A Crisis of Faith / the Series

Starring:Jean Houston
Studio: Four Seasons Productions
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Description
Inspired by Joseph Campbell's classic Masks of Eternity series, this special collector's edition of four films are designed to provoke, challenge and inspire the viewer - the series will take you all the way from Jesus' outburst in the temple to our landing on the moon. And the constant questions being asked of the viewer: what is really real in our lives, and how can we live in such a complex world with dignity, compassion and purpose?

Amazon.com

This B movie with noble aspirations is the work of a gifted filmmaker whose storytelling falls short of his considerable stylistic flair. While addressing crises of faith in the framework of an alien-invasion thriller, M. Night Shyamalan (in his follow-up to The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable) favors atmospheric tension over explanatory plotting. He injects subtle humor into expertly spooky scenes, but the story suffers from too many lapses in logic. The film's faults are greatly compensated by the performance of Mel Gibson as a widower whose own crisis of faith coincides with the appearance of mysterious crop circles in his Pennsylvania cornfield... and hundreds of UFOs around the globe. With his brother (Joaquin Phoenix) and two young children (Rory Culkin, Abigail Breslin), the lapsed minister perceives this phenomenal occurrence as a series of signs and portents, while Shyamalan pursues a spookfest with War of the Worlds overtones. It's effective to a point, but vaguely hollow at its core. --Jeff Shannon

Description

From M. Night Shyamalan, the writer/director of THE SIXTH SENSE and UNBREAKABLE, comes the story of the Hess family in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, who wake up one morning to find a 500-foot crop circle in their backyard. Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) and his family are told extraterrestrials are responsible for the sign in their field. They watch, with growing dread, the news of crop circles being found all over the world. SIGNS is the emotional story of one family on one farm as they encounter the terrifying last moments of life as the world is being invaded. "It's easy for a filmmaker to blow up the world -- but what Shyamalan does is much riskier. He tries to blow our minds. I was engaged by every inch of SIGNS." - Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper.

Customer Reviews:

Are you the type who sees signs?.......2007-06-18

Signs has much more to offer than Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds." In this reality, the world is populated with numerous signs seemingly hidden in plain sight.

Director M. Night Shyamalan divides people into two camps: The type who believes in miracles, sees signs; and those who think we just get lucky.

Shyamalan's carefully crafted universe has creatures that must resort to warring with other planets to survive... and there is us. Shyamalan's war pits technologically superior creatures against an unsuspecting world, and a shattered world occupied by a clergyman who questions his faith following the death of his wife. Shyamalan goes further than the Sixth Sense, the bone-chilling tale of a young boy ("I see dead people") haunted by ghosts who appear regularly in his life to enlist his help. In Signs, Shyamalan declares not only can we help the dead, the dead also help us.

Another way of putting it: There are no coincidences. From the son's asthma and the daughter's dreams to the brother's baseball prowess and the tragic instance in which a veterinarian's momentary lapse at the wheel claims a life. The plot is a masterpiece in misdirection. Signs opens to an aerial view of crop circles. More signs of the impending invasion appear as the story moves forward. But these are not the signs that we should be looking at. In the last reel, the dying wife who has but a moment to tell seems to be rambling. But it turns out, she was staring into the future, not her husband's eyes.

This movie says we are much more than we seem.

Mel Gibson's character, the grieving Rev. Graham Hess finds himself suddenly struggling to make sense of the many odd happenings at his farm. He already has isolated himself following his wife's death. Of course, his guard is up. But he finds himself awkwardly grasping to cling to his understanding of the new reality. He can dismiss the crop circles in his fields as mischief by pranksters. But, he soon can't deny the mounting evidence and nocturnal visits from unseen and unseeable intruders. Edgy, provocative and well-paced, Signs is a multilayered and intricately woven piece to try and digest in an afternoon at the theater.

I was first struck by Shyamalan's study of how his characters cope with the increasingly apparent threat. The no-nonsense son Morgan immediately seeks out a book and a curious and chilling element to this story, a baby monitor. The brother Merrill who has taken a room over the garage to help the family turns to the TV. The youngest, the girl who must be about kindergarten age, believes she is dreaming. It is the father, Graham, who is not coping well living in denial. But who can blame him?

"There is no one out there to help us. We're all alone," our resigned and frockless clergyman declares.

The final scenes are well-constructed to induce fear. Shyamalan masterfully pulls all the pieces together at the end. If you were impressed by Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, you will enjoy this offering... again and again.

An excellent film from theSci-Fi genre.......2007-06-13

This is one of those films that my wife dragged me kicking and screaming to see in the theater, but as has often been the case over our thirty-six year marriage, it turned out to be one that I would end up adding to my collection.

Normally, Science-Fiction films either bore me greatly, or scare me out of my wits, but this story is quite different. Not only is this a well-made, tense and exciting story of an attempted alien invasion of Earth, but it is also a very touching and actually inspirational story. Mel Gibson plays a former minister who totally lost his faith as the result of his wife's tragic death, but eventually finds it once again as a result of an exciting encounter with aliens. Beginning with the appearance of "crop circles" in his corn field, then in other locales around the world, followed soon by other strange "signs," Gibson finds himself trapped by the aliens in his home, with his two small children and his younger brother, played well by Joaquin Phoenix.

