Film Review
Becoming Jane and Ms. Potter:
Faith Begins with Imagination
Two women. Two writers. Each inspired by an extraordinary sense of imagination.
That’s the summary—and the reward—from two films: Becoming Jane, currently in movie theaters, and Miss Potter, now on video store shelves. Anne Hathaway is spirited and alluring as the warm
blooded Ms. Austen, while Renee
Zellweger, an Oscar winner as a chorus girl in “Chicago,” is beautifully in character as the prim Ms. Potter.
The two stories with much in common are those of Jane Austen and Beatrix Potter.
Both were 19th century women, Austin earlier and Potter at the century’s turn, whose creative light was too bright for the prejudice that shrouded
women of their days. These are stories of victory for the human will—and for beauty itself, but above all these stories prove that imagination is the
main ingredient in a life of passion.
Austen, of course, is the author of such novels as Pride and Prejudice and Emma. Potter wrote and drew many of the all-time favorite children’s books, breaking out at age 36 with the 1902 publication in England of The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Both films are beautifully made and reflect the lush passion that animated the
two women. Both also demonstrate a pattern of sexist social constraints we
still hope to someday eliminate.
We happily recommend both films. As for children, no problem, although teens
raised on movies made just for them might notice that these weren’t. Younger children will especially like Miss Potter because of the storybook
animals and many flashbacks to her childhood when her characters, Peter Rabbit
and his mates, first came alive for her.
Although Austen’s father was in fact a clergyman, there’s nothing overtly “Christian” in either film. I don’t think anyone even goes to church in Miss Potter. But these films are full of spiritual opportunity. Jane Austen and Beatrix
Potter answer profound questions of faith and God which elude theologians,
because once you’ve met them you’ll understand, you can’t have faith if you can’t imagine?
Garrison Keillor recently told his radio audience that artists are the lilies of
the field of whom Jesus said, “They neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you Solomon in all his glory was not
clothed like one of these.” Among all the people of this earth, the Prairie Home Companion host said, artists are the ones willing to take the risks inherent in creating
beauty. We all take risks when we dare to imagine something finer, something
beyond the drab face of our world, something more like the world God imagined
at creation. When our imagination begins to line up with God’s, then faith begins. But first we must dare to imagine as these two women did.
I’m sure the producers weren’t taking on too much risk with films they had to know wouldn’t do business like mainstream work such as “Superbad.” They knew there was audience enough to succeed in at least a small way. Still,
we appreciate film makers who put art above money and passion above excitement
by making films to reveal the depth of the human heart.
And we appreciate Austen and Potter for the way they defied the doubters and
social enforcers of their day, proving wrong all who told them a woman making a
living with her pen is no more than a childish fancy.
See the films and catch the fever of their imaginations. Believing is the
beginning.
All content Copyright © Gary Broughman, 2007
