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Giving up, giving down, giving all around the townSaturday, March 13, 2010
Hosea 6:6 The general admires a colonel, played by Douglas, who leads his men up and out of the trenches into battle. He has lost many of his troops, but his generals want him to fight once more. They estimate he will lose 55% of his men. That is optimistic. When the battle begins Douglas' men move forward for only a moment and then are forced back. Most of the men who actually left the trenches are killed. The next day Menjou sanctions a face-saving court-martial of representative soldiers accused of cowardice. Douglas, a famous defense lawyer before the war, asks to defend his men. In spite of his defense the court-martial, without stenographic record, finds the men guilty. Not only are they executed the next day, but Douglas' commanding officer is also found wanting. Supreme commander Menjou offers Douglas the chance to replace him and, of course, receive the requisite promotion to general. What kind of changes could he make in the system as general? How much more could he bring "love and knowledge of God" into decision-making at the top? Do the means of his promotion justify that end? Douglas' response makes this a 4-star movie in everyone's book. Made in 1957, it hasn't aged a day. All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again. That would be God's job, God with his endless love. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit. --- Psalm 51 |
In Stanley Kubrick's first famous feature film Paths of Glory, he directed Kirk Douglas and Adolphe Menjou as the main characters of a conflict between two kinds of giving. During World War I Menjou plays a sophisticated French general who subtly arranges for things to go his way. In the process many people are rewarded, music plays and champagne flows, everyone is very polite and dances well together.