Movie Scenes

This section could easily become heavily bloated with dozens and dozens of scenes that have affected me. The first thing to realize is that I consider “scenes” as pieces of visual poetry. They often don’t follow any literary format, for obvious reasons, but when handled with care, a few seconds of video can transform, enlighten, enlarge, or otherwise expand the scope of who we are, no differently that a verse from Burns, Yeats, Dickinson, Frost, Blake or Whitman. With film, the power of “words” are given room to breathe and stretch, as actors and directors are able to frame an experience for maximum effect.

Of course, there are far too many of favorites to post here, so I’ll attempt to only show those most amenable to my purpose here.

Jean-Luc Picard will be coming up again, and not only due to Patrick Stewart’s nuanced acting, but the show’s writers who were surprisingly adept at taking on some sensitive subjects, such as here where Picard thoroughly dismantles the need for a “watchmaker”.

This is one of my favorite scenes from any movie, where Robin Williams coaxes from a reluctant student a hidden depth that he didn’t realize existed, and with it, we witness a birth of sorts. So, when ‘Todd’ defiantly initiates the stirring, “Captain, O My Captain” in the movies final scene, it is this scene that fueled it.

“Though the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power, for words are the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth.”

Need more be said?