First Reformed

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First Reformed – a Phone Call from God

One of the benefits of being in London is that there is a lot going on. As you probably know, I love the arts and so attending the London Sundance Film Festival is something that I now do when possible. On Friday evening I had the good fortune to see First Reformed, it was a special screening with Ethan Hawke, (who most will remember as Todd from 1989 Dead Poets Society) introducing and discussing the film by Paul Schrader who turns 72 in July and continues to make movies.

Schrader is a writer and Director, somewhat controversial with scripts from Taxi Driver, Obsession, Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ and Mosquito Coast to name a few. This new film is a powerful story about a former soldier, now clergyman coming to terms with some very difficult truths within a complex world.

The Activist Struggle

On the one hand it is a response to the feelings around the collective denial about the scale of the environmental problem that we all face. The story centres around May (Amanda Seyfried) and Michael (Philip Ettinger) who are expecting their first child. As environmental activists Michael despairs at the prospect of bringing a child into a doomed world. Toller (Ethan Hawke) provides counsel and comforts them as they struggle.

Toller has his own struggles, his own family military traditions resulted in him encouraging his own son to enlist, who was subsequently killed, resulting in his own marriage collapsing. This appears to have thrown him into church life and he is given a tiny, historic church with a congregation to match, in stark contrast to the business-like operation “Abundant Life” who have all the advantages that size brings in the form of resources but lack the one meaningful element of intimate connection.

Tradition, Honour, Discpline your Excellence..

The story explores ideas about authority, leadership and tradition set against a backdrop that requires much more thoughtful responses and integration of ethics. Money, greed and avoiding seeing what is discomforting all posed as the “proper” way. There are deep challenges to the American way of life within this film, as there are in Taxi Driver and other Schrader movies. A deep sense of injustice and a desperation to restore the balance of power reside at the heart of this dark tale.

We all have out blind spots. Sometimes these are helpful, they may even enable us to function. However, on occasion we must address difficult subjects and make some changes – hopefully, changes in our actions that are harming our own and only environment can be made in time to spare us from our folly. There are lots of reasons to he hopeful in life, but this movie reminds us of the challenge and perhaps a nagging feeling that there, but for the grace of God…

I did not like the ending at all. It was evidently written by a man, there is a bit when May, a heavily pregnant woman, finds a form of bliss in that awful Terrence Malick kind of way. I will not spoil it for you, but it didn’t work for me, the rest of the film was rather good until that last moment, but then, perhaps that is entirely the point. We all get to make choices each day about our behaviour – whether to recycle or to pollute. In a similar way, each day we get to choose, whether to plan for our future or ignore it yet again. Time waits for no one and ultimately, we will have to live with the consequences of our actions.

First Reformed is due to be released in the UK later this year. Here is the trailer and it may well be one of Hawke’s best to date.

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

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Donald Trump

It is very easy to ridicule Donald Trump, whilst obviously being rich and a shrewd businessman, which for some seem the only important credentials, for most ordinary people, there is an obvious lack in his basic ability to lead, let alone act with any sense of compassionate understanding.

Thankfully, the US Presidential election is now just a little over three weeks away, with the votes being cast on Tuesday 8th November. Over the last few months I have met many Americans and all of them, without exception have felt the need to begin with an apology for how Donald Trump has even managed to make it this far. Yet in truth, despite the obvious inappropriateness of his presence at the Presidential election, our own politicians scarcely do much better.

It’s not as if these roles are unimportant. There are clearly enormous problems at home and abroad that require a collaborative approach to finding solutions. The most obvious being that of climate change, yet the US, now eclipsed by China as the world’s largest polluter, has a Senate that is significantly paid by fossil fuel companies to block any progress on climate change policy. Many of whom are deny the reality of climate change, supporting the 3% of scientists who take the same view. In 2016, some $20.7m went to Republican senators from the Oil and Gas industry ($2.9m went to Democrat Senators). This isn’t so much cash for questions, but cash for impediment. In fact, the entire energy and resource sector paid out $9,280m to Democrats and $38,904m to Republicans in 2016 (source: www.opensecrets.org).

Walk the talk…

There seems to be a chasm of difference at times. Many calling themselves “Christian” essentially expressing the view that difference is not simply unwelcome, but provides a legitimate reason to murder and annihilate (see the report from the conservative Republican newspaper in Arizona who for the first time in its history endorsed a Democrat rather than Donald Trump). What is jaw-dropping about this is simply the utter lack of self-awareness, humility, humanity and an inability to see that there is just about a gnat’s whisker of difference between some of them and other extremist zealots that we call terrorists. Yet this apparent contradiction between stated “faith” and personal actions seems completely lost.

The small but deeply misguided minority

Which brings me back to my point. Americans apologising. Well, for starters I know of nobody that thinks all Christians or all Muslims are extremist bigots, any more than anyone thinks all Americans are nuts. OK I don’t keep company with those that express such views, but my point is that whilst we are shocked by what can come out of the mouths of Donald Trump and his “supporters” we don’t really think all Americans are like this, not for a millisecond. In the same way that we don’t think all Christians or Muslims, Jews or anyone else are hell-bent on making life utterly miserable. Some do, most don’t. Generalism is decidedly unhelpful in the world of adult conversation, particularly when serious topics are being discussed.

Comment is free… but costly

We have our own rather ridiculous politicians, many of them leading the country, or attempting to be an opposition, we are all hoping that common sense will prevail – eventually, yet our own prejudices are fed on slime from virtually every angle. Social media provides a forum to air frustration and requires significant self-control to avoid being dragged into argument. There is a very good radio play called “Comment is Free” by James Fritz which addresses the collective problem (well worth a listen).

So as I, and perhaps you, mock Donald Trump – publicly or privately, it occurs to me that one good thing has come from all of this – that topics of importance are being raised and discussed in homes all around the world. So perhaps there is a silver lining after all, though I do feel as though I’m grasping at straws…

As for the impact on your investments whoever wins, sadly the truth is uncomfortable. Nobody knows. Most have an opinion, but nobody knows. However, there is nothing that I have seen or heard to date that offers a credible challenge to the long-term principles of investing.

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA