While skipping around in my textbook for my Christianity at Work class, I stumbled upon a movie description for The Spitfire Grill (1996). I had seen the musical performed at a high school in my hometown, and I'd rather enjoyed it; however, this movie summary described a much different ending than I'd remembered from the musical. Thinking I'd just forgotten the ending, I went to Wikipedia for a quick synopsis of the musical. I was right; the musical did not end as sadly as the movie.
Because, I assume, the author of this textbook wanted to prevent major spoilers, I couldn't figure out what the tragic redemptive ending to the movie was. So my search on Google began where I stumbled upon IMDB's website with viewer comments. One commenter explained it all.
The Spitfire Grill is a movie about Percy Talbott, who, after her time in prison, is relocated to a small town named Gilead to work for Hannah, the owner of the restaurant named after the movie. While the town is initially suspicious of Percy because of her mysterious past, eventually, the citizens grow to love her for her genuineness. When Hannah breaks her leg, Percy and Hannah's niece Shelby work together to keep the restaurant running. Becoming too old to wish to run an entire restaurant, Hannah considers selling the business; the three women decide to raffle off the restaurant in a national contest for $100 per entry: whoever submits the best essay about why he wants this restaurant will win it. Meanwhile, Percy comes to learn that Hannah's son Eli disappeared after serving in the Vietnam war, which shocks the entire town, and an interesting plot twist occurs because of this subplot. Aside from the ending, the musical and the movie pretty much match up entirely.
While reading all of these resources, I visualized the text as I connected it to the musical performance I'd seen. I asked questions of the texts, and I searched and compared sources to build my knowledge about the movie and its musical counterpart. Although I realize my sources might not be the best sources because of their ambiguity or possible inaccuracies, I figured I would rely on sources that I knew would answer my questions best: viewers who had seen either the play or the movie.
Johnston, R. (2006). Reel spirituality: Theology and film in dialogue. Grand Rapid, MI: Baker Academic.
TxMike. (2005). The spitfire grill reviews & ratings: A really good movie. Houston, TX: IMDB.
No author. (5 June 2011). The spitfire grill (musical). Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
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