Posted by giveawayboy on August 09, 2003 at 02:50:16:
I remember the first time I saw Mary Poppins as a child. I wanted to be a guy who flew around doing good deeds. I mean, I didn't want to carry a parasol, but a more masculine sort of umbrella. All I know is that when I left the theatre I felt a few pounds lighter and felt that I could most likely act out the movie in real life. I wanted to anyway. The same thing occurred to me after watching other movies such as Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Chitty Chitty Bang! Bang! and Dead Poets Society. It's as if I had gone out into the wilderness and had some vision and coming back to my daily life I felt I had to walk out the vision. I'm not sure what that means since I don't have cars or beds that fly, nor do I fly w the aid of a magical umbrella, and to be sure I'm not a renegade teacher exposing my students to a greater awareness of reality, propelling them into exploring their own lives and causing them to ask questions outside their own boxes, but I can at least pretend right? Well I came to a point where I knew I couldn't be and do all those things, but the pretending at least helped me to begin to cultivate the ideals behind those things and somehow incorporate them into my life. Tonight I saw Pirates of the Caribbean and I feel the same way. When I left the theatre my whole body aped the slithering Captain Jack Sparrow. I wanted to be a pirate, but I wanted to be something much better than a raing, pillaging, killing sort. I wanted to be a sort of troubador/vigilante/antipirate -- you know, one part Johnny Appleseed, one part Robin Hood, but in much cooler clothes and still flying the Jolly Roger -- only I don't mean to analyze it too much. A huge part of why I liked this movie was the excellent portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow by Johnny Depp. His way of 'being' Jack Sparrow reminded me alot of Brad Pitt's role in 12 Monkeys. If anyone saw that movie he would know what I mean. Another thing I liked was the way Captain Jack Sparrow was a kind of 'good' bad guy. I like how he, the ensign of evil, according to those who would like to see pirates hanged, was also a kind of virtuous chap in his own way. This reminded me alot of Cher's caharcter in Tea with Mussolini or Babette in Babette's Feast. Finally, in closing, this blurb is not to be mistaken for a movie review as much as it is my simple reflection on the way this movie made me feel.