Immortal Beloved

I just finished watching the 1994 movie "Immortal Beloved" and it has to be one of the best movies I've seen for awhile! It pretty much is a biographical puzzle. Beethoven after his death left a letter addressed to his "immortal beloved," with no hint as to who that person was. As a last testament this document may have been faulty, but as a biographical puzzle it was great, inspiring two centuries of fevered speculations, of which this film is the latest and most romantic and oh so sad.

I don't know if the movie has solved the puzzle of the unnamed beloved, but I care not, because it has done something more valuable: He has created a fantasy about Beethoven that evokes the same disturbing, ecstatic passion we hear in his music.

Beethoven is played in the film surprisingly by Gary Oldman, who at first seems an unlikely choice.Then we see that he is the right choice. He plays perfectly a man on the edge of madness, obsessed with women, even more obsessed with Karl (Marco Hofschneider), the young nephew he hopes to turn into a prodigy. He wages a lifelong campaign of hate against Karl's mother, Johanna (Johanna Ter Steege), telling his brother Caspar (Christopher Fulford) she is a foul slut. The movie proposes an interesting explanation of Beethoven's hatred of her and love for her son, one which sensible biographers will question, but that fits perfectly with the terms of the story.

Beethoven's deafness is a subject through much of the film, including a precious scene where the Rossellini character leads him from the stage after he grows confused during a public performance, and another in which he touches the wood of a pianoforte to hear the music through his fingers. He tried desperately to conceal his deafness, fearing it would destroy his livelihood, and in the movie they sometimes reproduces what he can hear: Low rumbles sounding something like the music of the whales.

Beethoven writes to Schindler (the one trying to find the "Immortal Beloved", at one point, arguing: "It is the power of music to carry one directly into the mental state of the composer. The listener has no choice. It is like hypnotism." I rarely do anything close to movie reviews, the quote pretty much sums it up! I now have to find the soundtrack!!

"The vibrations on the air

are the breath

of God speaking to man's soul.

Music is the language of God.

We musicians are as closeto God as man can be.

We hear his voice.

We read his lips.

We give birth to the children

of God who sing his praise.

That's what musicians are.

And if we're not that, we're nothing."

Ludwig Van Beethoven

Becoming John Malkovich?

There is this question that I've come across which I found intriguing, "Can wounds (in and of) themselves become a source of healing?" It just seems a paradox ...

In Isaiah it says, "By his wounds we are healed," which pretty much answers the question but raises another ... How? New Testament Christians were exhorted to view their own suffering not as just a random thing, nor as retaliation of wicked people around them, not even as punishment for their own shortcomings ... Suffering was to be viewed as communion with the Savior who endured the cross.

Paul writes, "I want to know Christ, and the power of His resurrection," It's easy to give a hearty "Amen!" to that one right? But then Paul goes on ... "The fellowship of his suffering, becoming like him in death." E-Gads! There must be another way! Health, prosperity, name it and claim it ... But alas, this seems not to be the case.

There is this strange, dark comedy I saw again recently called "Being John Malkovich." The gist of it is that a man finds this dirty, cramped, cold secret passageway that takes those who venture in, (Shazzam!), into the mind of John Malkovich. Then you find yourself behind his eyes, feeling and thinking as John does, responding as he responds ...

Perhaps this works as a metaphor here ... The wounds we go through become not just healed wounds. In fact, it is becoming more and clearer to me as time goes on that they'll remain in some degree unhealed until heaven. But they do take us deeper into the fellowship of Christ's suffering. They help us to hear His voice in the Word ... To really hear the inflections of anger, heartache ... and joy. We feel them deep to the core! We can then share His Word with the anger of a betrayed lovers heartache, the urgency of a parent warning their toddler who is wondering unaware into the street. The whisper of a father who wants his daughter home, anytime of the day or night, dressed anyway the want ...

The value of our wounds is to be made into His image. We get to really see, think and respond to people as Jesus does. The twelve step group, coworkers, the lady next to you in church ... And to speak to them as He does. "Go in peace," "Woe unto you," "Come to me," and the voice is the same as His voice ... In empathy ... In love ...

Just some thoughts ...

And celluloid heroes never really die

Yesterday I heard on the radio what has to be my favorite Kinks song and it brought back a flood of memories of my days growing up in Venice Beach, California. When I was young I used to listen to that song and dream one day I would live in Hollywood, where all my heroes and villains lived ... It just brought me back to a place I cherish !! Anyways ... Allow me to share the lyrics with you ...

Celluloid Heroes

Everybody's a dreamer and everybody's a star,
And everybody's in movies, it doesn't matter who you are.
There are stars in every city,
In every house and on every street,
And if you walk down Hollywood boulevard
Their names are written in concrete!

Don't step on great Garbo as you walk down the boulevard,
She looks so weak and fragile that's why she tried to be so hard
But they turned her into a princess
And they sat her on a throne,
But she turned her back on stardom,
Because she wanted to be alone.

You can see all the stars as you walk down Hollywood boulevard,
Some that you recognize, some that you've hardly even heard of,
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.
Rudolph Valentino, looks very much alive,
And he looks up ladies' dresses as they sadly pass him by.
Avoid stepping on Bela Lugosi
'cos he's liable to turn and bite,
But stand close by Bette Davis
Because hers was such a lonely life.
If you covered him with garbage,
George sanders would still have style,
And if you stamped on Mickey Rooney
He would still turn round and smile,
But please don't tread on dearest Marilyn
'cos she's not very tough,
She should have been made of iron or steel,
But she was only made of flesh and blood.

You can see all the stars as you walk down Hollywood boulevard,
Some that you recognize, some that you've hardly even heard of.
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.

Everybody's a dreamer and everybody's a star
And everybody's in show biz, it doesn't matter who you are.

And those who are successful,
Be always on your guard,
Success walks hand in hand with failure
Along Hollywood boulevard.

I wish my life was a non-stop Hollywood movie show,
A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes,
Because celluloid heroes never feel any pain
And celluloid heroes never really die.

You can see all the stars as you walk along Hollywood boulevard,
Some that you recognize, some that you've hardly even heard of,
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.

Oh celluloid heroes never feel any pain
Oh celluloid heroes never really die.

I wish my life was a non-stop Hollywood movie show,
A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes,
Because celluloid heroes never feel any pain
And celluloid heroes never really die.

The video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh23A2GptAQ&feature=related

Shrek Love

There I was ... thinking back on an more enlightening intellectual deep movie -- "Shrek" -- and an amazing revelation about true love came to me. Here it is: True love causes you to become who you are really meant to be, it brings out the side of you that was always meant to exist but somehow never was able to, the real you is waiting just inside to be brought out by true love. *Sigh*

Now THAT is what I call romantic! Anybody care to say "Awww"?

Does this make any sense ?