We got a DVD copy of the New Adventures of Heidi for Christmas. I'll admit I was less than enthusiastic about the gift, but on Friday we just wanted to watch a movie, and it was too cold to go to the video store, so we popped it in. To my surprise I quite enjoyed it.
I was struck by how far we've come in 30 years. For starters, it wasn't digitally remastered, so it was a good reminder how much of a difference video quality has come. The story was about a delightful young girl who lives with her grandfather (Burl Ives) in a cottage on the Swiss Alps but discovers she may need to move away because her grandfather is going blind. Heidi meets a friend who is running away from a school road trip, and they forge a bond that is so strong her friend's family eventually takes Heidi in and they travel to New York City.
Friendship, Family, and Faith all feature strongly in the movie. My eyes got all watery more than once and I had a nice warm cozy feeling at the end of it. What was most interesting is how simple sincere prayers were a big part of the movie, and I can't remember the last time I've seen that. Recently if I've seen prayer in a movie it's either as a lame joke (think Talladega Nights) or it's part of an overtly religious movie like Facing the Giants. In this movie, it was just part of life and it helped advance the plot and conveyed the emotions the characters were feeling.
The neatest prayer was part of Heidi's grandfather's grace, "Lord, Help us to be grateful for all life’s blessings and to accept life’s disappointments without bitterness or complaint." That's good stuff, it foreshadowed the challenges the characters would face, and it got me thinking why don't I pray like that? I didn't have a good answer, so I've worked it into a few of my prayers already.
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