Saying everything and nothing

Sometimes you get to an odd place, where you know what you believe and why, but you can understand why others feel differently and can feel sympathy toward their position. This is one of the by-products of having a liberal mindset - I keep a constant effort to know what others feel, and why, and to hear out everyone equally.

All of this is a rather odd way lead to this statement: There's something I want desperately to talk about, but I cannot talk about it.

I will phrase it like this: there is a movie playing right now at my theatre named "Million Dollar Baby." I encourage you all to see it, as soon as you can, as it is an amazingly constructed and beautifully performed piece of cinema, perhaps the best film of the year. And it is not about what you think it's about - no matter what you've heard, from any source. It is, at its core, a story about three very specific characters, a very specific story, and a very difficult choice that each one makes.

It is not fair to anyone who has not seen the movie to even hint at what this story contains. It is also unfair, for those who have learned of the film's story through plot spoilers and controversy, to pass judgment on its "message" until they have seen it with their own eyes.

I feel very strongly that this film will be discussed for years, the implications of its events debated on both sides. And that is a healthy reaction to the movie. What is not healthy is to shut it out, to close one's eyes to it, simply because they may find its events uncomfortable or incompatable with their definition of morality.

I merely ask that viewers of "Million Dollar Baby" consider this before they pass judgment: To condemn the film for its events, sight unseen, is to deny it the redeeming factor of its characters. Consider its story not for what happens, but who it happens to. How the film becomes a tale of both one person's quest for personal freedom and happiness, and for another, how friendship and love can lead them to make the most difficult decision any of us can ever make.

See it and e-mail me, and then we'll talk.