Walt Disney Co.
With high caliber star factor and a well-written script based on an important story too few are aware of, The Banker is a film that should be on everyone’s watch list. George Nolfi (The Adjustment Bureau) directs Anthony Mackie (Bernard Garrett) and Samuel Jackson (Joe Morris) in the 1960s set story about the two successful African-American entrepreneurs who become two of the first Black bankers in the United States. While Garret and Morris are not household names like Jackie Robinson and other more famous “first African-Americans to break the color barrier” in their chosen field, the importance of these men cannot be overstated.
During the Jim Crow era of segregation financial credit was virtually non-existent for Blacks in the South and border states. Jim Crow laws and customs were established by state and local governments and other societal groups in order to continue indentured servitude of African Americans by putting limits on salaries, professions, travel, and where they could live. Limiting access to credit was one of the most powerful weapons used to curtail the advancement of Black America. In Jim Crow areas there were no banks owned by African Americans and very few if any, White-owned banks would loan money to black families and individuals, which limited where they could live and their ability to own and grow a business.
Born in 1925 in a small Texas town, Bernard Garrett had an intellect and ambition that led him to leave his home and pursue greater opportunities to build a life free from the Jim Crow restraints. After moving to Los Angeles Garrett met Joe Morris, a 
successful businessman who had connections with the Los Angeles and California business establishment. Even with the greater acceptance of successful black businesses, Because of their race, Garrett and Morris faced limitations in the size and type of investment opportunities they could pursue and wealth they could build.
The Banker details how Garrett and Morris broke through these limitations to become two of the most successful businessmen in the United States. While visiting his home in Texas and seeing how little had changed regarding opportunities for African Americans, Garrett set about dismantling one of the most powerful tools supporting the Jim Crow status quo, a lack of access to capital.
The script is fast-moving and, given the importance of the subject, surprisingly full of lighter moments and humor. One of the major twists in the true story is most engaging, and though it could easily have been mishandled in the film, it seems genuine and not forced.
Not surprisingly, Mackie and Jackson offer solid, well rounded and fluid performances, enhanced by their personal chemistry. The supporting cast also supplies energy and smooth performances particularly Nicholas Hoult as Matt Steiner, and Nia Long as Garrett’s wife Eunice. Unlike, The Green Book, another film that cast light on a subject with which many were not familiar, the book that listed places African Americans could stay when traveling throughout the country, The Banker does not have the feel of a white savior story.
In an interview with the director and co-screenwriter George Nolfi, I asked about the genesis of the story and his involvement. The details of Bernard Garrett’s career and his struggles against the systemic racism of his time were captured in taped interviews prior to his 1999 death. The rights to his life story were then purchased by another studio where the story languished for many years. While Nolfi was directing Anthony Mackie for a scene in The Adjustment Bureau, Mackie pitched The Banker to Nolfi for him to take on the project. As is often the case, other projects intervened and it was another five or six years before things fell together for the film.
The important role Garrett and Morris played in laying the foundations that would redress one of the most savage and often used tools in limiting the opportunity of African Americans was what attracted George Nolfi to the project. More specifically, the willingness of Garrett, initially, then Morris to not rest safely on their laurels and success, but put their achievements at risk in service to others, compelled him to join the project.
In making the film, Nolfi came face to face with the reality that without the opportunity to build wealth, people are unable to truly experience freedom and stability in their finances and life. He became more aware of the impact systemic racism had, and currently still has in society. Nolfi hopes this film will help viewers realize, that although they themselves may not be racist, the echoes and effects of systemic racism in the past and present continue to erect higher hurdles for persons of color. With such understanding, it will be easier to dismantle the surviving elements of systemic racism as well as the lasting impact from its past application. Nolfi also hopes that learning of the injustices these men faced, and their willingness to take them on and set in motion events that resulted in their eradication, others will be challenged and empowered to stand against current injustices and systemic hardships.
