I regularly speak with people who feel rather bewildered by the state of their lives. Sometimes it is because a sense of promise has been dampened by a dead end or three or ten. Other times it is because of choices that have proven to be destructive, bringing relationships to an end or causing pain to those they love. Often the conversations are "post mortems," an attempt to figure out where things went wrong or why the values they thought were rock solid slipped away in the midst of temptation. It seems almost quaint to speak of a moral compass in this day of the GPS, but these conversations are about revisiting moral and ethical bearings. Of course forgiveness and God's abiding love tend to come into the conversation.
We saw a film recently which is both playful and serious, a story of several people who are trying to find those ethical bearings. Win Win is a...well, a winning film starring Paul Giamatti, an actor who can play the hapless schlepp to perfection. In this story he is a lawyer who is feeling the squeeze of the economic downturn in his practice and makes decisions which are contrary to his sense of right and wrong. He and his family are churchgoers but the pressures of maintaining the image of the middle class lifestyle prove stronger than whatever he hears on Sunday mornings.
Win Win has a great ensemble cast, laugh-out-loud funny moments, and some thought provoking story threads. It is also untidy at times and a little too tidy in its ending, but really enjoyable all-in-all.
Has anyone else seen this film? Have you had those moments when the moral compass is hard to find? Do you feel your faith helps you keep on track?
2 comments:
I haven't seen the movie but I will eventually. I do like Giamatti.
It can be easy to get depressed and discouraged with the stresses of life. For me, I feel like I can tolerate a lot of stuff that comes my way, but when I feel victimized by an injustice, that can be difficult to manage. That is when I give more thought to my faith and try to put things into perspective. I guess I am constantly having "self talk" to try to deal with things and to try to stay happy.
Faith is the original moral compass. So much of so many faiths was intended to be instructional.
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