Film Flash: The Odyssey

 

15 words or less film review (full review to follow soon)

Excellent epic with big themes, sweeping scale, great performances, with minor (but real) flaws.

Trailer Time: I Play Rocky

 Here is the link to the trailer on YouTube.

I have always loved the story of how Sylvester Stallone made Rocky.  What always resonatted was how much the story of making the movie paralleled the movie itself.  It is really the same story, except one is about sports and the other about the movies.

It is a fundamentally American story.  There are a lot of people who fail at their dreams who believed in themselves.  But the only way to make your dreams come true is to have that unshakeable belief.  And in America, you can risk it all and win.

Anthony Ippolito's portrayal of Stallone seems spot-on.   He has his cadence, voice, and body language down.  Now an impression is not the same thing as a great performance, but he drew me in.  

And of course, this could all be a gigantic nostalgia-bait film.  So many of the shots in the trailer are either direct recreations of Rocky or are homages to it.  But that worked out really well for Michael, so I am excited.

Thoughts?

Sunday Best: 50 Most Beautiful Moments in Cinema - #40-#31

  

This is a continuation of this series started here.  

You can go there to see numbers 50-41.  You can also check it out to remember the ground rules and criteria for choosing.  A brief recap:

1. A moment can be only about 2 minutes.  

2. Only one moment per movie.

3. All the context matters.

4. The subjective element of beauty is real.

5. Beauty only.

So, with those in mind, I will now share #40-31 of the most beautiful moments in cinema.

I will provide Youtube links to the videos rather than embed them here.  I would imagine that because this is critical commentary it qualifies for fair use, but I'd rather not take that chance.

You can click any of the links below to see the clips (most of them should be timestamped to begin at the moment referred.

SPOILERS FOR ALL THE MOVIES BELOW

40. Jaws "Quint Sunset"

There are so many amazing moments and amazing shots in this movie, which is part of the reason it is in my top 10 movies of all time.  But in terms of beauty, there is something special about this shot.  It is maybe the last time that Quint carries with him an aura of some kind of omniscience.  Throughout the the movie he has been the one who really knows things.  Everyone else is wrong but him.  We see this especially in the scene where the shark first bites the line.  And now after Hooper has screwed up, He stands there at the end of the bow and just stares at him with a knowing smile.  The light behind him gives him an ethereal glow like Zeus in Clash of the Titans.  But as the sun sets, he is backlit and shrouded in darkness.  The sun is setting on him.  This is his last sunset.  From this point on, he will not be the one in control.  Even when he gives his amazing USS Indianapolis speech, he does so in a drunken stupor.  He must decrease so that Brody can increase.

39. Die Hard "Jump from the roof"

This might be the only shot from a purely "action movie" that is on my list.  But it really is a beautiful shot.  The action has been violent and frantic up until this point.  The music carries with it a frenzy of activity.  Emotionally, John (who is terrified of heights) is yelling at himself in incredulity of what he is about to do, but he has no choice.  Willis' performance is undervalued here.  Listen to his prayer when he says "Please, God, don't let me die!"  The scene cuts between him, the FBI helicopter, and the terrorists.

And then comes the jump.  Everything gets whisper quiet and moves in slow motion.  The first flare goes up as John jumps almost like a strange angel as the explosion billows up behind him.  This is one of the most iconic shots in movies for a reason.  It is pure cinema.

38.  Quo Vadis - "The Crucifixion of Peter"

One of the things that grabs me about this is how much it looks like a Renaissance painting.  The use of the colors and the framing are gorgeous.  The slow tilt up from the misty waters to the horrible sight of the crucifixion is oddly beautiful.  Captured in that is all the holiness of St. Peter, dying in humility, the same and different as our Lord.  The cross there is not just a place of death.  It takes place at Vatican Hill.  The cross is Peter putting a permanent stake in the world for Mother Church.  All of this is communicated in just a few small seconds.

