God at the Movies

October 1, 12:46 PMFaith & Culture ExaminerDr. Bob Beltz

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City of Ember opens 10-10-08

I have a movie recommendation for you.  Next weekend, on October 10, the movie City of Ember opens at theaters around the country.  Since I have not yet seen the movie, I am recommending it on faith.  If I were a film critic, this would be a horrible thing to do, but since it is being made by Walden Media, the company that brought you The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian; and Amazing Grace, and since I have read the book, I have confidence that it will be great.

Although the film has no overt spiritual message, I view it as an incredible metaphor of the entire spiritual world-view.  A number of years ago, J.B. Philips, the British Anglican, and interpreter of the New Testament, used the language “blindfold in a world of illusion, drifting along on the stream of this world’s ideas of living” to paraphrase a statement Paul makes in the New Testament book of Ephesians, (Eph. 2:3.)  In teaching this passage, I have often tried to create a word picture to illustrate what Paul is saying.  City of Ember is an entire film that provides such a picture.  It is a story of a society living in darkness where a young boy and girl become convinced that there is a place of light that exists outside the city.  Even if not intended, you can’t help thinking as you watch the two struggle to convince others and to find the way to the light, of what Jesus said to a Pharisee by the name of Nicodemus in their famous night-time encounter: “Light has come into the world, but people love darkness, rather than light.”  As you watch the film, view it through this lens and you will probably relate to it in an entirely different way than most of the audience.  Since the film is rated PG, you can take the whole family and have a great discussion afterward.

But what about this weekend?  You have at least two choices that couldn’t be more diametrically opposed to each other.  On the one hand, if you have not yet seen it, you can go to see Fireproof.  This is the latest from the people who made the film Facing the Giants.  I haven’t seen this film yet, either – sorry – but I intend to.  It is the story of a failing marriage that is salvaged, healed, and restored through the power of God and application of what the Bible teaches about how husbands and wives should treat each other.  It is overtly Christian.  The average movie coming out of Hollywood these days costs over $100 million to produce and market.  About nine out of ten Hollywood movies also lose most of the money investors put up to make the movie.  Fireproof was made for $500 thousand dollars, and as a friend of mine pointed out, made its investment back in the first twenty minutes after the movie opened on Friday night.  By the end of the weekend, it had brought in $6.5 million at the box office and was close to having the highest per-screen average of the weekend.   By the way, it was produced by a Baptist church in Georgia!  All the profits from their last film went to build a park and athletic facility for their community.

On the opposite side of the spiritual and philosophical spectrum, you could go see the documentary Religulous,  made by Bill Maher.  It is a documentary in which Mr. Maher attempts to convince his audience that belief in God makes no sense.  If I see the film, it will only be to prepare myself to answer the questions of those who are lured into paying good money to see a film that is advertised as being “from the director of Borat” and the producer of Fahrenheit 9/11.  Boy!  That makes me want to run right out and see it! (As the t-shirt says, “Sarcasm: One more service I provide”.)  It is also being advertised as one of the “most offensive documentaries ever made.”  I guess this is supposed to be a good thing.  Either Bill Maher really doesn’t believe in God, or he is convinced there is a massive audience of anti-God people out there. 

Although the film is being marketed as offensive to all religions, I've heard that 70 percent of the film targets Christianity.  My hunch is that there is some well-deserved lampooning in parts of the film.  Previews show one scene of Robert Tilton, perhaps the most crooked – and weirdest – of the TV evangelists; and another of a fellow who claims he is the second coming of Christ.  But, as G.K. Chesterton once observed, “It is the first effect of not believing in God that you lose your common sense.”  Maher seems to have lost a bit of his.  When challenged on CNN about the faith of the candidates, Maher said, “They are lying.”  His exception was Sarah Palin, who he said really does believe, and for Maher, that is more of a problem than the others lying to get votes.  His response to the question of how some brilliant scientists believe in God was to explain that they have compartmentalized fact and fiction and believe in spite of what they know.  This is a remarkable explanation, especially in light of the fact that recent articles in USA Today  talk about the significant amount of belief among many members of the scientific community, including men like particle physicist Sir John Polkinghorne of Cambridge University.  I wish I could get Maher to read “There is a God” by Anthony Flew , a leading Professor of Philosophy who until recently was known as “the world’s most notorious atheist,” and who came to belief in God by, in his own words, “following the facts”.

Someone has observed that “the movie theater is the church of the post-modern world”.  I'm not sure I totally agree with that, but certainly the next few weekends provide plenty of opportunity for processing our faith through the medium of movies.  I doubt going to a movie will change the mind of someone who already holds strong convictions one way or the other, any more than the political debates change the minds of the “already decided”.  But maybe these films could provide opportunities to engage in discussion with the spiritually “undecided”  and open a dialogue about God.