But first, an honorable mention and a winner. Then I'll see myself out.
For honorable mention, I was very pleasantly surprised last December when I watched a movie called The Two Popes. It had a limited theatrical release in November of 2019, but made a bigger splash on Netflix when it debuted there the following month. I'm convinced that Anthony Hopkins can make a discussion about the scientific principles behind the speed that paint dries interesting and compelling to watch. As someone who is not a born Catholic, the process that brought me to this movie was very organic. I'm still not a Roman Catholic, but there was a time when I lived about 500 steps from one of the most vibrant church communities I've ever known. It was a small Roman Catholic parish. There was no marble. No elaborate statues. No paintings on the ceiling. The frame was wooden, the siding was aluminum, the walls were plaster, and the heart was massive. The church was rural, far away from urban centers. It stood in a community where less than 500 people live, less than half of them practicing Catholics. Yet the church was filled to its 200+ capacity every week. People traveled from other towns where they had a Catholic church of their own to attend Mass here. There were many reasons for this, but at the core, one of the most often cited reasons was the sense of community that people felt here that didn't exist at their larger more expensive and elaborate churches.
I grew up practicing my faith in protestant churches with aging membership that were trying to find a way to stop the children and grandchildren of their membership from leaving their home church. Some searched desperately for answers. Christian rock bands were started. Youth groups were started. Contemporary services were started. Some of this succeeded. Most of it didn't. St. James Catholic Church did not have this problem. Then in 2005, the Toledo Diocese decided to close dozens of churches due to a shortage of priests. From my perspective, a shortage of priests was a temporary problem, a shortage of active membership was a potentially fatal one. If I could see this, why couldn't the church leaders in Toledo see that? At this time, Pope John Paul II passed away, and he was replaced with Pope Benedict who was even less sympathetic to my point of view. My view that the Catholic Church was being led by an out of touch hierarchy that had lost vision was cemented at this point. I stopped listening to church leadership and didn't grant them an ounce of credibility. Our church family continued without formal recognition from the Toledo Diocese, and without my interest in what the hierarchy would say or do.
The Two Popes is the story of what happened in the most confidential parts of the hierarchy that I had been ignoring since 2005. It is fascinating discussion, invigorating debate, and deep deep soul searching that suggest I was wrong, very wrong in my conclusion that the Catholic hierarchy lacks self awareness. I'll post a preview, but I really do suggest setting aside some time to just watch and ponder what took place between Pope Benedict and his successor Pope Francis prior to their transition.
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Now for the shining moment you've all been waiting way too long for...so long you forgot what you were waiting for.
I want to give a "Major Award" (tips hat to A Christmas Story) to a movie that isn't as well known as it should be. My wife is a Jr. High STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) teacher. I've told her numerous times that trying to get 12-14 year olds to care about anything besides what's on their phones or with Fortnite is not a job I could ever do. But she does some really cool stuff with them, and they enjoy it. They've done 3D printing, made some really cool crafts with a CNC machine, and developed some very impressive digital art. They've even built bridges with popsicle sticks that needed to be engineered to pass a weight test. Why wasn't school like this when I was in jr high? I would have loved that stuff.
I got nostalgic about a year or so ago, and watched Tucker, The Man and His Dream. Kim overheard a lot of the dialogue from the other room and asked "what is this?" So I told her. She said "this would be good for my class to watch. They're talking about building and testing prototypes, and trying to improve on existing designs to make cars safer." I really wish there were more movies like this. And I wish there were more people like Preston Tucker to talk about today. This guy had the audacity to try and take on Ford, GM and Chrysler from his barn. He had vision where the Big 3 had blind spots, and his designs and ideas were revolutionary. And the craziest part about it is, they worked. They worked so well, that he had to be stopped...or so the movie would have you believe. The reality is a little more complicated. Tucker was passionate, partly because he was both right and ahead of his time. But that may have led him to be willing to roll the dice one too many times. He was so close, that if he could have been allowed to go just far enough to start selling cars, he would have made it.
His car looked much more bold and daring than the designs available to post WWII consumers that looked dated and boring. His cars were safer. They had seatbelts and padded dashboards, and a third headlight that turned with the steering wheel to aid turning visibility at night. His cars were built for easy maintenance. An engine could be pulled, even by its owner, with tools in their garage in 20-30 minutes. They had excellent road manners, with a fully independent suspension that was unheard of at the time. The amazing thing about Preston Tucker was that he was a salesman who intended to deliver on the crazy promises that he made to his investors. But he ran out of time. By the time he had assembled 50 cars, his enemies and his creditors went after him for fraud. The scene where he defends himself in court is heartbreaking when you think about what could have been.
So I raise a glass to the ingenuity and determination of Preston Tucker. Some of his original fleet of 50 cars built in 1948 are still roadworthy today. If only his dream could have lived as long as his cars. That kind of determination is the American spirit that stars in this movie and needs to be reawakened.
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