“That’s the future.”
“If that’s the future, you can keep it.”
This snippet of conversation comes from the award winning film The Artist. It takes place in a highly charged, pivotal scene and is between the movie studio chief and his star. Many critics attribute the picture’s success to its back-to-the-old-days silent film presentation. While clearly a hallmark among today’s fast paced, high-tech and fantastical filmmaking, what’s significant to me is the quiet portrayal of one’s inability to move into the future. Unwilling to transition into “talkies,” this silent movie star unwittingly chooses obsolescence. In other words, he couldn’t embrace change. What follows is a story of self-pity and ultimately self-destruction, nigh to death. What saves him? Hope. Hope found through a friend’s gentle intervention into the dark night of his soul and the encouragement to re-discover a passion and purpose that would carry him into the future. 
Spoiler alert: What brings this Hollywood icon back to life is a new dream that is based on his unique experience, gifting, skills, and passion!
I loved the movie. It portrayed in living black-and-white the struggle many of us encounter as we transition through life events such as career to retirement, married to single, self-sufficient to dependent, young to old. Some transitions are so dramatic and devastating they leave us wondering if survival is possible, much less desirable. Our heart cries out, “If that’s the future, you can keep it.”
Interesting choice. We can let the future steamroll over us until we disappear into obscurity. Or, we could take a discerning journey into our past and discover all that has led us to where we are. We can explore our natural and spiritual gifts, our skills, our values, and our passions – that which makes us exceptional for this time and place in history. We can ask God for inspiration and direction for the next stages of life.
That’s the essence of Re-Ignite: To gently intervene in lives and encourage the re-discovery of passion and purpose. Or, more simply put, to bring out The Artist in each one of us!
by Leona Bergstrom, Director, Re-Ignite
Click here to see the trailer for The Artist.
