Sucked in again.

I don't know about you, but there are certain movies that consistently suck me in. I may have seen them 5 times, 10 times, or more, but if they are on, I will watch them. For me, tonight, that movie is August Rush. There are others that always get me: Legends of the Fall, A River Runs Through It, Field of Dreams, Bull Durham, Indiana Jones. But tonight it is August Rush.

I can't fully explain why I have to watch this. I will undoubtedly stay up too late tonight for this.

Perhaps it is the musical genius displayed throughout the movie, the way different genres of music are intertwined and made to complement each other. The phenomenal guitar-playing of Kaki King, who is the hands for Freddie Highmore, is a treat to watch and to hear. The way music is found in the sounds of everyday life is also fascinating. I think the music is part of it.

Perhaps it is that I like the actors. I actually got to meet Keri Russell in San Francisco at a national meeting for the American Academy of Pediatrics. She was there to do a promo for Pertussis vaccine for PKIDS (Parents of Kids with Infectious Diseases). I think she is a great actress, but I was surprised that she was as short as she was. Not that I have anything against short people. My lovely wife is short. Terrence Howard, Robin Williams, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and Freddie Highmore all perform admirably as well. The actors are certainly part of why I get drawn in.

Perhaps it is the theme of the movie. The orphan of great faith who believes that his parents will find him if he just does what he is made to do. If he writes and plays the music that comes to him, they will find him. I think that the theme of the supposed orphan who is eventually found by his real parents is the thing that grabs me.

Over the past year I have been reading, somewhat inconsistently, through the bible. My reading plan includes a passage of the Old Testament, a passage from the New Testament, and a chapter from Proverbs for each day. I have been struck over and over by God's concern for the widow and the orphan.

"A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows is God in His holy habitation." Psalm 68:5

"Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." James 1:27

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." John 14:18

I think that is the thing that really sucks me in about this movie. The writers probably had no intent to present biblical truth in this movie, but I see John 14:18 played out here. I also see Romans 8:23-28 being played out in this film, the intertwining of an unpredictable series of events which results in the "adoption" of an orphan by his mother and father who have always wanted him as a son.

Well, it is later than I should have stayed up. The movie is still on. I have seen this many times, yet I will have to watch. Good thing that Legends of the Fall is not on next.