What is the most inspirational clip/video you've seen on the
web and how has it inspired you?
The clip, “Most” The Movie (The Bridge) Music
Trailer Video*, is a condensed version of the Czech film, “Most”, and
beautifully portrays the story of unconditional love. Christian Cinemas summarizes the film as “the
story of the close relationship between a bridge operator and his young son and
the fateful day when they both try to head off an impending rail disaster.
Hundred of passengers on a steam train are unaware of the danger as they head
towards an open drawbridge.”
As
a train of people approaches the drawbridge, the son of the worker attempts
to pull the lever in order to close the bridge. While he is struggling to grasp
the handle, his father watches him fall in beneath the rail, all as the steam
train is quickly coming. Throughout the
clip, these captions fade across the screen: “Once there was a man, who had a son he loved very much. The man worked
as a bridge master for the railroad....His son loved to watch the trains...and
the people who traveled on them...people who were
lonely...angry...selfish...hurting...and addicted....A tragic mistake...leads
to a terrible choice...allow everyone on the train to die...or pull the
lever...and allow his son to be crushed by the bridge...”. A fury of
contemplation is filling up the weary man’s face as he holds the handle, torn
between the decision to save his one and only son, or have mercy on all of the
struggling people; those unaware of his heartbreaking choice. In the
last second, the man snaps the lever and the clip freezes, allowing for the
audience to absorb the sacrifice the father just made. Immediately following,
the man is beside the railroad as the train passes, and he is screaming, stricken
with overwhelming grief. He pulls at the hair on his head with stiff, curling
fingers and paces back and forth, swaying left to right. The windows of unsuspecting
passengers are passing, and the only one to notice the man is the drug addicted
woman. As she is lighting a substance, she meets eyes with the man as he lifts
his head in desperation toward the gray sky. She realizes that she had seen him
with his son as she boarded the train. The woman displays an unspoken ache for
the bridge master, and suddenly drops the drug. The captions continue: “The Salvation of all...Requires the
Sacrifice of One most dear....The Sacrifice of One...Brought hope for the
future....” In the next scene the same woman – now presumably sober and
born again with a new perspective and purpose – carries a small child through a
crowd of people. The man is amidst the crowd and recognizes the woman. His
seemingly unnoticed sacrifice is suddenly fulfilled in that brief moment, knowing
that the woman used the opportunity he provided to turn her life into something
praiseworthy. As the woman walks away
with the small baby, the man clasps his hands to his mouth and smiles. Had he
not made the sacrifice, this woman would have never known her true value. The
man raises his hands in the air, rejoicing. The clip fades to the most glorious
statement: “This is how much God loved
the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no
one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting
life. John 3:16, The Message”.
John
3:16 is illustrated in a way I hadn’t known before in this clip. The common
relationship between a loving single father and his bright-eyed son is forever
changed after the man’s heart-wrenching sacrifice in order to save people that
were undeserving compared to his son. In a way, I think the man sacrificed his
son in order to save me, had I been on the steam train. Distracted by elements
of unworthiness, jealousy, obsession, hate and anger, had my life ended on that
train, I would have never known my true worth and an unconditional love far
beyond my understanding. Then I realize that such a thing has taken place, and
I have been saved by the sacrifice of One’s only Son. By believing in Him – as
this clip has inspired – I can have a whole and lasting life. 