37. The Way - "The incense" 

(I could only find this shot in a montage on Youtube)

I love this movie.  It makes me want to one day walk the Camino.  But this conclusion always gets me.  Director Emelio Estevez captures how a cathedral draws us up to heaven.  He makes our Catholic rituals feel the way they should: richly symbolic of the world to come.  Watching the giant thurible fill the church with incense as the main character's dead son aids in the blessing is beautiful.  It feels like a foretaste of what we will do in heaven.

 

36.  Batman (1989) - "Final Shot"

You can call me a fool if you like for choosing this shot from a comic book film over so many others, but I maintain that this is an absolutely fantastic shot.  There is a principle in film making that says you want to end with an exclamation point.  You want to give your audience a powerful moment to take with them right before the credits roll.  And this moment is that.

There is a sadness a the separation between Bruce and Vicki because he literally has a higher calling.  Director Tim Burton pulls us up higher and higher above the heights as the music swells.  And notice that it is not an unbroken shot.  He cross disolves to the final moment so that you get the feeling that Batman is higher above us than you can imagine.  He stands staring at the Bat-Signal.  He stands like a statue to show his constant vigil from this point forward.  It is a moment of triumph but one that implies not finality but perpetuity.  And notice that the signal is above him.  The call is bigger than the man.  That shows his real heroism.  He is not above looking down on us.  He is looking up at our call because he is serving us.

 

35.  Spirited Away - "Through the flowers"

(I could only find this shot in a montage on Youtube)

There are so many amazing moments in Miyazaki's movie.  But this moment, which is only a few seconds, always takes my breath away.  I think partly its because it is unlike almost any other shot in the movie.  I have not done any research on it, but it feels like it uses elements of computer graphics while at the same time never breaking out of its hand-drawn style.  And the colors are so vivid and beautiful.  It fits into this world that our main character is entering, full of beauty and wonder and danger.

34.  Up - "Final Shot"

This is one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen.  There are so many moments that we could unpack.  But the final shot of the house on the falls is the one that really takes the cake.  It symbolizes Carl's hopes and dreams.  There is something so thematically beautiful about it.  Pope John Paul II said that the human person is the one who finds himself when he gives himself away.  That is summed up in this shot.  Carl was obsessed with getting the house to the falls.  But he ends up sacrificing this dream in order to save Russel.  But in giving up that dream, he achieves it.  In the end, love fulfills us in every way.  The shot is so beautiful, capturing the color and grandeur of Ellie's dream.  And it is also tinged with sadness that Carl will never know that he did it.

33. Life is Beautiful- "Final Shot" 

The entire movie hinges on Guido trying to shield his son from the horrors of the holocaust.  Guido wasn't just trying to save his life, but preserve his innocence for as long as possible.  And he did everything he could in the end ot save his wife.  This final shot shows his ultimate triumph.  Joshua's final words, "We won!" resonate that his father has the victory because he achieved what he set out to do.  As his mother raises him in her arms under that tree, there is something almost Edenic in that shot: a return to the original innocence lost in the horrors of war.  And as the music swells, the tears flow.

32.  Field of Dreams - "Final Scene"

Very few movies capture the complex relationship between fathers and sons like Field of Dreams.  And it is a mystical and mysterious movie that never explains the magic.  But the movie is so good that we never want to know how it all works.  We just want to believe that it does.  So the final shot has a return of father and son, a restoring of that relationship.  While it is a return to childhood simplicity, it is not a regression.  They finally see each other as men, as equals.  And as this happens, the cars come pouring in.  I remember seeing this final moment in the theater and it taking my breath away.  The scope pulls out from the intimate to the universal.  That is a such a good metaphor for the power of stories.

31. West Side Story (1961) - "Tony and Maria meet"

We saw something slightly similar and more subtle with Lars and the Real Girl.  But here it is bigger and bolder.  And for this scene I am only referring to the moments before the dialogue begins.  Everything is communicated visually and with the music. It is definitely more artificial than in most movies.  The lighting and music change, the dream like dance sequence occurs like something that you would see on stage rather than in a movie.  But this film doesn't try to hide from its theater roots, but embraces them.  It creates a haze of fantasy that captures what that love-at-first-sight feeling is.  When Tony and Maria later sings "I saw you and the world went away," you feel it more intensely because you saw it with your own eyes.  The visuals help you enter into their hearts.   