Faith Connections:
As was noted during the release of The Adjustment Bureau, George Nolfi endeavors to spark imagination and thought on the part of the audience. Growing up involved in the United Church of Christ, this desire to spark thought and conversation extends to issues of life, faith, and discipleship. The film is a reminder that the nation has not always lived up to the aspirations of its founding documents that all people are created equal and should be allowed to pursue happiness. Likewise, the Church has not always lived up to its commission to love God by loving all people, making disciples, and being the Body of Christ on earth. The Banker challenges viewers to examine where they can do better in upholding what we claim to believe in.
The Banker has several touchpoints with Scripture and faith. As Moses was forced to leave his home in order to find peace and security and then after finding it was called to return to Egypt, Bernard escaped the land where, because of his skin color, intellect, and drive to succeed, he was a target. Like Moses, following Bernard’s escape and the successful life he built, he resisted the temptation to stay where he was, afraid of losing what he had, and returned home to help his community escape the indentured servitude that had confined them so long.
A second touchpoint with Scripture is with the parable of the Talents. Both Garrett and Morris had been given keen minds and abilities through which they achieved success. Had they remained in California, content to live their lives and build bigger personal fortunes while so many others remained under the oppressive powers of Jim Crow laws and customs, they would have been like the servant who buried the talent the Master gave him to grow. They had been given talents that led to affluence, and they were expected to use those blessings beyond furthering their personal wealth.
Lastly, the story shows the importance of remembering where true treasure is. True treasures are those in heaven. True greatness and wealth in living are received in serving others. Garrett and Morris wanted their lives to have been more than zeros on a financial statement. George Nolfi and others attached to the project hope the story enables people to be mindful and motivated such that their lives will be measured for things beyond a balance sheet.
The Banker is rated PG-13 and with the closing of most movie theaters, can be viewed on Apple TV+. #thebanker
Queen Elizabeth (Claire Foy) and her mother Elizabeth (Victoria Hamilton) watch a news report of Billy Graham’s first Crusade in London. In his sermon Rev. Graham (Paul Sparks) defines revival as living out the teaching of Christ in one’s daily life through relationships with others. Part of revival includes living out a Gospel of hope in the certainty of God’s love and triumph rather than living a Gospel of despair in the midst of worldly uncertainty. This Gospel of hope extends to the individual, society, and all the world.
After hearing Rev. Graham preach on television, Queen Elizabeth invited him to preach at Windsor Castle. Following the worship service, Queen Elizabeth met privately with Rev. Graham where she expressed the pleasure it was for her to worship as Elizabeth, not as Queen and the head of the Anglican Church. She shared with Graham that it was her desire to be a “simple Christian.” As it turns out the idea of being a simple Christian is complicated. The Queen’s dilemma with her uncle and former King will reveal to her that being simply Christian is anything but simple.
The Duke of Windsor’s (Alex Jennings) request to re-enter English society and service to the Crown and country led to the Queen’s discovery of the depth of Edward’s sympathies with and rumored support for Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party against his country and former subjects. With this new revelation, Queen Elizabeth struggled with the Christian command to forgive her Uncle. To assist in her struggle, the Queen asked for a second meeting with Billy Graham.
In this meeting Elizabeth asks about forgiveness; “are there any circumstances do you feel where one can be a good Christian and yet not forgive?” Rev. Graham responds that “Christian teaching is very clear on this. No one is beneath forgiveness. Dying on the cross, Jesus himself asked the Lord to forgive those who killed him.” After a discussion on whether the forgiveness of those who crucified Jesus was conditional given they did not know what they were doing, Graham still maintained that and lack the strength and perfect love of Christ, as recipients of God’s forgiveness, it is required that Christians forgive. Although humans are mortal, Graham says, “We need not be unchristian ones.” Seeing the Queen struggle, Rev Graham offered a solution for her and all people. If there is someone she cannot forgive, she should “ask for forgiveness for herself, humbly, and sincerely, and then pray for the person she cannot forgive.” 
While holding on to anger can lessen the pain, it does not address nor reverse the effects of the harm. As pain relievers simply mask the symptoms of injury and can allow further damage to occur, so holding on to anger can lessen emotional pain in the short term but it damages one’s spirit.
