With God, nothing is ever wasted. Every moment, every thought, every action that occurs within his creation sustains and nurtures this reality, and ultimately brings glory to him.This is an important theme throughout scripture, particularly with Christ's miracle of the fish and the loaves. Similarly, the story of Hugo, based on the Caldecott-winning children's novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick, brings attention to the interconnectedness, and dependency, of ourselves with each other. With the film Hugo, as with Christ, everything matters.
ust as the film's namesake gathers odds and ends to revive the automaton of his deceased father, Martin Scorese, Hugo's director, skillfully uses each three dimensional frame to sustain the world of a Paris train station in 1931. Each plot point reinforces the value of even the most unnoticed life, as Scorsese subtly directs the viewer's attention to an unstated premise in the film: the thriftfulness of relationships.
Although we give lipservice to the notion in our lives, everyone is shown to have value in this film, and as is often the case in life, the main characters in the film have multiple opportunities to support someone else, even after they ignore or fail to heed the call at first . Scorsese introduces us to our interdependency in the opening scenes, as dozens of clockwork gears rotate and engage one another, all with the purpose of presenting the correct time. Whether it is Hugo's work on the automaton, Isabelle's thrilled engagement with him in their adventure, the attractive flower lady's patient, loving presence with the station inspector, Jeane Melies's devotion to her famous, but almost forgotten, husband George, Monsieur Frick's ardent pursuit of Madame Emilie, the proprietor of a busy trainstation cafe, or Rene Tabard's lifelong study and devotion to Melies' work, everyone and everything is shown to matter, and to be worthy of our time, our effort, or nurturing.
1 After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiber'i-as. 2And a multitude followed him, because they saw the signs which he did on those who were diseased. 3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there sat down with his disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a multitude was coming to him, Jesus said to Philip, "How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?" 6 This he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, "Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little." 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, 9 "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are they among so many?" 10 Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place; so the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, "Gather up the fragments left over, that nothing may be lost." 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten. 14 When the people saw the sign which he had done, they said, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world!" (John 6, Revised Standard Version)
