Just
finished watching the Netflix mini series The Queen's Gambit and the lump in my throat is still tugging for
tears, anchored forever in my heart as a special piece of art for the soul with
a timeless inspiration; perhaps one that can carry us forth into a brave new
world. The fictional story of a chess champion in the 1960’s is a writing and directorial
masterpiece quelling together the subtleties of distraction to yield a powerful
purposeful focus based on a novel of the same name by the late Walter Tevis.
Magical glamorous Zen, such a shield for distorting enveloped emotions;
and all we have to do is guard against bottling up outbursts, a lesson we see
her learning in the end with such slow passionate grace. Desires on display
with each pensive moment, like the main character Beth inhabiting a constant
liminal or transitional space.
In a young girl’s face, we see such relatable meaning; vulnerable in
isolation yet strong through a subtle intensity. While the main character as an
adult, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, held strong and pierced well with eyes like a
mirror, no one conveyed more with less than the extraordinary child Isla Johnston
who played the young Beth Harmon. She has a natural gift that’s extremely rare.
Something that can’t be taught, like the endless expressions of Meryl Streep or
those of Mark Ruffalo who recently marveled in an HBO miniseries “I know this
Much is True”. Ruffalo playing two tarnished souls brandishing conviction with cringes
and stares. Their faces tell the story and define moments without words. In the
Queen’s Gambit Isla was the lead runner who despite having only a supporting
role handed the baton to Joy’s giant eyes with an enormous lead. For acting
this is the space between good and genius; how they impart meaning naturally
and organically without words yet in The Queen’s Gambit so too does the dialogue
punctuate where we are; holding true to our values of justice and humanity. Like
the great actor Matthew McConaughey’s words to graduates used in a current car commercial
for Lincoln, “Eliminate
who you are NOT first, and you'll find yourself
where you need to be”. We know who
Beth and her world is and we could hear our hearts there if we listen to the signs,
so masterfully and painstakingly laid out by the writers and director Scott Frank,
always finding some sound in the background or substantive dialogue to help us
define the story not just of the genius player but of our connection to divinity.
Even more extraordinary; it was a connection we could see but she could not until
the end when her own vices were finally revealed from within. Not aided through
religious guilt or hypocritic posturing but with tempered kindness and caring. She
thought she needed tranquilizing pills to use God’s power to see beyond but it
was only through her own clarity that she was able win; realizing what to do among
all the possibilities naturally inherit. Chess is a true parity for life.
The series’ timing excels not just with symbolic gestures, but with bold
statements, like a classic film about Jesus or another highlighting excess all
while thrilling vulnerabilities wrecked with suspense, patterned over each shot
with care, like a chess board imagined in shadows dancing on a ceiling. Fame and fortune
were not important to her. What was important to her, and what she found she
truly needed was to find how the task correlated to her identity; a truth she
savored unknowingly, much like God. And as we wait for November third, America likewise
holds its breath. Will the disillusioned lose their soul succumbing to the
beasts of the southern wind and will the reluctant like Beth’s adopted mom
pocketing 15 percent with an enabling smile similar to the neoliberals of today
ignore the purist hopes or will we push forward and truly change; ridding ourselves
of all the false dichotomies for a new age of reasoned progress and structural
reforms that herald our real worth as a just free nation no longer subjugated
by greed or vanity? In the end Beth
becomes a true champion because she walked without fear, embracing the common
people who loved her for who she was, true to herself, unspoiled and untainted
like the American Dream.
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