The Soloist

I just went to see the new movie in theaters with Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx called The Soloist. SUPER INSPIRATIONAL!! I thought it was a beautiful film and really provoked me to think introspectively about the comfort in my life. Jamie Foxx's character, Nathaniel, is a homeless man on the streets of L.A. and Robert Downey Jr. (I'm blanking on his character's name...) is a writer for the L.A. Times who stumbles across Nathaniel playing the violin in a park downtown and is instantly intrigued by his story and decides to write a column about him. What I loved about this movie is how Robert Downey Jr. made an effort to know this homeless man, to become his friend and to love him. Seeing the terrible images of the violence, sickness and turmoil of the homeless community in L.A. was really disturbing. My heart ached for those people and then I realized, what is this pity doing? Who is it actually helping?... No one. In the end, Robert Downey Jr. is tormented by the fact that he can't cure Nathaniel's problems, that's not what he was called to do, but loving him and supporting him as a friend was enough. The last line of the film is "being loyal to something can carry you home." Nathaniel's passion and commitment to music gave him deeper comfort than having a home, and Robert Downey Jr's commitment to Nathaniel was more fulfilling in a deep lasting relationship than just putting him in a homeless shelter. What is 'a home'? (I think we'll only know the answer to this when we're in heaven).

(The reason I chose a shopping cart as the image for this entry is because, after seeing Nathaniel's contentment with sleeping on the street just with the belongings he could fit and defend in his shopping cart, it  made me wonder what belongings of mine I would chose to keep with me and defend in a shopping cart for the rest of my life.)