The Master (USA 2012) – The Unredeemed Present

The film tells the story of Freddie Quell, a World War II veteran struggling to adjust to a post-war society. He meets Lancaster Dodd, a leader of a religious movement known as “The Cause” and becomes a follower. The film traces their mutual dependency in their search for identity through a spiritual quest.

Questions for Refection on the film:
– What is are the underlying causes of the obsession in both men?
– What does the film tell us about the dangers of spiritual direction — both for the
director and for the one looking for direction?
– Why is water used for the opening and closing images of the film?
– What is the ambiguity of the last sequence in the film?
– In what ways is this film about discernment?

Questions for Prayer and Reflection on this Exercise:
– How did you personally experience this film? Can you unpack what the film left you feeling with?
– In what ways does the film deconstruct the master narratives by which we live our lives — such narratives as personal freedom; spiritual authority?
– What moments in the film touched you, both positively and negatively? What do they say to our present values and where you are on your spiritual path?
– Who authors our life? Who has authority over the significant dimensions of our life?
–  What is our relationship to that authority?
– After you have seen the film and re-read the reflection on Unredeemed Present how do you see, understand, –or maintain boundaries given the endemic presence of violence in our contemporary world and life-styles?
– In all of our lives there is the very human desire for security, meaning, relationships, and freedom. Where existentially do we find our satisfactions to that desire?
– Where is God in our quest for those satisfactions?

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This reflection is taken from www.fgitd.ca – a website which was developed to deal with current films and with further insights into the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. 

Finding God In the Dark: Taking the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius to the Movies (Novalis) by Canadian Jesuits, John Pungente and Monty Williams, answered a need for those looking to have access to their spiritual life but who did not have access to spiritual direction.  The web site  – www.fgitd.ca – continues this work. Please go to the web site for further material on the theme of the reflection.

The 2013 series –  Redeeming the Time – available on the web-site  www.fgitd.ca  allows users to explore the ways in which God uses our responses to our past, how we live today, and how we anticipate what is coming, to develop a deeper spiritual intimacy with God.   Earlier series – beginning in 2005 – are archived on the site. Check it out . . it could change your life.