The Secret Thread: Literature & Spiritual Life: Christ is Risen, and Brings the Joy!

Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Christ is Risen, and Brings the Joy!

That triumphant refrain echoes through this beautiful Easter poem, brought to my attention by my sister. It was written by St. Nikolai Velimirovich of the Eastern Orthodox Church, who served for a time as Rector of a seminary in Serbia. Since this is the season of Easter and Resurrection, I thought it would be appropriate to post - if nothing else, as a reminder of the great victory over death our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, earned for us all. Happy Easter, one and all...

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Christos Voskrese - Christ is Risen!

People rejoice, nations hear:
Christ is Risen, and brings the joy!
Stars dance, mountains sing:
Christ is Risen, and brings the joy!
Forests murmur, winds hum:
Christ is Risen, and brings the joy!
Seas bow, animals roar:
Christ is Risen, and brings the joy!
Bees swarm, and the birds sing:
Christ is Risen, and brings the joy!

Angels stand, triple the song:
Christ is Risen, and brings the joy!
Sky humble yourself, and elevate the earth:
Christ is Risen, and brings the joy!
Bells chime, and tell to all:
Christ is Risen, and brings the joy!
Glory to you God, everything is possible to You,
Christ is Risen, and brings the joy!

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Duke Altum's Recommended Films

Monsters (2010) – As many have already said, calling Monsters a movie about an alien occupation of Earth seems to do this fascinating, original film a disservice. Certainly the fact that huge, bioluminescent squid-like extraterrestrials are running amok through the jungles of Central America is an important (and entertaining) element of the plot, but anyone coming into this one looking for non-stop, Aliens-style action or special effects eye candy a la the concurrent alien invasion flick Skyline is going to be sorely disappointed. Instead, what you have with Monsters is an intriguing and meditative hybrid of road movie, post-apocalyptic thriller and surprisingly believable human drama. Director Gareth Edwards wrote, edited and created special effects for the film on his own, which gave him the freedom to make exactly the kind of movie he wanted to make - that is, a love story that just happens to feature alien life forms ominously howling and lurking in the background (this approach, by the way, gives the film its pervasive suspense and intensity, as you are as in the dark as the characters are about when the next encounter with a pissed-off, tentacled alien might occur). The many scenes of unscripted, natural banter between the lead actors as they trek across the "infected zone" and get to know one another help you, crucially, to identify with them enough to care by the final act - which provides an unexpected, subtle twist that gives the entire story added poignancy and irony. I am sure that a great many viewers of this unusual film will come out feeling somewhere between perplexed and downright cheated, and Edwards does provide so little backstory about the aliens and what they might be up to that one may well wonder why they were in the movie at all (and, justifiably, why the film was ever called "Monsters"). But I found that their mysterious, vaguely menacing presence gave the entire story a kind of haunted and other-wordly atmosphere that reminded me a bit of the best bits of James Cameron's The Abyss. I guess you could say that early encounters with new life forms - like those with potential lovers - can be both exhilarating and weirdly disconcerting at the same time.