22 March 2010



"There's a passage I got memorized. Ezekiel 25:17. 'The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you.' ...I never gave much thought to what it meant. ... See, now I'm thinkin': maybe it means you're the evil man. And I'm the righteous man. And Mr. 9mm here, he's the shepherd protecting my righteous ass in the valley of darkness. Or it could mean you're the righteous man and I'm the shepherd and it's the world that's evil and selfish. And I'd like that. But that ain't the truth. The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be the shepherd."

(In an effort to get back to normal with this blog, I've decided to just start posting something from or a reflection on whatever movie I've been thinking about most on a given day. I usually refer back to movies far more than is probably normal, but oh well. Hence this blog. This scene kept ringing in my ears today. Probably one of my favorite bits of dialogue in all of cinema. In fact, Jules is probably one of the best characters Tarantino ever wrote, with Hans Landa coming at a close second. I digress, but at any rate, this is how I feel today. I'm trying. I'm trying real hard to be the shepherd.)

No comments: