Close Your Eyes and Listen

Spiritual practice involves stepping away from the present and listening for larger themes. Here are two films that you should look for on DVD: A Prairie Home Companion and Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man. They may at first seem like the “odd couple,” but actually are quite similar in their power, though they could appeal to very different audiences.

A Prairie Home Companion is probably familiar to Faith@Work readers. Similar to the radio show, which has been on the air since 1974 (or as Guy Noir says, “…since Jesus was in the 3rd grade.”), this fictional movie is not about anything in particular really. Less about plot (the viewer is supposedly getting a behind-the-scenes look at the final radio broadcast of the show due to the sale of the Fitzgerald Theater to a cold-hearted corporate hack), the film is more about moments, songs, conversations, and characters. And the characters are priceless as they embody the joys, pains, insights and misunderstandings of life. Whether they be portrayed by actors (Meryl Streep – the stand-out of the group, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Kline, John C. Reilly, Woody Harrelson, Virginia Madsen, Tommy Lee Jones, Maya Rudolph or Lindsay Lohan) or by regulars from the radio show such as Tom Keith, Sue Scott, Tim Russell, and of course Garrison Keillor, octogenarian director Robert Altman allows the viewer a meandering view of human eccentricity. This film is the most recent of the director’s many ensemble films focusing on the arts. His earlier films include Company (dance), Kansas City (jazz), Ready-to-Wear (fashion), The Player (film), Vincent and Theo (painting), and Nashville (country music).

The film Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man is a visual and musical memoir of the legendary singer-songwriter of the 60s and 70s, and the current artists he has influenced. This documentary, while centering on the “Come So Far for Beauty” concert at the Sydney Opera House in 2005 in honor of Cohen, also includes intimate interviews with this Canadian beat poet who put much of his work to music, and with the artists who draw inspiration from him. While learning about this man’s formation as a person and artist, the viewer/listener is given the opportunity to specifically attend to Cohen’s spiritual roots and influences: his Jewish upbringing, his Christian sensitivities, and his Buddhist practices. His songs poignantly suggest the spiritual yearning of a man seeking the Divine’s presence in the world (and in his life). Likewise, in and through his songs we hear something of the state of the nation and world, then, and now – many of the songs having a second life in today’s context.

While these two films represent different film genres – fiction and documentary, and different music genres – Americana folk and gospel, and 60s beat music, they share many similarities. Besides both being rated PG-13, the power of both lies in the central characters and the music. Keillor and Cohen seem larger than life at times. While some have called Cohen, the “poet laureate of pessimism” Keillor is not far behind with his description of Minnesotan Norwegians as “a dark people who believe it could be worse, and are waiting for it.” Yet both are loved for their wry sense of humor, thirst for beauty and spiritual quest. In A Prairie Home Companion and Leonard Cohen the filmmakers give us recorded-live music, with little or no editing after-the-fact. Both have a refreshingly raw beauty and spontaneity. Likewise, both films seem to want to be a testament to the celebration of imperfection and longevity. The films are a far cry from MTV fare that showcases the latest young new artist. No, these films are about artists and their music – a music that has lasted the test of time, capturing the longing of the human soul.

While we have occasionally listened to Keillor’s radio show over the years, and have a couple of Cohen’s CD’s, we certainly aren’t aficionados of either, as some of our older or younger friends are. But it didn’t matter. As we slipped into the music of each of the films, we knew there was something more to these movies. Neither are perfect movies, nor even great movies, but both are wonderful just the same.

• What artists and music feed your soul?

Cathy Barsotti is an instructor for Centro Hispano de Estudios Teologicos - a Latino Ministry training center in southeast Los Angeles.

Rob Johnston is Professor of Theology and Culture at Fuller Theological Seminary. His books include  Useless Beauty (Baker, 2005), Finding God in the Movies (Baker, 2004, co-written with Cathy), Reel Spirituality (Baker, 2000) and Life Is Not Work/Work Is Not Life; Simple Reminders for Finding Balance in a 24/7 World (Wildcat Canyon, 2001). Their reviews can also be seen in The Covenant Companion.

Check out their new book, Finding God in the Movies -- available through FAW Resources.