127 Speeches

In both cases, the focus of 127 Hours and The King's Speech seemed to me, on the surface, uncinematic. I could imagine them on the stage - monologue heavy with interior moments and long digressions - but really doesn't stuff have to happen to make a movie work? To further complicate things, both films are biopics. They both make us believe the outcome could be tragic, but we already know better. One man loses his forearm but gains his life, the other loses his uncertainty and gains the crown. So why are they popular films? Why do these stories, fully spoiled by our real life knowledge of them, succeed in making us keep watching?

Is it vulnerability? Both Ralston and Bertie hide themselves when they look at you the first time. Whether it's the facade of careless youth, or the shield of temerity, they won't let us inside. When Ralston meets two female hikers and playfully shows them around the canyon, he appears impermeable to their sexuality, and one girl says to the other as he leaves (after they've invited him to their Scooby-Doo party back in town) that their time together probably won't even register as an event in his day. Similarly Bertie stomps out of the room when Logue, his prospective speech therapist presumes to speak to him as an equal, a friend.

What we are offered is the steady peeling away of mask and armour, but this does not happen easily. Fate works here, and if you call it providence then you believe in trial by fire. Whether you step on a rock that you thought was firm, or hope that a brother will step up when called upon, you should be prepared to be disappointed. And then you should be prepared to step up yourself.

I think we're nostalgic, in a strange way, for the kinds of uncompromising situations in which these two men find themselves. We watch them because we want to believe that if we were in those same situations, sawing at a forearm with a dull knock-off leatherman, or staring through a microphone at the English-speaking world on the brink of war, we too would do what was required. We would be measured well.

For we, today, studiously make a point of safety-zoning ourselves away from the very risks and challenges that might make us better, even great. So rather we settle for watching these men who, in fact, find themselves through the kinds of trials that we would either shirk, or regulate away. We will watch these movies. We will watch these men triumph. And we will do it as we sit on our couches, and eat chips. We may wish we were them but, we're not.

Snow day today! Big wind kicked up at about 4:30 AM and kept blowing snow around until just about noon. If there'd have been school I would have ridden in, I think ...