Although Elizabeth may have forgiven Edward, and other members of the family did forgive him, the consequences of his abdication were continued exile from his country and desire to serve. Edward, known to family and friends as David, shared with another King David the reality that though forgiven, he had to live with the consequences of his actions.
THE ADVOCATES: Documenting the changing face and causes of homelessness in America, THE ADVOCATES presents the struggle to uphold a “care in community” ideal and serve this most vulnerable population amid a changing and increasingly punitive policy landscape. Set in Los Angeles, “Ground Zero” of the new homelessness in America, The Advocates follows three case managers from three social service organizations as they struggle to assist persons in finding housing, services, and security.
AFTER THE END: Following the stories of people who have each experienced the death of a loved one, the film explores what it means to lose someone without losing ourselves in the process. The filmmakers journey across America, speaking with hospice coordinators, bereavement specialists and experts on grief counseling including: Alan D. Wolfelt, author, educator and founder of Center For Loss & Life Transition; and Rev. David M. Smith, as well as sharing archival video of Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, the author of the seminal work on grief issues, “On Death and Dying. Trailer: 
IMPRISONED: This prison thriller contrasts the transformative power of love and grace with the destructive power of hate and revenge. Dylan Burke (Juan Pablo Raba), inspired by the love of his life Maria (Juana Acosta), has moved on from his days as a criminal and become a successful and contributing member of his community where he works to help other ex-cons succeed in life after prison. His new life is interrupted by the vengeance of the new local prison warden, Daniel Calvin (Lawrence Fishburne) who has not forgiven Burke for an old crime. Though a non-fiction film, IMPRSIONED shows the real-life purpose of forgiveness and the consequences of holding on to anger and resentment. Rated R for violence, disturbing images, some sexuality and language. Trailer: 
SHADOW OF AFGHANISTAN: Although the site of the longest war in American history, the story of Afghanistan and its people remains a mystery to many Americans. This is the epic story of a nation’s history of war and occupation through the eyes of an Afghan warrior, independent filmmakers, and a small group of independent journalists, two of whom died covering this story. Twenty years in the making, the film documents the Soviet occupation, the exile, and the suffering of millions of citizens, a violent civil war and the fatal alliance of the Taliban with Al Qaeda. As one hears more of the history of Afghanistan, one understands better the Afghan people. Trailer: h
REBUILDING HOPE: Three boys fled their villages in South Sudan due to civil war, among thousands of others soon nicknamed “The Lost Boys” upon resettlement in the USA in 2001. Now in their 20’s, they return to Sudan to discover whether their homes and families have survived, what the current situation is, and how they can help their community rebuild. Rebuilding Hope is a powerful record of their quest to finding surviving family-members and rediscover and contribute to their homeland. It also sheds light on what the future holds for South Sudan in its precarious struggle for peace, development, and stability.
UNDER THE TURBAN: What makes one a Sikh? When nine-year-old Zara Garcha asks such a question, her family answers it in a most extraordinary manner—embarking on an international journey to learn about their heritage from modern-day Sikhs. From Italy to India to Great Britain, Argentina, Canada, and the US, Zara and her family traverse the globe and meet some of the most interesting, generous, and compassionate people on Earth. And in so doing, they remind us that, to fully understand our fellow human beings, we must judge not solely by what is on one’s head, but by what is in one’s heart. For Christians, ecumenical awareness not only increases knowledge of other faiths but also one’s knowledge and depth of the Christian faith. Trailer: 
Upon reading the second story, Heckler drove to South Carolina and spent time with both the members of the church and black community as well as supporters of the museum. After his time in Laurens, getting to know the people involved, Heckler experienced the humanity of the members of the church and their supporters as well as the supporters of the shop and Klan. While he was not surprised to see the humanity of the former, he was surprised to see that the latter were not beasts, but rather humans who had the capacity to love and care, yet had been taught to hate and live life in anger and fear of others. Following this experience Heckler says he knew he had to make a movie telling the story.
