Clay Childress
Dr. Ballard
Introduction Into Old Testament
1 October 2014
The Place Beyond the Pines Movie Review The Place Beyond the Pines is an epic that follows the lives of two men on opposite ends of the spectrum. Luke Glanton is a mysterious motorcycle stunt rider, jumping from town to town with the carnival. Avery Cross has just graduated law school, and is a rookie police officer, trying to climb the ranks in the corrupted force in which he works; however, both men have one thing in common that will change their futures and the futures of their sons…Jason and A.J. After a night of preforming Luke, reconnects with a past lover, Romina, Luke gives her a ride back home and discovers that she had a child, fathered by himself; however Ro has a new man (Kofie) in her life that she loves, but Luke immediately falls in love with her and his son, Jason. Luke quits the carney job and while ridding meets a man named Robin. Robin owns a repair shop and hires Luke as a helping hand. Not content with the money he is making and the fact that he cannot support Ro and Jason, Robin gives Luke a way to make quick money. Rob a bank. At first Luke rejects the idea, but with Ro constantly asking how Luke will be able to provide he takes Robin up on his offer and begins to rob banks with his best skill. Riding motorcycles. Luke hits three banks in a matter of months and begins to win over Ro. One day when Ro and Kofie are out, Luke brings Jason toys and a new crib. When Ro gets home though it is not as pleasant as Luke imagined, especially since Ro and Jason live with Kofie. Upset that Luke is in his house Kofi urges Luke to leave his house, getting rather heated when Luke keeps shushing him. Kofi starts to get in Luke’s face and Luke hits Kofi with a ratchet. Ro calls the police and Luke is arrested for second degree assault. Robin bails him out but Luke has as plan to gain Ro’s forgiveness…Luke is going to hit two banks on the same day. One problem Robin does not want any part of Luke’s plan, telling him the most potent line in the movie… “If you ride like lighting, you’re going to crash like thunder”. Luke still decides to rob both banks, but after slowly hitting the first, bank his motorcycle didn’t start until the police had already shown up. Now in a chase Luke’s tire pops forcing him to break into a house. This is when Avery enters the story. Avery is the only cop who saw Luke enter the house and afraid that he escape, Avery enters the house hoping to flush out Luke. Luke on the other hand proceeds to call Ro and beg her to never let Jason find out about what he did, to never let Jason know the whole truth about his dad. Just as he is finishing up, Avery busts in and shoots Luke without warning. While falling out of the window he was sitting in, Luke gets one shot on Avery and it catches him in the leg. Luke falls to his death and Avery is now the hero of the police force and the tale of Luke Glanton comes to an end, but the story of Jason, Avery and A.J has just begun. Avery is now the hero of the police force, yet he feels the guilt of killing Luke every day and the fact that Jason will grow up without a father hits closely to home with Avery. After weeks of bed rest and recover from his own wound, a few of the crooked cops show up to take Avery on a night into town with them, or so his wife thinks. The officers go to Kofi’s house to try to find the rest of the money that Luke stole, but not for evidence, for personal gain. After quickly finding the money, they cut the cash down the middle giving Avery over half the pile. Avery started living with remorse, constantly going back to the feeling of guilt until he no longer could take it and brought the department to its knees by ratting out the shady cops. After the shake down, the story skips 18 years into the lives of A.J and Jason and how the sins of their fathers lead them into a path of despair. In Exodus 34:7 Moses writes “…Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” This is the exact theme in the movie. The sins of the fathers will haunt and punish their children. Luke and Avery, even though they were on opposite sides of the law, both were not left unpunished, nor were their children. Luke’s punishment was the ultimate, death. Avery’s however was probably far worse. Years of mental guilt, years of despair that ruined his marriage, ruined his relationship with A.J. Just as Moses wrote the parent’s sins will fall upon the children and they too will be punished, and they were. Jason is a loner, always seeking something better, hopelessly in depression by the void of never knowing his father. He is hooked on drugs and is discontented with his life. A.J fills the void of his father never being around by partying, and doing any drug he can get his hands on. He is egocentric and selfish, willing to bring others down just to get what he wants. When Jason and A.J get busted for ecstasy, Avery comes face to face with how his sins effected not A.J but Jason and how Jason’s life has been doomed from day one. I personally loved this film. The message that sin follows no matter where you go reminds me of Jonah and that redemption is exactly where you fall. In retrospect I respect Luke’s disregard for the law to simply for his son, by any means. I respect that Luke never wanted Jason to find out about his life. I found the love of this movie really overflowing. I found I was placing myself in A.J and Jason’s shoes, wondering how I would continue with such weight against me. The film was a beautiful representation that sometimes people cannot escape their fate and the best escape is to simply forgive.
The whole epic of Luke, Jason, Avery and A.J is based of the early sins the fathers. How their actions lead to the destruction of all their lives. Avery only releases his guilt after Jason holds him at gunpoint. Jason only forgives after Avery’s emotional, painful apology, and A.J survives through his father’s guilt being lifted. Forgiveness is the main take away from this epic story. Forgiveness and the power to move on and to not let the past control you are the backbone, branching off to how sins never disappear, rather follow into the next generation and cause pain not seen in the moment. With beauty and grace this film portrayed its messages in such a real manner that the film felt real, and that is what made the movie. It was real.