will not sustain her.

The film is based on writer-director Carla Simón’s own childhood. It is a series of vignettes, as memory often is, but there is a structure that allows us to see Frida’s struggle to come to grips with the grief within her, as well as the new family and cultural world she is in.

The rural setting makes for a beautiful backdrop that emphasizes Frida’s innocence. The sunny and seemingly carefree setting also is a contrast to the pain that Frida holds within.

This is a child’s story of a summer that marks a transition from one life to another. The depth of her loss has not really taken hold. Realizing the reality and finality of death is one of those moments when innocence is chipped away. There are moments of fun, but in much of the film Frida seems quite impassive, as if she refuses to let the emotions within her find the surface. The summer is the setting in which Frida must grow to find her new life and come to grips with the past.

Summer 1993 is Spain’s official submission for Oscar consideration.

Photos courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories

Saturday at AFI Fest 2017

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The first full day for the festival took me on a trip around the world. That’s one of the values of film festivals, we get to see other lands and cultures without the expense and time of travel. (Not that I wouldn’t love being able to go to so many places.) We also get to see through different eyes. Four of the films for today were from women directors. Some have lived in more than one culture and so can compare and contrast. To see such films encourages us to see our own world and culture as others might.

From Spain comes Summer 1993 (New Auteurs section). Director Carla Simón tells a story based on her own childhood. After her mother’s AIDS-related death, young Frida moves into the Catalan countryside to live with her uncle and his family. She is surrounded by loving family members, but she has not yet come to grips with the enormity of the change in her life and discovered how to deal with the grief she holds inside. The beautiful, sunny countryside creates a contrast for the pain that Frida has. Summer 1993 is Spain’s official entry for Best Foreign Language Film.

Joachim Trier’s Thelma (World Cinema) is a nicely creepy film coming out of Norway. Thelma has grown up in a religious family, but has now set off to university, where she finds new ideas and experiences life in new ways. She is strangely attracted to another student, Anja. But when she starts having unexplained seizures strange things begin to happen. There are secrets from her past that come to bear on her life and a chance for her to find happiness. Thelma is Norway’s official entry for Best Foreign Language Film. It is slated to open in theaters on November 24.

Wajib (World Cinema) is a father/son story from director Annemarie Jacir. Shadi, an architect living in Rome, returns to Israel, to help his father Abu Shad hand-deliver wedding invitation for Shadi’s sister’s wedding. As the two men drive around Nazareth and visit friends and relatives, their differences create tensions. For Shadi, a Palestinian living an affluent life abroad, there is a culture clash in returning. The relationship between the two is very complex, at once loving and fractious. Has Shadi abandoned his family and people (as his mother did many years ago)? Has Abu Shadi compromised his principles to advance his career? As a father and a son, I found this a very universal reality of the difficulty in understanding a generational difference, yet being bonded by a lifetime of love. Wajib is the official Palestinian entry for Best Foreign Language Film.

In Iram Haq’s What Will People Say? (New Auteurs) a 1.5 generation Pakistani immigrant lives a dual life: the perfect Pakistani daughter at home, but a normal Norwegian teenager among her friends. But when Misha’s father discovers her with her boyfriend in her room late one night, everything changes. The story is a clash of important values. For the West, where Nisha has grown up, freedom is perhaps the highest value. But for her family, both in their new country and back in Pakistan, honor is paramount. It may seem that her parents are only concerned with how they are perceived, but at the same time it seems they are acting out of love for their daughter, trying to provide her with a life that fits their worldview. Of course, I watched this through western eyes, so some of the responses by her family seem extreme, but at the same time I could empathize with their desire to raise their daughter in what they considered a proper life. Mark this down as one of my favorites of the festival.

I traveled to South Africa with Jenna Bass’s High Fantasy (New Auteurs). Four friends (three women, one white, one colored, two black) go to an isolated farm for a camping trip. But when they wake up in the morning, they have somehow swapped bodies. This is more than Freaky Friday. As they struggle to understand what happened, they must also struggle with the difficulty of what it means to live in a “rainbow nation”. The racial and sexual differences are not something that can be covered up by just “walking a mile in another’s shoes”. The resentments of generations of apartheid and oppression are too deep. South Africa continues to be a country that struggles with racism—as does the U.S. This film is not about finding easy answers for how we live together in racist societies, but rather it raises some questions that need to be addressed if we are ever going to find ways to move forward.

 

Marjorie Prime – Do You Remember?