If you have not seen the film, do so. If you have not added it to your collection, do so. The climax alone is worth the purchase price, and it is surely a film you can watch with your children.

A wonderful surprise ending........2007-06-08

I just love this movie. I am a big M Night Shyamalan fan as well as a big Mel Gibson fan. This is one of my all time favorite films and the kind of film I can watch over and over again. As with all of the Shyamalan stories their is more going on than the main story and you don't find that out til the very end of the story and then everything make perfect sense to the veiwer. I will not spoil the ending here either. So get the movie and have a wonderful time.

Huh?.......2007-05-31

Not a film for everyone, aliens once again threaten the earth this time broadcasting their arrival through crop circles. I used to live in the area where this was filmed. It was nothing like this. The overpopulated Bucks County seems in this film to lie on the edge of nowhere with people terrified of crop circles of all things as if they had never seen or heard of one before. The setting and dialogue and general character reactions did not seem true even for a moment. This is not to denigrate a fine cast including an underrated Mel Gibson who is always a lot more talented and intelligent than people give him credit for. But the story did not make sense and those wimpy aliens... Grab a big stick and beat them with it and save the world. All the pieces are here. All that was needed was a coherent screenplay.

birthing tales while the aliens circle.......2007-04-19

The opening scenes of this mock-horror film, accompanied by the incessant cawing of crows, are terrifying, reminiscent of Mr Hitchcock's mastery.

Then comes the humor. Rarely has so much ironic, self-deprecating humor been laid down so consistently in the Scary Movie genre.

This is classic Mel the Hilarious, before the establishment painted him Conflicted and Conflictive for daring to portray the violent demise of Jesus and for his gigantic miscalculation while talking to a trooper while quite drunk.

'It was very dark', he and his somewhat perturbed brother played by Joaquin Phoenix, perturbed that is until he achieves his redemption at the end of a baseball bat whose other end was the undoing of an alien. It's hard to describe an alien that makes its appearance by scampering on the roof when it's so inconveniently dark.

Yes, there are aliens in this movie. They are even green and humanoid.

We get to them after the Mel character's tragic loss of a good priest's wife, his near loss of his two children to the hatred that comes when a good father lets the unthinkable happen to Mommy, and the loss of things that Gibson's enormously capable face allows us only to guess at.

'It's not "Father" any more', he insists, in abbreviation of all that has been lost but feels like it's been renounced. It hasn't been renounced, only placed on pause while Gibson deals with the kids, his brother, the aliens, and then the recovery of his faith after angry honesty has run its course.

This is the perfect Sunday afternoon movie, best capped off by a nap and then a 'snacky plate', as Sunday evening hints at a bona fide meal are known in our family.

Who would have thought it? The aliens hate water.

Yes, there are aliens. For an afternoon. Then they go away.

They didn't like the water.

Average customer rating:

Another one commercial TV missed
Outside the Ordinary

A Crisis of Faith / the Series
Starring: Jean Houston
Manufacturer: Four Seasons Productions
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Documentary | Independently Distributed | Stores | DVD | Video

Independently Distributed | Indie & Art House | Stores | DVD | Video

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

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Simplicity: The Freedom of Letting Go
From Wild Man to Wise Man: Reflections on Male Spirituality

ASIN: B0007LPDMM
Release Date: 2004-11-15

Product Description

Inspired by Joseph Campbell's classic Masks of Eternity series, this special collector's edition of four films are designed to provoke, challenge and inspire the viewer - the series will take you all the way from Jesus' outburst in the temple to our landing on the moon. And the constant questions being asked of the viewer: what is really real in our lives, and how can we live in such a complex world with dignity, compassion and purpose?

Customer Reviews:

Another one commercial TV missed.......2007-04-03

This four part series is brilliant. It visualizes the abstract themes of social, economic and racial injustice and the loss of the sacred in an extraordinary style. The main interviewees, Alan Callahan and Richard Rohr provide an anchor to a series that covers everything from rap to Jesus. Sam Keen, Robert Bly and Huston Smith are among the super-star speakers. This series was broadcast on the Hallmark Channel and some local PBS stations, according to the blurbs on the box. It's wisdom and visual elegance deserved more, much more.

Outside the Ordinary.......2005-04-24

These four films are terrific in so many ways. Not only are they antithetical to today's film-making -- the camera is steady, the pans are slow, the music is calming and the words are peaceful -- they abound in images and words that make one think, and think hard, about spirituality, money, power, the meaning of life, the teachings of Jesus and on and on. They take the ancient questions and offer ancient answers in fresh and contemporary ways. I was a bit let down by the second film ("State of the Union") in the series (too much blaming "whitey" for the condition of some people of color), but the other three make up for that shortcoming and much, much more. If you want a really, really nice dinner, take some "eating out" money and buy this meditative series!

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