Tea at Trianon: A Wrinkle in Time (2018)

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, May 28, 2018

A Wrinkle in Time (2018)

Here is a guest post by author Helen R. Davis, reviewing the latest version of A Wrinkle in Time.

Filmmakers have challenges when adopting a book form to a movie format. Deciding what needs to be left in, what should be cut, and what changes to make is a fine line between artistic license and not offending the audience of the original work. A Wrinkle in Time, a classic, is a book I feel has long deserved a film of its own. How does this film adaptation hold up?

In spite of what some critics have said, I feel it does quite well. Sadly, yes, the biblical references are cut from this film version, as is to be expected in a secular adaptation of a Christian book. L'Engle's original writings themselves, though not traditional, at least did not seem out of touch with Scripture. However, the movie is more New Agey than that, although during the scenes where Charles and Meg are shown the differences between light and dark, there is at least a distinction made between right and wrong and good and evil and objective moral values are still shown.

For those of you who don't know the plot, Meg's father disappears and it turns out he is on another planet that has been overtaken by evil. In the book, this entity was known as IT. Meg Murray is portrayed by Storm Reid. In the book , Meg and her family are all Caucasian. Does this detract from the enjoyment of the film? Not in the least. The original message of the book is still there. This is well-acted, and while I did not enjoy some of the SJW 'forced diversity', it did not ruin the film for me. This was a problem I had with Star Wars: The Last Jedi. If the actors play their roles well, appearance does not truly matter, but when it is forced, it becomes annoying. Thankfully, A Wrinkle in Time does not do that.

The star of the show, I feel, is Reese Witherspoon, who plays Mrs. Whatsit. She is a delight to watch every time she appears on screen and the special effects and visuals of this movie are worth watching it for alone. One of my favorite scenes involves a room with Mrs. Whatsit's 'boyfriend' the Happy Medium in a room full of gorgeous rose quartz.

The scenes involving Charles Wallace's mind becoming overtaken by IT, a metaphor for demon possession, are truly disturbing, but do show what happens when one falls away from God. However, I would not recommend it if you have small children. I even had to leave the theater for a few minutes.
All in all, though not completely faithful to the book, still not a disaster and still worth seeing. I recommend, however, some discussions about the Bible afterwards if you have kids and perhaps reading the original book first. Well done, but as is so often the case, the book is better. 4/5.