Lasting Look – Faith and Film (Watch and Discuss)
Saturday, May 14 (5 – 9 pm)
- 5:15 to 7:45 Film Screening @ Sanctuary, 458 High Street, Medford
- 7:45 to 9:00 Film Discussion
Wine and Cheese, Bring a Bite to Share
Don’t Look Up (Netflix, 2021)
Film Overview: Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence), an astronomy grad student, and her professor Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) make an astounding discovery of a comet orbiting within the solar system. The problem: it’s on a direct collision course with Earth. The other problem? No one really seems to care. Turns out warning mankind about a planet-killer the size of Mount Everest is an inconvenient fact to navigate. With the help of Dr. Oglethorpe (Rob Morgan), Kate and Randall embark on a media tour that takes them from the office of an indifferent President Orlean (Meryl Streep) and her sycophantic son and Chief of Staff, Jason (Jonah Hill), to the airwaves of The Daily Rip, an upbeat morning show hosted by Brie (Cate Blanchett) and Jack (Tyler Perry). With only six months until the comet makes impact, managing the 24-hour news cycle and gaining the attention of the social media-obsessed public before it’s too late proves shockingly comical — what will it take to get the world to just look up?!
Why are we watching Don’t Look Up as part of the Lasting Look Series? “Don’t Look Up telescopes the predicted disasters resulting from climate change into a six-month period of watching an approaching comet. The public polarization and denial it depicts is also similar to what we have seen and continue to see in response to the COVID pandemic.” –from film review from Spirituality and Practice. The film makes a statement about economic inequities, the media, politics, polarization by party, class, race, and age; selfish and narcissistic individualism; and money as the ultimate source of value. AS people of faith, we want to learn from these times and come through having been transformed for the better.
