paint it purple

This is a soulish film, for soulish people.  I didn’t know much about Beethoven except he wrote his 9th Symphony and - .  I didn’t need to know anything about Beethoven to enjoy the film, but I did need to be spiritual - this surprised me. 

The film creates a dialogue between Beethoven and his copyist, a top student, a wanna-be composer and a young woman.  Anna plays foil so we can explore the soul of Beethoven.  Beethoven has been excommunicated from the church (my kinda guy), he argues with god.  He describes his relationship with god ‘like two old bears in a cave together.’  Beethoven’s spirituality is contemptuous - he “rassles” with the Almighty.  He never pretends to comprehend god - but he ‘knows him,’ and he says he speaks his language, the language of music.  Others do not understand.  Anna seeks, she seeks to understand the language she is assigned to dictate.  She so desperately wants to speak the language Beethoven understands.  Now for my contemplative plug:  Beethoven says he never heard the voice of god until he went deaf.  In his silence he hears heaven.  He walks in the woods alone in in his silence and hears music, the voice of god.  People wonder what I do when I go on solitude retreat each month.  I listen, I rassle, I try to answer god and grow silent.

 Those who wrestle with god are most misunderstood.  I just read a newspaper article quoting Time magazine, quoting a new book, Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light, which (wrongly) implies she “struggled with her faith for 50 years” - that she didn’t believe in god.  ”I have no faith,” the quoters quote (nobody reads much anymore).  I say that only those who truly wrestle with god will speak this way.  Everyone else is doing polite pagan folk religion.  Teresa probably knew god better than the rest of us, like a moth who gets too close to the light-bulb and gets burned.  We just enjoy the light, but the moth only speaks of the irresistible heat.  Jacob wrestles with the Almighty and forever after limps, injured for life, hip out of joint, his name changed to “Israel, one who wrestles with GOD.” 

Beethoven must have been a god-wrestler.  Good.  I am so thankful the film focused on this refreshing soul-work.  But I am afraid nobody cares for such Christian wisdom and insight from film today - Christianity is out of vogue.  Lucky for us, Beethoven was out of step within Christianity as well.  You should see the film.  It is well done and Ed Harris does a great job of being a brute.  Contrived, yes.  Manufactured story, yes.  No matter, your soul needs this reflection, this window into the soul of an artist who hears the voice of god - and rassles.