Film Flash: Minions and Monsters

 

15 words or less film review (full review to follow soon)

The best Minions movie.  A love letter to the pioneers of film-making and old Hollywood.

Film Flash: Young Washinton

 

15 words or less film review (full review to follow soon)

A weak first act gives way to an engaging war drama, full of patriotism.

Sunday Best: 50 Most Beautiful Moments in Cinema - #50-41

 

A few months ago, a friend of mine asked me to make a list of the top ten most beautiful shots in movie history.  Because of my crazy brain, I was able to keep it to a tight fifty.

I also had a lot of trouble coming up with the list because a shot is a single, uncut moment from a film.  But there are so many moments that require the intercut between shots to accomplish its beauty.  So I decided that instead of most beautiful shots, it would the moment beautiful moments.

So there are a few ground rules for this list.

1. A moment can be only about 2 minutes.  

There are some scenes that are absolutely amazing.  But if the scene goes on long enough, I'm not sure you can call it a "moment."  So for this list, the moment had to be two minutes or less.  The exception is if it is a single shot.  There are a few on this list that last much longer than 2 minutes, because the entire moment is an unbroken shot, so there is no logical place to cut it.

2. Only one moment per movie.

This one was difficult, but it had to be that way.  Take a movie like The Sound of Music.  I recently rewatched it and nearly every scene is gorgeous.  If you said to me that it was the most beautifully filmed movie of all time, I would not object.  In fact, I would say that 90% of that movie is more beautifully shot than most films that have ever been made.  If I allowed multiple beautiful moments from the same movie, The Sound of Music would be too dominant.

3. All the context matters.

One of the other reasons I did not make this only about shots, is that a shot implies only the visual component.  But a movie is more than just the visual.  You have the convergence of story, music, performance, and editing that bring about the beautiful moment.  All of these things need to be taken into account.  Particularly, the context of the story gives a great deal of meaning and beauty to what is on the screen.  

4. The subjective element of beauty.

While I believe that there are some objective elements to what is beautiful, there is always a subjective element when it comes to any art.  I accept that there will be many who will disagree with me about what is on this list and what I have left off.  And it is possible that over time, my mind can change.  But I can only speak about that which affects me deeply.

5. Beauty only.

There are some moments in cinema that are deeply affective.  The show scene in Psycho is terrifying.  The moment Brody blows up the shark in Jaws is exhilarating.  Arthur's fight with the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail is hysterical.  But even though these moment provoke powerful emotions, it is not necessarily beautiful.  Something beautiful should touch the heart in a way that makes it ache for something deep and transcendent.  It should feel like it somehow touches something ethereal in some way.

So, with those in mind, I will now share #50-41 of the most beautiful moments in cinema.

I will provide Youtube links to the videos rather than embed them here.  I would imagine that because this is critical commentary it qualifies for fair use, but I'd rather not take that chance.

You can click any of the links below to see the clips (most of them should be timestamped to begin at the moment referred.

SPOILERS FOR ALL THE MOVIES BELOW

50. Gross Pointe Blank - "Under Pressure"

This is a strange black comedy from the '90's that I have great affection for.  Almost all of it is cynical, violent, and dark.  That's what makes this moment so strangely beautiful.  The main character is a hit man, but in this moment when he looks into the baby's eyes, you can feel the change come over him.  It is a moment where no words are needed.  The juxtaposition of the joy in the baby and the wonder in Martin's eyes is so affective that I am completley convinced about his change of heart in those few seconds.  And the use of "Under Pressure" creates the perfect emotional crescendo.  I have never forgotten this moment since the first time I saw it.

