Salvation Boulevard

Needless to say... this one would be pretty offensive to the die hard Christians out there. So, let's just say, if you got offended by the movie Saved (written and directed by Brian Dannelly)... definitely skip Salvation Boulevard, but if you enjoyed Saved, as I did a great deal, then you might also enjoy this humorous jab at extremist believers. The story centers around an accidental shooting. The victim is Peter Blaylock, (Ed Harris) an atheist whose goal is to bring believers to see truth and reason. The shooter... (don't worry they give this part away in the previews) is famous and over the top Pastor Dan Day (Pierce Brosnan). The man in the middle... is recently saved, ex-Greatful Dead fan or "dead head" Carl Vanderveer (Greg Kinnear). Carl is married to Gwen (Jennifer Connelly) who led Carl to the Lord. Anyway, Pastor Dan, Peter, and Carl are in Peter's office discussing the idea of a pastor and an atheist co-writing a book of the two opposing beliefs when Pastor Day accidentally shoots Peter in the head. Pastor Dan proceeds... to place the gun in unconscious Peter's hand and tells Carl not to call the police.

This is when things get tricky. Carl doesn't know what to do so he calls 911 from a pay phone and anonymously reports hearing gun shots from Peter Blaylock's office. When Carl goes to his wife and father-in-law to reveal the truth about the shooting he is met with nothing but disbelief. They are convinced that he is having a mental episode of some kind. With nowhere else to turn, he goes back to the scene of the crime and confides in the security guard who coincidentally is an ex-"dead head" herself. Her name is Honey Foster (Marisa Tomei) and she represents a past life for Carl of partying and freeness that he is trying to forget. While the two are investigating, ninja like men jump out of a van covered in jesus-esque images and kidnap Carl.

To add to this huge mess, the news is released that Peter Blaylock is not dead but in a coma. Everyone is loosing their minds. Gwen, Carl's wife, is painting like a lunatic... images of demons tearing her husband away from the church and so on. Pastor Dan is trying to keep his "God's will be done" face on while really scheming a way to save his ass from jail, and Carl is trying to find a way to stay alive.

Well, Greg Kinnear is great in everything I've seen him in from Some One Like You to Little Miss Sunshine, and he was great in this as well. Pierce Brosnan has grown on me as an actor. I used to not care for him at all, but he gained my respect in Ghost Writer. In Salvation Boulevard he plays the perfect unlikable fake that he's supposed to be. For the maybe five minutes that Ed Harris is on screen he's wonderful as usual, and I love seeing Jennifer Connelly play the tightly wound unhinged lunatic. She does it so well (for example in the movie Virginia). All in all I have to say I still prefer Saved as a movie for exposing the dark sides of Christian extremists, mostly because I felt like I got closer to the characters than in Salvation Boulevard. But Salvation Boulevard was still a wonderful story of ignorance and stupidity and what you get when you stand against it... shot in the head...:) Only joking.

Detachment

Detachment is about a teacher, a substitute teacher named Henry Barthes (Adrien Brody). Barthes is "detached"... which allows him to be calm in the chaos around him. He begins substitute teaching in a high school where students threaten teachers with violence and even rape. What reward do these educators get for their time and energy? They get verbally assaulted and maybe even spat on. The kids are also academically well below par. So on top of stomaching daily harassment from students, teachers are expected to raise scores on state tests. Each member of faculty deals with the daily challenge of teaching differently. Henry walks in on his first day and says to his students that there is only one rule in his class... "If you don't want to be here, you are free to leave." He allows the kids to verbally attack him because he doesn't care, but when they attack another student they are... "free to leave." Henry slowly and some what painfully gains the respect/ trust of the classroom which then allows him to actually educate and influence.

Teaching is not the only struggle in Henry's life. Henry's grandpa suffers from dementia and lives in an assisted living facility. He visits his grandpa, who raised him, on a regular basis and is in a constant fight with his caretakers to actually care for him properly. As he cares for his grandpa he experiences flashbacks of his childhood and his mother's suicide. His mothers suicide forever haunts him.

On his bus ride home, after visiting his grandpa, he sees a young girl in a tight black skimpy top, a very short black skirt, and knee high fish-net stockings exchanging oral sexual services to a sleazy looking older man. The young girl and Henry get off at the same stop. After unsuccessfully offering her services to him, Henry decides to take her to his apartment and let her get cleaned up and stay there for the night. The two form a rare kind of bond and Henry lets her stay with him on the condition that she won't bring her "business" into his apartment. He provides a safe place for Erica (Sami Gayle), which seems like something she's never had.

I really love the character Henry. He cares but in a sensible way. He sees things clearly and has pure intentions. His emotions are guarded but that only helps him to be able to do what he needs to do. I don't know if I've ever met a character like this but it's someone I would love to know in real life. He has his problems, we all do, but he doesn't make them anyone else's. Plus, Adrien Brody is brilliant... I can't imagine anyone else playing this role and making it work. He conveys so much without doing a whole lot and I think that's an amazing talent. Sami Gayle also does an amazing job in playing Erica. She's someone you want to protect and tell her that things can change for her. She's someone you can tell could do anything and just doesn't know it.

In my opinion this movie is phenomenal! It is a story about this one man, but it's also about so many other things... it's about the education system, the pressures and realities of teaching, it's about suicide, its about family, it's about battling life's struggles. It's really a movie that everyone can relate to, and I think that viewers who work in education will have a unique appreciation for it.