Paddington and Pomegranates: CT Entertainment

[Also: Recommendations from Christianity Today's critics] Also: Recommendations from Christianity Today's critics | [View online]( [ChristianityToday.org]( [Christianity Today Entertainment Newsletter]( Friday, January 12, 2018 Paddington and Pomegranates Each week CT's critics offer suggestions for art and entertainment they found encouraging, valuable, or reflective of the good, the true, and the beautiful in God's world. Not every suggestion is suitable for everyone, and each reader is encouraged to investigate ratings and content warnings for each suggestion. Have suggestions of your own? [Let us know](mailto:tolsen@christianitytoday.com?subject=CT%20Entertainment%20suggestion). —Ted Olsen, Editorial Director Paddington 2 | Film Imagine the quirky aesthetic of a Wes Anderson film and the slapstick humor of Charlie Chaplin, all set in jolly ol' England with an animated bear. Such are the Paddington movies; the 2014 film was absolutely delightful and its sequel might be even better. These movies are the epitome of what a family film should be: well-crafted cinema full of wonderful images, along with a charming story that hits all the right emotional beats. If the first film was a fable about the status of refugees and immigrants, Paddington 2 is parable-like in its exploration of neighborly care for one's community. At its center is Paddington (voiced by Ben Whishaw), the Peruvian marmalade-loving bear who genuinely knows and loves his neighbors, treating everyone he encounters with dignity and respect. He's confident without being brazen, principled without being dogmatic, and kindhearted without being insincere or a pushover. As such, he's the sort of protagonist every audience can admire and adore, perhaps even strive to emulate. Hilarious, affecting, and imbued with creative wonder, Paddington 2 is extraordinary. It's only January, but I daresay Paddington 2 could be one of the best films of the year. — [Joel Mayward]( [ Available in theaters ] In the Land of Pomegranates | Documentary film Vacation From War. The title of the program sounds strange, but the idea behind it makes perfect sense. Palestinian and Israeli youth are removed geographically from the combat zones that shape their daily experience and encouraged to dialogue. The underlying premise behind such an experiment is that it is harder to demonize an actual person that you are looking in the face. The dialogue sessions are the heart and the best part of In the Land of Pomegranates. You may not remember the names of the young people, but it will be hard to forget their courage in seeking peaceable discussion with those their respective cultures say they should fear and hate. At a time when so much of our own political discourse is monopolized by spin campaigns and representatives parroting talking points, it's inspiring to see these participants do the hard work of listening. Be careful, you may catch yourself talking back to the screen! — [Kenneth R. Morefield]( [ [First Run Features]( - In Theaters ] The Teacher | Film Students in many high schools and universities are heading back to class this week, so it's a great time to watch The Teacher, a smart and painful look at communist-era Czechoslovakia through the lens of power struggles at one middle school. Mariá Drazdechová doesn't come out and say that her students' grades are dependent on personal favors, but she asks them all to introduce themselves and say what their parents do for a living. One is asked to stand in line for groceries, another to fix a broken lamp. When an accountant for an airline balks at a request that he use his airport connections to smuggle some birthday cake to Moscow, his daughter's grades take a plummet and the teacher suggests she might need to give up gymnastics. What I found fresh and inspiring about this telling of a somewhat familiar tale is the unpredictability regarding which parents (and which kids) would resist. The film understands that broken systems persist precisely because their brokenness benefits somebody. Drazdechova, like a certain New Jersey mob boss on HBO, is an expert at finding that razor-thin line between exploitation that is inconvenient but bearable and that which will result in revolt. But even the smartest teacher can miscalculate. — [Kenneth R. Morefield]( [ DVD & Streaming ] [Millennials Can Leave Evangelicalism. But Not Its Pop Culture.]( Does the cottage industry around Christian subculture nostalgia reveal the church's failures—or its successes? Morgan Lee [Charles Dickens Still Haunts Christmas]( How a 19th-century story informs the modern holiday spirit. Laura Kenna ['Wonder' Reveals the Face of True Human Strength]( What the box-office hit tells us about beauty, weakness, and the imago Dei. Micha Boyett ['Justice League' Unites Its Heroes to Save an Erratic, Uneven World]( DC's answer to the MCU wants to show that surrounding darkness can only strengthen heroic light. It only kind of succeeds. E. Stephen Burnett [Creating Worship Songs for a Welcoming Community]( Isaac Wardell's latest collaborative project, The Porter's Gate, marks a change from Bifrost Arts. Interview by Mark Moring Follow Us [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Google+]( [RSS]( [Subscribe to this newsletter]( IN THE MAGAZINE [Current Issue]( [Cover Story: Blessed Are the Handouts]( [In Defense of Pro-Life 'Hypocrisy']( [Cheering China's Urbana: Churches Poised to Become Major Exporters]( [View Full Issue]( [Subscribe Now]( More from Christianity Today [Andy Savage's Standing Ovation Was Heard Round the World. Because It Was Wrong.]( It's not an incident. It's abuse. [It Doesn't Get Any More Personal]( Why evangelicals give pride of place to penal substitutionary understandings of the Cross. [How Gang Brutality and US Immigration Policies Threaten El Salvador's Christians]( Will the end of temporary protected status cut off funding for churches in one of the world's most violent countries? Related CT Newsletters [The Galli Report]( Weekly must-reads from the editor of CT. [Sign Up Now]( [CT Connection]( The official newsletter of the global media ministry. 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