Meggie and I watched Revolutionary Road last night. I don't watch too many movies, but when I do, I prefer to stick with action movies with actors that I like: Russell Crowe, Will Smith, etc. I watch movies to veg out and to not think for a couple of hours. Therefore, my movie tastes are not sophisticated and this post is not going to be a movie review. Every once in awhile something will spark my interest and light a fire under me. Hence the first blog post in over a year.
I was stressed out last night. I didn't sleep well. Today at work, I was stressed. I was so fidgety in my seat, I had to go play tennis at lunch. I don't even play tennis. I wasn't even thinking about the movie. My thoughts were related, but it wasn't the movie that I was thinking about. This movie really moved me... Not just to think more about Leonardo and Kate or the 1950s, but to reflect on my current life's vector. Where am I headed?
If you haven't seen the movie yet, watch it. But don't watch it to enjoy it. If you do, you'll hate it. Instead watch it to be shaken by it; let it catalyze your life and make you angry and then pray that the feelings you have don't wear off in the next couple of months.
Here’s a quick plot rundown. The movie opens with a gut-wrenching verbal fight in which Frank and April Wheeler have a no holds barred husband/wife argument of the worst kind: him questioning her ambitions, her questioning his manliness, and you realizing that this is not going to be a fun movie, but one that needs to be endured, much like the tough times in life. We soon learn that this couple is special. They're dreamers and they are better than the people they're at work with and the other suburban families that live on Revolutionary Road. They're better because they don't belong in Suburbia with jobs that they hate and friends that are all living out the same freakishly boring, impersonal, weekly haircut lives. This is the ratrace that they found themselves in.
There wasn't much violence or sex in this movie. The cussing was not out of hand, but the R rating was appropriate. No one who has not graduated college and had to think about what they are going to do for the next 35 years would understand this movie. Furthermore, this movie has insight into some of the realities of marriage that we conveniently choose to deny: generally, that marriage is sometimes really hard and the very nature of growing together is often a push and pull.
I friended Meggie because we had similar interests. Meggie dated me because I loved God. We got married because we thought we could serve Christ better together. Before we got married, Meggie’s biggest hesitation was whether we were going to travel or spend significant time in the mission field abroad. Meggie’s not unlike April. Meggie’s a dreamer. I’m a realist who too often is quick to squash dreams. My promise to Meggie at Engagement was to support her dreams and bring them to realization.
Currently, I’m proud of where we have come. We moved to Seattle to begin our adventure. More recently, we moved in with 2 other couples because it made sense. Were we not meant to live in community? Were we meant to build fences and thicker and thicker walls to further isolate ourselves from our neighbors? Privacy is to hide our insecurities.
If you love us, you’ll punch me in the face (not Meggie, because that’s not loving) if we haven’t travelled and served abroad. You’ll punch me in the face if we are still putzing around making up excuses as to why we can’t leave to do something amazing. I like my job, but I don’t work to work more. If my life purpose was to work, then my job had better be full time ministry. No, I work to serve and my job is a means to an end. And don’t let me forget that.
If something hasn’t pissed you off lately and if you haven’t felt your gut turn in passion over something, then watch this movie or read a Bonheoffer book or something. Don’t let yourself grow stagnant.