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Think of an important event in your life. Do you remember it the same as someone else who was there? Do you remember it the same as you did a few years ago? Marjorie Prime is about the relationship between reality and memory. Based on a Pulitzer-nominated play, the film is a cerebrally challenging encounter between the past and what it means to us.

Marjorie (Lois Smith) is a woman in her 80s whose memories are quickly fading. We see her talking to a much younger man, Walter (Jon Hamm). But this is set in the near future and Walter is an artificial intelligence hologram of her late husband. He has been programmed to tell her the story of her life. Of course, his understanding is only as accurate as the memories that have been fed into his program. In the interaction between Marjorie and Walter, he is able to adjust his memory to accommodate new facts or perspectives. Perhaps he can even change the story to make it better. Marjorie’s daughter Tess (Geena Davis) finds it a bit creepy that the hologram represents her father as a young man. Her husband Jon (Tim Robbins) believes this is a chance to help Marjorie remember and to continue to have a bit of joy in her final years. In time, both Tess and Jon find new ways of using the technology in their own lives.

The stage play character of the film make this really about the conversations between the various characters. Some of those are about past memories, but some are also about the nature of memory itself. At one point it is mentioned that when we remember something, we are really remembering our last remembrance of it. Each time we may remember it slightly differently, so the cumulative effect of repeated remembrances could actually be much different from the reality. But if that is so, which is more important, the actual event or the evolved memory that we hold? This is especially relevant when our memories are sometimes unpleasant. Do we really want to remember them? Do we never want to forget them?

As I said, this is an intellectually challenging film. (To me, that is a good thing.) When my wife and I saw this with a friend, it led to quite a bit of discussion after the film. This kind of slightly esoteric questioning may not appeal to some. But for those who want to be jarred into thinking about the things you remember (or think you remember), Marjorie Prime will be well worth the time. It’s one of the best films I’ve seen this year.

Aftermath – Two Lives Connected by Tragedy

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Two lives are torn apart by a catastrophic event. When two airliners collide in midair killing everyone on both planes, Roman Melnyk (Arnold Schwarzenegger) loses his wife and daughter. For air-traffic controller Jacob Bonanos (Scoot McNairy) who was on duty when the crash occured, the guilt (whether deserved or not) eats away at him and is rapidly destroying his marriage and his life. Aftermath tells their stories in storylines that we know will converge just as the two airliners did. Will it bring redemption or be yet another life altering calamity?

Both Roman and Jacob struggle in the face of the terrible event. Roman is nearly paralyzed by his grief, which gives way to anger. He doesn’t seem to be concerned about the monetary settlement offered by the airlines. He wants someone to look at the picture of his family and say they are sorry. Jacob, on the other hand, must face the legal and moral issues around his part in the tragedy. While everyone seems to be concerned about him, there is also the sense that his superiors are just as concerned to cover their own liabilities. Both men have some support in friends and family, but in many ways each must face their pain alone. They do not build walls, but their suffering becomes a wall that it difficult to get through. As the two men, whose stories we alternate between, continue their descent into darkness, both come to the verge of suicide.

Schwarzenegger and McNairy both do excellent jobs of portraying the pains that take control of their lives. Both characters have very complicated journeys through their emotional upheaval. We are drawn to both men, even when we see that they turn away from some who would seek to ease their struggle. The film’s themes of grief, guilt, vengeance, and the possibility of overcoming all of those things to find balance and peace all play out in the film.

The last third of the film moves ahead to a time when both men have had a chance to settle into the post-tragedy life. Roman seems to have come to terms with life alone. Jacob has moved away and changed his name and career. We know that eventually the two must meet to bring any kind of closure to their issues. But that meeting has its own surprises, which are really not settled until a denouement in the final scene, some time later. That final scene provides the hope that even the darkest event of one’s life can still not completely overwhelm.

Photos courtesy of Lionsgate Premiere

On the Blu-ray and DVD versions, available today, special features include the audio commentary with Director Elliott Lester and Producer Eric Watson, as well as interviews with Lester and Director of Photography Pieter Vermeer.

Manchester By the Sea – Moving through Grief and Pain

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Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) spends his days as a janitor in Boston. It’s not a great job, but it provides him with what he needs. Still, there remains an anger within him that comes out in inappropriate ways from time to time. When his brother Joe (Kyle Chandler) dies, he must return to his home town of Manchester to deal with the arrangements. It’s not a place he wants to be—for a number of reasons. Manchester By the Sea is a story of moving through grief and finding new ways to face life.

