Last week while driving around Greensboro listening to All Things Considered, I was captivated by a set of interviews with children who had seen The Princess and the Frog.  Little girls were excited to see a princess who “looks like me,” and even a little boy or two noted that the film was important historically.  Clearly, these kids understood the cultural context for the newest Disney release.

Honestly, this will not be one of my favorite Disney movies – I can’t recall an individual song a few days after seeing it, and while the animation was at the expected high level for these hand-drawn films, it was not spectacular.  But, there are elements that recommend the film.

What sets this film apart from its predecessors is the depiction of race.  It’s significant that this is the first Disney film with an African American princess, but there is more going on here, too.

The Princess and the Frog has two “princesses,” one black and one white, and only one of them lands an actual prince, though both of them want to marry him.  Prince Naveen’s character fascinates me because he falls somewhere between the two “princesses” on the color scale and, you might say,  his depiction represents a fairly sophisticated approach to racial indeterminancy.  What is his race?  Who knows?  And no one seems to care.

New Orleans is the perfect setting for such a story because of the city’s history.  There’s jazz.  There’s food.  There’s a European influence.  (Naveen is from Maldonia, which is fictive but certain markers make it seem more European than not).  And, of course,  there’s the fluidity of racial identity that has always existed in The Big Easy in greater degrees than surrounding regions.

The Princess and the Frog is a baby step toward a post-racial America built on acknowledging our complex past while looking toward the future.  That’s worth a lot more than a memorable song or a showstopping animation sequence.

I had been looking forward to Brothers based on director Jim Sheridan’s track record – he’s probably best known for My Left Foot and In America.  Brothers is a remake of a Danish film, and Hollywood creative types often blunder by making these remakes too glossy in ways that diminish the effort.  Not this time.

Sheridan doesn’t make formulaic films.  He’s better than that, which may or may not have anything to do with the fact that he’s Irish and has worked outside of the commercial Hollywood system.  At any rate, he’s better than a run of the mill craftsperson and that holds true, too, for the cast Sheridan has assembled, including Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, and Tobey McGuire.  As usual, Sheridan also elicits improbably good performances from the child actors, two little girls central to the narrative.

On the surface, the story is pretty straightforward:  Gyllenhaal is the “bad” brother, recently released from prison; McGuire is the “good” brother, a military officer headed to Afganistan; and, Portman is married to the Marine with whom she has two daughters.  Even if you think you know what will happen in the film based on preview trailers and commercials, you really don’t know moment to moment how events will unfold and what choices characters will make, which certainly ratchets up the drama.

Brothers examines the ravages war takes on families and is an effective film in that it tells a gripping personal story and also explores some of the larger cultural implications of war, especially how wars can dehumanize those who fight them. For the most part, ideological elements of the film are expressed in subtle ways.  This is the type of balance struck by The Hurt Locker earlier this year (one film sure to make my “Top Ten List” for 2009 in a few weeks).  This approach worked then for director Kathryn Bigelow and works again this time around for Jim Sheridan.

This is a new show worth checking out!  Men of a Certain Age has been on TNT for two weeks – you can catch the first episodes online – and airs Mondays at 10 p.m.  Ray Romano, Andre Braugher (still miss seeing him from Homicide:  Life on the Street, and it’s been off the air ten years!), and Scott Bakula play three college buddies who have held on to the friendship over the years even as their lives have gone through a lot of change.  Now pushing 50, they are reassessing the world and their places in it.  This show is promising.  There are funny moments but be prepared for some difficult scenes.  After all, transitions can be tricky, and so far the series is willing to take us into those awkward places with each of these characters.

Before you get overwhelmed with the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, let me encourage you to sit back and take another look at It’s A Wonderful Life.  You might have a DVD copy at home, but December 8 and 9 you can see this Christmas classic on the big screen at 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. each day at The Carolina Theatre in Greensboro and benefit the Salvation Army of Greensboro at the same time (screening details at the end of the post).

Even though I watch this movie most years (I’m sure I’ve seen it at least 30 times), it’s not too late to bring a fresh sensibility to It’s A Wonderful Life.  I may not know precisely how many times I’ve watched it, but I do know with certainty the one sequence in the movie that gets me every time.

When Jimmy Stewart’s George Bailey character realizes what the world would have been like without him and begins to run home, I always take the involuntary deep breath.  The waterworks are soon to come.  My body relaxes, and the tears well up.  It might be while George Bailey is still on the run or when the collected money begins to tumble out of the basket or when the people he’s helped over the years start walking through the door with more money, but at some point during this sequence, the hot tears will start to roll down my cheeks and my heart seems to swelling just like the Grinch, you know, in the animated classic.  I feel so good…

Before I get all gooey on you, there is a qualification I want to make.  I think my emotional response to the film at this critical juncture is intensified by my appreciation of the politics of the picture.  Have you ever noticed that the film is a “Liberty Films” production and the company logo is an image of the Liberty Bell?

Director Frank Capra’s best known films are tales with populist themes that champion the cause of the little man against institutions and corporations and corrupt government officials.  It’s A Wonderful Life is part of this tradition.  When Capra is thinking about liberty, who’s he thinking about?  Certainly not mean old Mr. Potter, the greedy face of business interests, a man who wants to take over the town.  Capra casts the iconic figure of Jimmy Stewart, a real-life war hero and conflicted everyman.

It is a flawless performance.  We see George Bailey’s broad range of emotions cross Stewart’s face with a startling clarity.  George Bailey may be conflicted, but his essential nature is steadfast and true.  He wants to travel. He wants to go to college.  He craves adventure.  But he is needed in his hometown Bedford Falls.

In the end, George Bailey answers the call—whether the call is from God or his neighbors matters less than that Bailey hears it and answers it.  He puts others before self and changes the world around him.  When George Bailey reaches the end of his rope because of Potter’s malicious attempt to destroy the Bailey Family Savings and Loan that has helped working class folks in town for generations, our everyman hero despairs and thinks for a short time that the world would have been better off without him.  That’s when an unlikely angel arrives on the scene to show George Bailey what his town would be like if no one had been there to answer the call and combat the greed and selfishness represented by Mr. Potter.

George Bailey has touched a lot of lives…and has saved more than a few.  Still, he wonders about the value of his life before learning that it is wonderful.  And why is that?  Is it wonderful because he made a lot of money?  No.  Is it wonderful because he traveled the world?  No.  It’s because he did the right thing in the ways that he could and made a profound difference in the lives of others over time.  He valued family and friends and liberty for all above the external trappings of success, especially the accumulation of personal wealth.

His is a wonderful life because George Bailey listened for the call and responded to the needs of his world.  It’s A Wonderful Life is regarded as a Christmas story, but its message is important every day of the year.

SCREENING DETAILS:  Tickets are $5, available at the box office, by telephone, 336-333-2605, or online, www.carolinatheatre.com. The Carolina Theatre is located at 310 South Greene Street. The box office opens one hour prior to performance.

Moviegoers bringing tax-deductible donations of toys for children and non-perishable food will receive a $1 discount on theatre concessions. The Salvation Army’s Christmastime bell ringers will be present and a special Christmas honor card will be available.

Friday Night Lights is one of my favorite TV series of all time.  The fourth season of the celebrated show is currently airing on DIRECTV and will be broadcast on NBC after the first of the year when its subscription service run is finished.  I have seen the first four episodes of season four, and my (high) expectations have been met thus far.

If you have not been a fan or a regular viewer, you still have time to watch the first three seasons of Friday Night Lights and get caught up before season four starts on NBC.  This is television at its best (and the 2004 movie wasn’t bad either – didn’t read the book)!