Once: Ordinary is never Ordinary.

Rotten Tomatoes gives it 97%. Jen lent us the DVD. Nathan and Cassie said we had to watch. Brandon called it a 'sacred piece of filmmaking'. Tubeo drew parallels to the gospel. They were right. Once is simply a beautiful film. I've now watched that first duet 4 times.

Raise your hopeful voice you have a choice/
You've made it now.

Here is my thought: the synopsis on the DVD jacket describes the movie as 'chasing your dreams'. But I think that this description is wrong. I think the movie is about the fact that if we are willing, we might see possibilities amid the ordinariness of living.

Granted, not many people write music as extraordinary as they did. But many of us feel very ordinary and incapable. Just about everyone has been broken-hearted. Many of us recall a memorable week in which we were carried along by the possibility of love. Lots of artists record their songs hoping for others to recognize their creative skills. Many of us have 'Hoover-Guy' jobs. We stumble over our words. We say dumb things. And we all want more than we have right now.

This movie takes an ordinary man and an ordinary woman and lifts them up above the fray: Ordinary is never ordinary.

Take this sinking ship and point it home/
We've still got time.

A ordinary English Anglican once said:

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations--these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit--immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.

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PS Jen -- Movie is back to the store -- with no fine. :)