"Tangled" Up
Looking for a good movie to see over the Christmas season? I don't usually do movie reviews and I am not always a fan of animated movies but I recently saw a movie that might be worth your while.
I am going to talk about the plot within this blog post so I am giving you a SPOILER ALERT! :) if you don't want to know what happens...well, maybe I will just talk about the beautiful themes of the movie without revealing everything, so you can go and experience it for yourself.
Disney just released an animated movie entitled "Rapunzel." Perhaps we all know that traditional story of the girl with the long hair who locked in a tower, awaiting her rescue-- but Disney gives it just a little different flavor and perhaps without realizing it, they creators of the movie delve into realities that speak deeply to the heart of every human being.
So the story goes that as a little girl, born to the King and Queen, Rapunzel has the gift of magic, healing hair. Whenever she sings a certain song, her hair glows and it heals whoever touches it. An old, selfish woman who wants to be "healed" of her old age and remain "young and beautiful" forever, kidnaps Rapunzel and locks her away in a tower and raises her as her own child.
She tells Rapunzel that the world is evil and mean and full of selfish people and so locking her in a tower is the woman's way of "protecting" her. But Rapunzel grows up and her longing to experience an authentic life deepens with each passing day. She does not know who she really is, she only longs for more.
One day a young man, a thief by trade and on the run from authorities for stealing a crown, escapes to the forest and find shelter in the tower and thereby meets Rapunzel. Rapunzel, who is filled with lies about the outside world and the people who dwell there, is terrified but soon she and the young man, Flynn Rider, come to an agreement.
Much hilarity happens around this and we see Rapunzel's struggle to be free of her exterior "prison" while still battling the interior fear she has of a woman she thinks is her mother.
Meanwhile, the King and Queen are heartbroken over the loss of their daughter, not knowing her fate, and every year on her birthday, they release beautiful lanterns into the sky as a sign of their love for her.
The truth of who Rapunzel really is must come out, but will it be too late? Will darkness triumph over light or will sacrificial love win out over all?
You get to find that out for yourself when you see the movie but I think what struck me the most were the spiritual realities on display in this movie, because to me it parallels much of our spiritual life and our journey back to our true Home and Destiny.
The old woman very much reminds me of the evil one. The evil one seeks to destroy light, goodness and healing. He very much tries to fill our heads and our hearts with lies, therefore obscuring the Truth of who we really are and who our Father is. The evil tries to tell us that we are stupid, worthless and unlovable.
These lies create fears within us and we become a prisoner of the dark, never knowing that we are noble sons and daughters of the Eternal King. The evil one seeks to use us only to destroy us.
God sends people in our lives to help free us from the prison we live in. These people, broken little people just like us, help heal us. And it's in knowing good and true friends, having that experience of love that is unconditional, that helps prepare our hearts for Him.
Our Father never ceases looking for us. He never gives up on us. He sends people to help us and bring us back. His heart yearns for us. He knows that we are little and lost and broken and He seeks not to condemn us, but to heal us from our darkness of sin and pain and bring us back into the Family.
There are very powerful images of light and the sun in this movie that weave a thread from beginning to end. In this movie, I laughed and I cried and it led me to ponder deeply who I really am and who my Father is.
We do not have to live in the darkness of lies. The true Light is always there, waiting to free us.
May these remaining days of Advent lead you to open your hearts more deeply to the Son, to the Light, and to your true destiny and dignity.
Bless you :)
I am going to talk about the plot within this blog post so I am giving you a SPOILER ALERT! :) if you don't want to know what happens...well, maybe I will just talk about the beautiful themes of the movie without revealing everything, so you can go and experience it for yourself.
Disney just released an animated movie entitled "Rapunzel." Perhaps we all know that traditional story of the girl with the long hair who locked in a tower, awaiting her rescue-- but Disney gives it just a little different flavor and perhaps without realizing it, they creators of the movie delve into realities that speak deeply to the heart of every human being.
She tells Rapunzel that the world is evil and mean and full of selfish people and so locking her in a tower is the woman's way of "protecting" her. But Rapunzel grows up and her longing to experience an authentic life deepens with each passing day. She does not know who she really is, she only longs for more.
Meanwhile, the King and Queen are heartbroken over the loss of their daughter, not knowing her fate, and every year on her birthday, they release beautiful lanterns into the sky as a sign of their love for her.
The truth of who Rapunzel really is must come out, but will it be too late? Will darkness triumph over light or will sacrificial love win out over all?
The old woman very much reminds me of the evil one. The evil one seeks to destroy light, goodness and healing. He very much tries to fill our heads and our hearts with lies, therefore obscuring the Truth of who we really are and who our Father is. The evil tries to tell us that we are stupid, worthless and unlovable.
God sends people in our lives to help free us from the prison we live in. These people, broken little people just like us, help heal us. And it's in knowing good and true friends, having that experience of love that is unconditional, that helps prepare our hearts for Him.
Our Father never ceases looking for us. He never gives up on us. He sends people to help us and bring us back. His heart yearns for us. He knows that we are little and lost and broken and He seeks not to condemn us, but to heal us from our darkness of sin and pain and bring us back into the Family.
There are very powerful images of light and the sun in this movie that weave a thread from beginning to end. In this movie, I laughed and I cried and it led me to ponder deeply who I really am and who my Father is.
We do not have to live in the darkness of lies. The true Light is always there, waiting to free us.
Bless you :)
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