Film Friday https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx1sSmLhng0
As you may or may not be able to tell from this fastmoving trailer, this is a madcap movie, with plenty of slapstick moments. Isabella is a prostitute who wants to change her life and be an actress, but along the way there are a bucket full of pratfalls, slip ups and mishaps.
There are many references to Audrey Hepburn and her movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s in this screwball comedy, and at one point, wannabe actress Isabella quotes Audrey, saying,
“I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.”
Isabella delivers this speech straight to camera and does it with all her heart. You can’t help believing that she surely does believe all that.
We’re all shaped by our beliefs, whether we would call them religious or not. And we live out what we believe. We can’t help it. We express our beliefs in our way of life. I believe I need a lot of chocolate. To say I don’t would be tell a porky pie, because most days I eat the stuff. The danger, or challenge, about having stated beliefs is that sometimes we talk about one thing, but live another. (I do frequently) And Jesus was very hot on helping people be honest about that. The spiritual leaders of his day often said one thing but did another, and he called them to be different. To change.
I often feel that I live a life of contradictions. I believe in peace, I believe in hope, I believe in faith. But I can be far from peaceful at times, I can be full of doubt, and my hope frequently leaks out of the door like rain water down a drain. I believe in compassion, but I’m often not very caring. I believe in Jesus, but often follow other ways rather than his. But I also believe in the power of his sacrificial death on a Roman cross, and the fresh starts and daily forgiveness it offers for all those moments when I don’t live out what I believe. St Paul had the same problem, not living up to his own beliefs. ‘Thank God for Jesus,’ the saint formerly known as Saul wrote as he wrestled with this in Romans 7 v 25, ‘Jesus holds the solution to this dilemma.’
Click here for this week’s Lyrical Riff on a similar theme. ‘Confession.’
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