49. It's A Wonderful Life - "End of my rope"

This is a simple shot.  But I was fortunate to see a restored print of this movie on the big screen and the biggest takeaway I had was how beautiful the movie is, particularly this shot.  The happy music only seems to isolate George even more.  The slow push in and the use fo shadow and light highlight the drama.  On top of that it is one of the most affective performances I have ever seen in a movie.  When he says, "I'm at the end of my rope," I feel it deeply.  Normally, the moments on this list are this tense and sad.  But they do such an amazing job here I could keep it off the list.

48. Forrest Gump -"Peace with God"

There are so many things at work here.  This is really the culmination of Lt. Dan's character arc.  When he says, "I never thanked you for saving my life," he means that he didn't think his life was worth saving until this moment.  What is so visually striking about this is that they emphasize what he has lost.  His physical injury has not been healed.  But as he swims in the water, it is a beautiful baptism metaphor as he is washed in the this new life as he floats towards heaven.

47. Apollo 13 - Landing on the moon."

This is an amazing film.  But one of the things they do so well is emphasize how important landing on the moon is for Jim Lovell.  This fantasy sequence captures wordlessly the the awe, joy, and majesty of landing on another celestial body.  You feel the momentousness of leaving your permanent footprints on the moon.  But for me the shot that really captures it is Jim's hands raking through the lunar dust.  I can feel that moment in my own hand, in wonder at what that must be like and aching that this moment is snatched from Jim forever.

46. Lars and the Real Girl "Bowling with Margo"

This is such a delightful, small movie.  Lars is a crippling shy man who begins falling for his co-worker Margo.  I love the absolute simplicity of this scene: just going out and bowling.  Meanwhile there are all the little moments and longing looks so familiar to those who have crushes.  But the moment that puts it over the top for me is that shot towards the end where they use a very shallow focus so that from Lars' point-of-view, all he sees is Margo and you really begin to feel what Lars is feeling.

45. The Last of the Mohicans - "Final Scene"

This is one of the most under appreciated movies of the 1990's, in my opinion.  I always felt that this movie should be more popular than it is.  This final moment has Chingachcook mourning the death of his son Uncas.  This moment does something that few movies do so well: it makes the title of the movie the most powerful line of dialogue.  And as you see our survivors look out at the vast wilderness, there is sadness, despair, and hope all rolled into one.

44. The Untouchables - "The Strength of Righteousness"

The scene plays out like a very typical action scene.  But the one moment that makes it stand out is the shot of all four Untouchables as they ride along the river.  It is a powerful shot of heroes sallying for to do heroic things.  This is put over the top by Ennio Morricone's amazing score titled "The Strength of Righteousness."  I mention the title here, because the shot perfectly summarizes the song's title.

43. Jurassic Park - "Running with Dinosaurs"

There are a lot of shots from this movie to choose from.  I would imagine most people would choose the first time Grant and Ellie see the dinosaur or perhaps the sick triceratops.  But this incredibly short moment is the one.  Notice it doesn't even need any musical flourish to accompany it.  It is a dynamic shot, perfectly framed, with a paradisal backdrop.  If there is a single moment that encapsulates the thrill possibilities of what this park could hold, it is the moment when the humans and dinosaurs run together.  Even in the fear, there is a sense of joy and awe in their faces as they cannot believe that they are living out this moment.  It is the moment that I would imagine most people watching the movie wish they could experience themselves.

42.  Dances with Wolves - "Waves Goodbye"

(I could only find this shot in a montage on Youtube)

This small shot packs a big punch.  At the beginning of the movie, John Dunbar begins the movie in a suicidal state, but it is really only in this moment that we see that things have turned.  He has just spent the day with the Sioux and he has found his people.  You can see in the costuming that he is at this point still a man of two worlds, but that the change has been made.  As the sun sets the sky on fire behind him, there is an enlightenment that settles on him as this warrior raises his hand in friendship as the music swells behind him.

