Monday, September 08, 2008

crossing over



So, in preparation for this Sunday's worship and sharing the story of Moses leading the people of Israel across the sea, I've been trying to think of other dramatic and transformative water crossings, from the world of film.

So far my list includes:

-this clip from Man from Snowy River where Jim Craig follows the wild horses on down the edge of the ravine and through the snowy river.

-Into the Wild, where Christopher McCandless crosses a river to get to the bus where he makes home in the Alaska wild, and then gets trapped by that same river when it's risen.

-The Mission, where Robert DeNiro's character keeps trying to carry an incredible load of armor and things up the waterfall, as if penance; he finally gets cut free from it.

Who can help me with more?

8 comments:

Ryan said...

Maybe at the end of Waterworld with Kevin Costner after the ship blows up.

eshams said...

ok, admittedly the following scene correlates with an episode rather earlier in the Moses narrative AND the weather medium in question is not exactly water, but who can forget the rain of frogs (NRSV has flies) based on Exodus 8.21 in "Magnolia"? "Let my people go that they might worship me."

Shannon said...

There's a good water crossing in "Far and Away" with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. They are trying to reach free land out in the west to stake their claim. It's pretty darn dramatic. Hope it helps. I'll try to think of more. Let me know if you end up using it.

=)

willscarlet said...

it's been awhile since i've seen it, but i always liked the "exodus" scene at the end THE TRUMAN SHOW...don't know if it would work for you here.

eshams said...

RE: The Truman Show. Do you mean the part where the boat hits the edge of the soundstage? 'Cause, wow, that puts a whole different spin on exodus and let my people go!

feminist_mom said...

hey how about the old days and train robberies on Cat Ballou and How the WEST was Won? Trail of TEARS and other stories of native americans "crying in the wilderness"...the the Amazing Grace story of slavery.... chinese americans and the interment camps all as bondage and those still in bondage! this clip from MFSR is great! Off to the red sea at church with sudanese worship being taped, forum, open hearts and the movie FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO, GLBT bondage and church picnic for liberation!!

"CAPTAIN DAVE" said...

At the very end of "Being There", Chance, the gardener, walks across the water.
At the end of "Excalibur", King Authur is ushered across the lake to his final resting place on a barge.

Chris said...

At the end of the Motorcycle Diaries, the young Che Guevara, despite his asthma, swims across the river separating the medical staff from the leper colony. It's a great symbolic moment that foretells his solidarity with people in need and rejection of the comfortable life he had been living. I think the scene is overlaid by the movie's signature song, too, Al Otro Lado Del Rio.