Getting oh so close to completing these 100 Movies. Finding inspiration can be so exasperating. Today: existential much?
Professor Isak Borg: If I have been feeling worried or sad during the day, I have a habit of recalling scenes from childhood to calm me. So it was this evening.
A crotchety old professor reminisces about his childhood and life choices only to find that they have all led to what is a cold existence. What is inspiring is that, just like Scrooge, he finds redemption in the end. (Never mind the fact that apparently it was OK to marry your cousins in his family.)
Damiel: When the child was a child, it was the time of these questions. Why am I me, and why not you? Why am I here, and why not there? When did time begin, and where does space end? Isn’t life under the sun just a dream? Isn’t what I see, hear, and smell just the mirage of a world before the world? Does evil actually exist, and are there people who are really evil? How can it be that I, who am I, wasn’t before I was, and that sometime I, the one I am, no longer will be the one I am?
Before seeing this movie, I did not know it was the basis for “City of Angels.” It became quite apparent, though, in visuals and references and general storyline, as I watched it. First we have the angels who walk among and comfort humans in distress. Then we have the angel who isn’t content just observing. He wants to be human. He wants to find love with a lonely trapeze artist. And so it goes. Only there is no Nic Cage or Meg Ryan to distract you from philosophical questions. Inspiring: the idea that an invisible force (god, angels, Nic Cage’s acting career) can reach out and make things better. Let’s hope it is so.