41.  Aliens - "Final Shot"

This is a very simple shot.  James Cameron does some amazing work with the camera in this movie.  But this is the shot that gets me.  This is the culmination of the journey of these two characters.  They have both been plagued by nightmares, but have now vanquished them.  Not only is it a shot showing how they have finally achieved peace through adversity, but the composition shows their emotional closeness.  They are now a family: mother and daughter.  Newt, the wild child, can now rest because hovering above her, protecting her like a guardian angel is Ripley.  

The Declaration of Independence: 250 Years Ago Today

 

The United States of America is 250-years-old today.

This is an amazing milestone for our nation.  But in many ways, it emphasizes how short a time our country has been around.

Recently Mel Brooks celebrated his 100th birthday.  I saw something on the internet that said that he has been around for 40% of our nation's existence.  I also saw something that said his birth was closer to the death of Thomas Jefferson than to today.

That is incredible to me how few generations we are from the 1776.  

Wiser and more poetic people than me have waxed eloquently about the virtues of America.  But please allow me a few humble words to express my love for my country.

My father is an immigrant.  He came here because America is the land of opportunity.  I asked him once why he didn't stay in his native nation.  He told me that if he stayed there was a very low ceiling to how far he could go.  But in America, there was no limit.

He also told me that the thing that surprised him the most was how big our country is.  Before coming here, he imagined you could drive from New York to Chicago in a few hours.  But the vastness of our land blew his mind.

When he got here, he started off staying with his brother who had also immigrated.  He then met and married my mom.  And together they had very little.  They saved and scraped just to get by, all the while my father worked himself constantly to provide.  Many years later when my parents got divorced my father told me that he would always take care of my mom because "she stayed with me when we had nothing." 

But they did not always have nothing.  He worked to provide a better life for his family.  He took in his mom and dad, who also became US citizens.  He loves this country and has always been grateful for all that it provided.

My love for America is rooted mostly in my father's story.  And it isn't about any simply about material success.  It's about what America meant to my father:

It is the land of opportunity, because it is the land of freedom.

A few years ago I was out after dark on a summer's night getting a late dinner for my wife and I.  And as I was walking through the parking lot, I took a moment to think about how through so much of human history and even in parts of the world today, people did not experience these kind of simple freedoms.  Not only was I able to earn a living to pay for that meal, but I have the freedom to choose where to go, where to live, where to work.  While there are always dangers around, I live in relative peace and security.  That is a blessing that I often take for granted because I have lived under it for so long.

In America, I have the freedom to become who I choose to be.  I think of my favorite patriotic song, "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood.  His opening line says, "If tomorrow all the things were gone, I'd worked for all my life and I had to start again with just my children and my wife, I'd thank my lucky stars that I'm living here today, 'cause the flag still stands for freedom and they can't take that away."  My life has had ups and downs, same as everyone else.  But even at the lowest of times, I was grateful to be in America.  Because here, we have the freedom.

Today, I focus my gratitude to God for our country.  No nation is perfect.  There are still many areas where the fight for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness still rages on.  But it rages on because we are committed to the ideas given to us in our founding document: the Declaration of Independence.

When I taught World History, one of my mentors pointed out to me how unique the American Revolution was.  Most revolutions in history turn into horrific bloody reprisals of vengeance.  But America was built on ideas, philosophy.  Great thinkers like Locke and Montesquieu helped lay the rational foundation for our country.  Our revolution was not just one of arms but one of thought.

In America, we see the world in a different way.  We take very seriously the Christian principle that every single human life has value.  Because of this, it is the individual and not the state that is the bedrock of our nation.  It is one of the reasons we are not a pure democracy: our rights do not come from the majority.  Our rights do not come from a king.  We do not get our rights from the Constitution. Our rights do not come from the government at all.

They come from God.

I read somewhere that the Bill of Rights should not be read as a list of rights that the government gives the people.  Instead it should be read as a list of rights that all citizens have from nature that no government has the right to take away.  When I see how things like freedom of speech and freedom of religion are absent in so many countries of the world, it fills me with gratitude that I live in a country that enshrines those rights in our very nature.