Burden starts out feeling like another cliché film about rednecks in a small southern town. Hedlund’s stilted, downcast performance is initially off-putting as it seems to be a caricature of a young illiterate southern “redneck.” As the film proceeds it is evident that Hedlund is not reflecting a lack of intelligence but rather Mike’s inner turmoil. Similarly, 
Forest Whitaker’s Rev. Kennedy succeeds in reflecting the reluctance that often accompanies righteousness. While Kennedy knows his Lord is calling him to offer love and forgiveness to those who are persecuting him, his family, and his community, he also feels his human instinct to reject this calling. For Kennedy, this also carried personal weight as his great uncle was lynched in Laurens by the Klan (Photo below). Rev. Kennedy’s decision to offer grace and support only makes sense through his faith in the ways of God and life in God’s Kingdom. What initially seemed to be another film empty of anything but stereotypes, Burden ends as a powerfully presented parable of the promise and perils of seeking redemption as well as offering grace and love to those who repent and ask for forgiveness.
That Burden was a labor of love is appropriate to the themes of confession, grace, and forgiveness being the pathway for redemption. Forgiveness and grace, if offered as Jesus commands, is nothing short of a literal labor of love. The film depicts in no uncertain terms the difficulty of loving others in the way Jesus loves and expects His followers to love and live. Following Jesus and loving one’s enemies means not only standing against the hate of one’s enemies, but perhaps also standing against the anger and resentment of one’s family, friends, and community.
In the conclusion to my conversation with Andrew Heckler I shared with him that the film, particularly the ending reminded me of the vows of Baptism I confirmed for myself as a youth, and as a United Methodist pastor have asked others coming for baptism into the ministry and church of Jesus Christ. Burden depicts the living out of these vows, and the challenges inherent in being a disciple of Jesus.
These are the expectations Christ has for membership in His Church and these are the challenges and actions Mike Burden faced when he sought to repent from a life of hate and accept the love, grace, and redemption from God and those he persecuted. These are also the expectations Christ has for Rev. Kennedy when presented with the opportunity to offer grace and love to those who have and seek to persecute him and his family. At times living by these vows will be a burden for all disciples, yet God supplies faith to follow them, and grace when one stumbles and then repents.
From its earliest days, films have depicted people and the lives they live. December 28th 1895 is considered the birthday of cinema as Luis and Auguste Lumière first projected a moving image onto a screen, a train pulling into the station in La Ciotat France. The image was captured by the Lumieres when they placed their 
In his film 1917, writer/director Sam Mendes takes the audience back in time as he shows people struggling through a horrendous place and time, the Western Front during World War 1. 1917 depicts two British infantrymen given a most dangerous mission, to work their way beyond the trenches through “no man’s land,” into and through territory the Germans had just evacuated yet was likely still populated by pockets of enemy soldiers, and deliver a message to save 1600 men from a German ambush. Although the story is about the two men on a dangerous mission, there is a third person on the journey, the viewer. Mendes’s goal in the film is to expose the audience to the experience of one of the most brutal and tragic events of the 20th Century, “The Great War.”
To increase the sense of the viewer’s being there, Mendes uses a series of very long, single-shot sequences that give the feeling that the film is taking place in real-time. Other directors have sought to make films to appear as one shot, but none have attempted it on such a grand scale. While the Lumière brothers set up their static camera on the La Ciotat train platform, Mendes snakes his camera through the trenches, battlefield, bombed-out farm, and war-torn city, showing the viewers where the war was fought and where soldiers and non-combatants lived and died. Although the energy of the film is experienced in the combat sequences, Mendes offers glimpses into the other experiences of war, the downtime boredom, hunger, and human connections that arise when people of different lives, cultures, families, and nations are thrown together.
While Mendes is rightly receiving praise, and awards (Golden Globe Winner for Best Direction) much of the weight of the film rests on the shoulders of the two leading characters, Lance Corporal Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) and Lance Corporal Schofield (George MacKay.) Regardless of the technical wizardry, masterful sets, planning, and direction, the success of the film depends mostly on the ability of Chapman and Schofield to grab the audience’s attention and keep it for the entirety of the two-hour film.
