We got the Jonathon Demme movie Man From Plains this past week and have watched it three times. I don't think I want to watch it a fourth time, but I enjoyed seeing it three times, kept getting more out of it each time.

First time through I thought it was a pretty wonderful portrait and documentary about Mr. Carter with a focus on his born-again Christian belief that he should follow the Prince of Peace school of Christianity. He is clearly steeped in the Old and New Testament and it would be foolish to enter into a debate with him on the foreign policy application of the Gospels. I think he certainly could teach me a bunch about not reacting with anger when attacked and he was under attack in several sections of the film.

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So I gave it a thumbs up on the first viewing. Spouse gave it four snores. Said it was wonderfully soothing, she could go to sleep watching it anytime I want to watch it again. That, by the way, is a good review from Marylea.

Second viewing was in the context of a discussion about the language of love that Marylea and I were having. She is reading a book on language of love right now: The Five Love Lanuages by Gary Chapman. The five formats listed in that book:

1. Words of affirmation
   
2. Quality time
3. Receiving gifts
4. Acts of service
5. Physical touch

Number one and three are very weak for me. I don't like the commercial and consumption focus of 3 with gifts and words of affirmation are meaningless to me unless they are an individual mantra, a neurolinguistic programming that we do with ourselves to align our thoughts and deeds. As promises and followthrough do not always align in the orwellian times we are living through where a missile can be named the peacemaker without any sense of irony, and I respect the Biblical admonition that by my deeds rather than my words shall I be known, I prefer to practice and express love in the formats that Chapman identifies as 2, 4 and 5.

In the course of this discussion, I suggested that we watch the Man From Plains again with four eyes open with the purpose of seeing how love was expressed and received, lived, by this man that we both admire and respect.

So second viewing was along those lines and the relationship between Jimmy and Roslyn Carter as a subtext to the documentary was a loving and supportive relationship, but not a lot of gushing. They engage in handholding during prayer before a meal in the film and at a picnic, they are in intimate and supportive conversation by phone when apart. Their respective service commitments appear to align with each other and towards others. Jimmy appears to express love primarily in physical touch, he hugs and kisses his assistant from the book publisher when they meet and he seems to relate to her like a daughter, affectionately and thoughtfully. But Jimmy also makes light of himself, probably honestly and openly in a clip from the Jay Leno Tonight Show that makes it into this film and his spoken words at that moment could cause Roslyn some discomfort, but I suspect that they have long since made their commitment to each other and it is real, deep, and sustaining and that the spoken word is a small part of their language of love.

After this viewing, I still thought it was a very fine film and Marylea agreed that it was moving and meaningful and could be watched with eyes wide open or wide shut. Either way, it got her approval.

Third viewing was to share the film with our friend Donna who stays over with us most Tuesdays and Thursdays, saves her long rides on her work commute to her job in Centralia to stay with us and we all enjoy the time together. She is a Kucinich/Obama political type. A person who like many of my progressive friends moved to the right during the late 70's and 80's and who have moved back to the left pretty hard over the Bush terms. I have to acknowledge that Reagan and Bush 1 to a lesser extent were reasonable conservative presidents, a little too ready to start dropping bombs, deploying the CIA, mines and troops for regime change for my taste, but compared to Bush Jr. these guys look pretty good. Also, there is no denying Reagan's powerful skill as a communicator. Great smile, very easy and comfortable with the camera rolling on him. He needed some cuing as he aged and the dementia processes started to take effect, but they held that together pretty well, I guess.

Clinton was not my choice for a progressive president and his generally mainstream/centrist/corporatist policies were at best tolerable to me. Like Reagan, he enjoys the limelight and can be quite persuasive, but Clinton did not appear to have incorporated any powerful and ethical discipline into his person or politics. I think he was a personal and political opportunist who in the depths of his heart could not decide what principles were truly important to him. I think Clinton liked the physical touch language of love with a real appetite for the carnal and the perks of the bully pulpit. Not the first or last who will succumb to the lures of the aphrodisiac component of the corridors of power.

But in the third and final viewing of the film, I was simply watching Jimmy and appreciating the fact that such a man could be elected President in my lifetime. He has spent his lifetime studying the teachings of Jesus and trying to incorporate the teachings into his daily life, his relationships, and his aspirations for us all.

Peace of God to you, Jimmy.

A big "Thank You" to Jonathon Demme, one of my favorite directors for taking on this project.