Redemption - from the cinema

Strange - how sometimes as we click from one station to another,
we inadvertently select the most extraordinary film moment of a
beloved piece. Of course, I happened to do that very thing tonight.
Between the murder, mayhem and news of the day I came upon
the moment in the "Shawshank Redemption" that always puts me
over the moon. Could it have actually happened the way it was
presented? Most likely not. But it for me is the pivotal moment in
the entire film - everything is slightly different after this scene and
how wonder-filled my opportunity to click on just that incredible scene.

It is when the Tim Robbins character locks himself in the warden's office
and broadcasts over the prison public address system Mozart's sublime duet
between the Countess and Susanna in " Le Nozze di Figaro." It always
gives me particular pause when it is performed. But in this film the
entire prison population stops, listens, and time seems suspended by
this unexpected interruption of their daily life. The beauty of art transforms
the moment and unexpectedly brings hope and transcendence to those
under incarceration. It is timeless and more beautiful than anything nature
can evoke in us.

Morgan Freeman's character says he did not what what those two ladies
were singing about but the day was suddenly different and redemptive.
Art has such power when it is inserted into our lives and we stop and let
it flow freely into our souls.

In our current political unrest, we need to hope for and experience this kind
of interruption from Art. This kind of "break" is what will transform and
inform our lives and allow us to rebirth ourselves - if only for a much
needed moment.


R