Our founding fathers pledged everything, risked everything so that we could live in the freedom we have today.  They fought and sacrificed so we could have this beautifully simple thing called "normal life."  The family dinners, Sunday drives, drinks with friends, quiet walks, football tailgates, school plays, backyard gardening, reading books on the porch... all of these things are possible because we live in the greatest country in the world.

Today I will continue to pray for my country, that she may overcome all of the injustice that still plagues her and for her protection from all of our enemies.  I will also pray in thanksgiving for my country, for all that she provides for us.  I will pray for all those who have fought for us, those that have died for us, and those who have given to us so that we could live this life.

Below is the entire text of the Declaration of Independence.  

As I have written in years past, I encourage you to read the entire text below on this birthday of our nation.  Particularly, I am struck by the last line:

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence,  we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Those who wrote their names on that document held up as collateral for the investment in our freedom:

1.  Their Lives.  I am humbled when I remember that so many gave much more than I will
ever give so that people like me could live free.  The only way we can hold onto our freedom is if men and women are willing to pay the ultimate price.  Too often tyrants, both fearsome and soft-spoken, try to snatch away our freedom.  They depend on us to lay down our resistance and give in.  We must never do so.  The Founding Fathers gave us that pledge.

2.  Their Fortunes.  I will likely never see combat.  But how do I spend my money to
ensure freedom?  Do I take care of our wounded warriors?  Do I support laws and
representatives I believe in with my capital?  And do I take payments from those who
would make me dependent?  This pervasive bribery must lead inexorably to subtle slavery.

3.  Their Sacred Honor.  Do we even believe in honor anymore today?  Does our name mean anything?  In A Man for All Seasons, when asked why he would not take an oath of

loyalty to Henry VIII, Thomas More said, "When a man takes an oath, 
he’s holding his own self in his hands. Like water.  And if he 
opens his fingers then — he needn’t hope to find himself again." 
 We are free and we must stand by our commitments. 
 Otherwise who we are, our name, means nothing.  

These great men signed their names to this document. 

For each of them it may have been a death sentence.

But they signed it nevertheless.  They their day they took a stand against tyranny and stood for freedom.

In their day they stood as men.

Today they stand as giants.

And the challenge of today is this: could we stand with them?

Do we have what it takes to be the patriots at Valley Forge or the resistance at Boston Harbor?  Does that same noble spirit of freedom stir in us?

Or do we stand with those who try to tear down their memory to only have us remember their faults and failings and not the fact that they gave us the greatest nation that the world has ever known?

Perhaps reading this document again will renew and refresh the spirit of liberty.

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

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The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:

Column 1

Georgia:

   Button Gwinnett

   Lyman Hall

   George Walton

Column 2

North Carolina:

   William Hooper

   Joseph Hewes

   John Penn

South Carolina:

   Edward Rutledge

   Thomas Heyward, Jr.

   Thomas Lynch, Jr.

   Arthur Middleton

Column 3

Massachusetts:

John Hancock

Maryland:

Samuel Chase

William Paca

Thomas Stone

Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:

George Wythe

Richard Henry Lee

Thomas Jefferson

Benjamin Harrison

Thomas Nelson, Jr.

Francis Lightfoot Lee

Carter Braxton

Column 4

Pennsylvania:

   Robert Morris

   Benjamin Rush

   Benjamin Franklin

   John Morton

   George Clymer

   James Smith

   George Taylor

   James Wilson

   George Ross

Delaware:

   Caesar Rodney

   George Read

   Thomas McKean

Column 5

New York:

   William Floyd

   Philip Livingston

   Francis Lewis

   Lewis Morris

New Jersey:

   Richard Stockton

   John Witherspoon

   Francis Hopkinson

   John Hart

   Abraham Clark

Column 6

New Hampshire:

   Josiah Bartlett

   William Whipple

Massachusetts:

   Samuel Adams

   John Adams

   Robert Treat Paine

   Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:

   Stephen Hopkins

   William Ellery

Connecticut:

   Roger Sherman

   Samuel Huntington

   William Williams

   Oliver Wolcott

New Hampshire:

   Matthew Thornton