Best this month 5 Flights Up
Alex Carver (Morgan Freeman), an artist,
and Ruth (Diane Keaton), a schoolteacher, have been married for 40 years. Although they love their spacious Brooklyn apartment, they are both feeling the aches and pains of old age as they trudge up five flights of stairs. Deciding it might be time to sell, they hire a broker, host an open house and begin look- ing for a new apartment. Director Richard Loncraine does a fine
job orchestrating this comedy. He nicely mixes in flash- backs of young Alex (Korey Jackson) and Ruth (Claire van der Boom) in the early years of their biracial relation- ship. Their marriage is the heart and soul of this story. We were reminded of what is called plum-blossom courage. The plum blossom appears soft and glowing even when the winter winds still blow—it knows spring is coming. The plum blossom symbolizes the resilience of the human
Edgar Wants to Be Alone Edgar, an ego-
centric rat, lives alone in a nest in an abandoned crate. His bad temper has turned off most of the other animals in the area. One day he is irritated by a worm that seems to be following him. To
escape it, he runs around a barn and swims in a pond. Then he tries to convince a mole, a woodpecker and a pig to get the earthworm off his back. This morality tale, another in a series by Jean-
Francois Dumont about individuality and community, is designed for children ages 4 to 8. Edgar discovers that sometimes we are our own worst enemies when we perceive the world as dark and dangerous (Eerdmans Books for Young Read- ers,
www.eerdmans.com/ youngreaders).
Author bio:
The Brussats publish the website www.SpiritualityandPractice. com where you can find more information about the items reviewed in this column.
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www.thelutheran.org
By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
The 40-year marriage of Ruth (Diane Keaton) and Alex (Morgan Freeman) Carver is the heart and soul of 5 Flights Up.
spirit, its ability to open again to love and go forward into another opportunity for celebra- tion. Alex and Ruth have
that kind of courage, supported by their being perfectly in sync with each other and what they want for their future (Universal, PG-13—language and some nude images). Now available on DVD.
The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within
Christine Valters
Paintner has led pil- grimages in Ireland, Austria and Germany. She now resides in Galway, Ir e l and, where she lives as a Benedictine oblate. In this book, she invites us to take an inner pilgrim-
age in our daily lives. “Pilgrimage,” she wrote, “calls us to be attentive to the divine at work in our lives through deep listening, patience, opening ourselves to the gifts that arise in the midst of discomfort, and going out to our own inner wild edges to explore new frontiers.” The paperback covers eight practices: hearing the
call, packing lightly, crossing the threshold, making the way by walking, being uncomfortable, beginning again, embracing the unknown and coming home. Along with commentaries on these themes, she offers a Scripture story, a Lectio Divina (divine reading) exercise and sug- gestions for creative expression through photography (Sorin Books,
www.avemariapress.com).
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