{"id":2739,"date":"2024-05-26T13:22:34","date_gmt":"2024-05-26T18:22:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/sacredoutcasts\/?p=2739"},"modified":"2024-05-26T13:50:46","modified_gmt":"2024-05-26T18:50:46","slug":"faith-on-film-defending-your-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/sacredoutcasts\/2024\/05\/faith-on-film-defending-your-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Faith on Film: “Defending Your Life”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Meryl Streep (Left) and Albert Brooks (Right) in "Defending Your Life".

Defending Your Life<\/em> is a film with a message of Christlike love at its core that elevates it from rom-com to required viewing.<\/strong> Meryl Streep (Left) and Albert Brooks (Right) in Defending Your Life<\/em>. Original image \u00a9 1991 Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Faith on Film<\/em><\/strong> is a monthly feature published the last Sunday every month.<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

If movies were meals, Defending Your Life<\/em><\/a> has enough familiar ingredients to satisfy the palette of just about anyone craving comfort food. This is a high concept film that is so farcical, every scene is filled with hilarious observations. Of course, this is no mistake: the genius of actor\/director\/writer Albert Brooks<\/a> lies not merely in comedic timing or context, but something that\u2019s increasingly rare in cinema these days: pathos<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pathos is considered to be a method of persuasion that, rather than appealing to your logic (logos<\/a>) or your morals (ethos<\/a>), speaks to you in a way that provokes an emotional response: you are compelled to care\u2026to feel<\/em>. It\u2019s a word that for good reasons has been widely used to critically describe the films of Charlie Chaplin<\/a>, and certainly, Defending Your Life<\/em> would have been a movie Chaplin would have loved to create. In spite of its absurdity, it is impossible to not identify with the feelings the characters experience during the course of Defending Your Life<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the film trailer:<\/p>\n