We've done a little work this year for the Hollywood Theatre, and as a thank you, executive director Doug Whyte loaned us the theatre to do with what we want. "You can have a private party, show any movie you want."
Fun! Hm, what movie?
Fitzcarraldo? Would be great to see it on the big screen. Ikiru? Five Obstructions? What else?
I talked about it with my wife. What are my other favorite movies..? Oh! I know!
I hadn't even spoken the title, and my wife looked at me and shook her head. "No. Not Andrei Rublev."
But why? It's awesome!
"Um, do you want people to enjoy themselves?"
It didn't take too much additional thinking until I settled on the clear choice.
"Will you be playing Pink Floyd with it?" a few people have asked.
No, it's mind-blowing enough as is, I think. But you can bring it on your iPod if you want.
When we choose 10 classic stories to illustrate Joseph Campbell's archetypal hero story a while back, we began and ended with The Wizard of Oz. It's a perfect example, a great story. L. Frank Baum and Victor Fleming knew what they were doing.
Campbell told us that the most powerful stories speak to us on multiple levels. On its most basic level, Oz is a story about a farm girl from Kansas who is carried away by a tornado.
On another level it's a story about the power of wisdom, and heart, and courage.
Campbell was most interested in another aspect of the myth - its power to that illumine the deepest mysteries of the human experience. I think we can find that depth in Oz, too.
It's also just a fun movie, full of great performances, and wit, and darkness, and life, and great songs.
You're welcome to join us in watching it, at the Hollywood Theatre, this Monday, June 6 at 7 o'clock. $5 for adults, $2 for kids, and proceeds go to Youth, Rights & Justice, a non-profit law firm for kids.
Hope to see you there.
-Jelly