MacKay and Chapman deliver powerful performances conveying an array of emotions including cynicism forged in the fog of battle and the mistakes of command, courage amidst fear, tender generosity within utter brutality, and determination to fulfill the mission and keep a promise. While both actors more than accomplish this, MacKay should be in conversations for best actor awards. Colin Firth (General Erinmore) and Benedict Cumberbatch (Col. Mackenzie) lead a large supporting cast, who given the fluid nature of the film, appear briefly in single scenes. Claire Duburcq, as the only woman in the cast, offers a touching performance as a young woman trapped by the fighting in what was once her home town.
Another masterful accomplishment in 1917 is the production design (Dennis Gassner) and staging. The moment Blake and Schofield go over the wall of the trench into no man’s land they enter a world as alien as another planet, and they take the viewers with them. All around is death, whether it be the bomb craters, tangled, flesh-hungry barbed wire, human and equine corpses, or the foraging rats which, although alive, represent death. Death also lingers beyond no man’s land, but it is mixed with the signs of life and nature that seem to mockingly remind the combatants and viewer of the goodness and beauty of life that used to flourish.
Viewers familiar with the war film genre will recognize elements of other war films. Echoing Paul in the World War 1 Film All Quiet on the Western Front, Schofield shares how the war has changed him and more importantly, his experience of home. There is also the tension of urban combat where the enemy could be around every turn and in every bombed-out window as shown in Full Metal Jacket and American Sniper among others. There are the surreal sensory experiences that accompany the transformation of a typical town into a monstrous battle jungle, and humanity into a beastly caricature depicted in Apocalypse Now. From Saving Private Ryan there is going forward on a seemingly impossible mission as well as the intimate nature that can accompany the life and death struggle of hand to hand combat. The extended tracking shots also recall the film signature of Stanley Kubrick in his World War 1 masterpiece, Paths of Glory as well as the earlier mentioned Full Metal Jacket.
Given the intimacy and real-time presentation of 1917, the viewer feels perhaps the most difficult part of surviving combat, leaving behind those who fall. What is the most personal and solemn occasion in life is often hardly noticed on the battlefield. When death comes in wave after wave there is little, if any time to mourn the loss nor sanctify the place of the fallen. Combat does not allow for such luxuries as another fight seems always to be calling.
Greta Gerwig’s film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s beloved book Little Women deserves the accolades and overwhelmingly positive reviews it has received. There is probably no greater challenge in filmmaking than adapting beloved literary works. Typically there have already been film adaptations as well as the original book against which the film will be measured on both artistic and emotional levels.
Set during the American Civil War, Little Women is a story of family love, hope in the face of challenges, and the power of community to support, nurture and overcome life’s trials. Led by the untiring matriarch Marmee, the March family endures anxiety of the absence of the father who went to war as well as the day to day financial challenges of a family now without a primary source of income. In the midst of these and other challenges, the sisters maintain their close bonds. In addition to their commitment to each other, the family learns through their mother to respond to the call to serve others who are less fortunate and equipped to endure hardship and want. Marmee models that serving does not begin until the service and giving are sacrificial. Even when such service calls to them to make greater than anticipated sacrifices, including the ultimate sacrifice, they retain their spirit and refrain from sliding into bitterness and anger that accompanies loss and grief.
Saoirse Ronan makes the perfect Jo as she commands full attention whenever she is on screen, and even sometimes when she is not. Saoirse does not take all the oxygen in her scenes, she is the oxygen. Florence Pugh also offers a strong performance as Amy, the artist sister and, as Aunt March (Meryl Streep) christens her, the family’s “only hope” to marry well and assure the family’s financial and social status. Eliza Scanlen depicts the fragile Beth with the right amount of delicacy and vulnerable innocence. Emma Watson is functional if a bit young as older sister Meg. Laura Dern shows appropriate strength and miracle worker talents as Marmee, the mother and chief cat-herder of the rambunctious four sisters. The supporting cast, led by Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, and Bob Odenkirk are, unsurprisingly, strong and greatly add to the nuance and depth of the story.