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Besides the funeral arrangements, Lee learns that Joe has named him guardian of Joe’s teen age son Patrick (Lucas Hedges). Lee really wants nothing to do with this responsibility because he doesn’t want to stay in Manchester. He is well known around the town. For many, he is “the Lee Chandler”. He also runs into his ex-wife Randi (Michelle Williams), which is awkward as Lee is trying to forget the pain they share. As the story progresses, we see what his life here was like. He was happy once but, a tragedy destroyed his life here, eventually leading him to the anonymity of Boston. Lee and Patrick must find the balance that allows them each to have the kind of life that will suit them. For Patrick, it is to find his way into adulthood. For Lee, however, it is how to find his way back out of his anger and pain.

In some ways, this is a slice-of-life story of a family in grief. It is a disconcerting experience that triggers emotions in strange ways. For example, since the ground is frozen, Joe can’t be buried until spring, and Patrick is distressed that his body will be kept in a freezer until then. As Lee comes to terms with his new responsibility there are plans that must be made, but they are the very kinds of responsibilities from which he has been running. While the road is difficult, Lee and Patrick find new ways to approach the trials before them.

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Lee’s struggle is the real focus. It is only as we slowly learn the cause of his pain and anger that we can appreciate just how hard it is for him to return to Manchester and family life. The anger that, at times, comes to the surface in his life is really his anger with himself. His tragic mistake is something he cannot bring himself to forgive but, because he is thrust back into life with people who he loves and who love him, he is forced to come to terms with who he is and find ways to live with himself and his past.

Special features include a conversation with writer/director Lonergan, the making of featurette “Emotional Lives,” and some deleted scenes. 

Collateral Beauty – Arguing with the Cosmos

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“When something starts with a six year old dying, nothing’s going to feel right.”

Unresolved grief fills and drives Collateral Beauty. The film opens with a joyful Howard (Will Smith) presiding over his ad agency’s Christmas party, reminding his employees that they make connections with people through three key concepts: time, love, and death. Then the film jumps ahead three years. The joy is gone from the office. While others quietly work, Howard spends days at a time building elaborate domino structures, just to knock down the first block and walk away. Obviously something has happened.

Three of his partners, Whit (Edward Norton), Claire (Kate Winslet), and Simon (Michael Peña) watch this, wondering when Howard will snap out of it. The business is beginning to suffer. And they have an offer to buy the agency, but Howard won’t even talk with them. So they hatch a plan they hope will bring Howard back—or if not, be evidence that he is incompetent.CB40594.DNG

They come across three actors, Brigitte (Helen Mirren), Amy (Keira Knightly), and Raffi (Jacob Lattimore), who operate out of a very off, off Broadway theatre (The Hegel Theatre). But perhaps it is the actors who really find them. When it is discovered that Howard has written angry letters to Time, Love, and Death, the coworkers hire the actors to confront Howard as Time (Raffi), Love (Amy), and Death (Brigitte). In time the seeming hallucinations drive Howard to a grieving parent group when the leader (Naomie Harris) connects with him. But it turns out that the three coworkers also have their own issues that need to be addressed. As the co-workers work with the actors to focus on Howard, Time, Love, and Death also seem to speak Whit, Claire, and Simon as well.

Besides working well on the level of plot and character, this is a film that also provides some philosophical depth. (Note the theatre’s name.) As the actors confront Howard as the cosmic personae, the discussions become heated and quickly move into more complex ideas that many films would not want to touch on. Because these are impassioned philosophical discussions, they never become off-putting or overly cerebral. But the film does respect the audience’s intelligence and ability to comprehend that ideas being presented without talking down.15021626_83452_still_2_s-high

Along the way, as Howard vents his rage at the cosmic forces, he gives voice to all the pain and anger that can often accompany grief. That pain and anger includes religious concepts that never seem adequate for people in the time of loss. He is an equal opportunity ranter. He takes on Christian, Buddhist, and secular ways that we use to try to explain away the pain of death.collateral

It should be noted that a simpler film would have just set Howard against his idea of God but, through blaming these non-divine cosmic forces, we can still imply that Howard is rebelling against a divinity he finds inadequate. (Although there is a certain Trinitarian vibe to the trio of Time, Love, and Death.) In this, Howard is the newest incarnation of Job. He is willing to state his case that the way the universe works is wrong. Like Job, Howard receives answers that may be less comforting than he wants, but in the challenge of confronting the questions there is an opening for him to begin to find a way through the pain to see again that there is beauty in the world and his life.