Saturday, June 23, 2018

Van Gogh biography movie review

So I had some extra time and had never seen Kirk Douglas in the classic movie "Lust for Life".   I decided at the click of several buttons which Amazon makes so easy to stream this movie and see how they portray the artist Vincent Van Gogh.    I didn't realize until recently that Vincent started out as a missionary, and this movie portrays that really well.  He tries to be a missionary but is turned off by the church approach to poverty.   Admirably, Vincent felt that to reach people it helped to live like them.  The clergy who was responsible for sending him to his mission field felt differently.  They thought he needed to be staying in nice hotels instead of beat-down huts helping the people he was attempting to witness to.   I have to agree with Vincent on that point.  Anyway, he left the mission field and started to paint.  Vincent was very blessed to have a brother who was a strong believer in his talent, and (at least in the movie) helped support him throughout his painting career. 

I thought Kirk Douglas did a wonderful job in this movie portraying Van Gogh.  He played the part very well, and gave me a deeper understanding of some of the struggles that Van Gogh dealt with.  Vincent Van Gogh was a troubled man who used art to express some of his frustrations and also used it as therapy.    Throughout the movie it showed Vincent Van Gogh as a troubled but brilliant artist.  Toward the end of his life he checks himself into a mental health asylum (very admirably) and stayed there until they deemed him fit enough to return to society.  The sad part is that they released him into society and he didn't seem to be ready.  He unsuccessfully attempted suicide, and didn't really seem to fit into society throughout the remainder of his life. 

Overall, I found this movie insightful and informative into the life of Van Gogh.  Most people are familiar with some of his paintings, and the guy clearly had talent.  Unfortunately,   he was misunderstood and troubled about several things in his life.  He didn't seem to understand how love could be one-sided, nor did he have many close friends other than his brother.  He was a great artist but sadly it appears from this movie that he may have left the abundant life offered in Jesus Christ to try to make sense of the world with art.  That didn't end up very well for him.