Thursday, September 04, 2008

If Only

If a poll were taken to find what people thought was the most pro-Christian film ever made, it would hardly surprise anyone if the most frequently cited film was “The Passion of the Christ”. That movie racked in billions. Millions of people, mostly Christians, flocked to witness Mel Gibson’s exaggerated and wildly fabricated depiction of Christ’s suffering on the day of his crucifixion.

The driving message of the film to its viewers was “It’s all about YOU! Jesus loved you so much that he suffered this brutality for YOU! And now YOU get to go to Heaven. All you have to do is BELIEVE.” To tack on a quote from my evangelical aunt about this notion, “It’s that easy.”

I pose that this film is actually extremely anti-Christian. The Gospels of the Bible make very little of the crucifixion and the suffering he endured at the hands of the Romans. Matthew devotes only 25 verses from the moment of his conviction to his death. Mark and Luke both offer only 21 lines; the Book of John doesn’t even mention it.

The most explicit description of the abuse Jesus received comes from Matthew:
And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.


While the Bible has little to say about how greatly Christ suffered for the sake of mankind, it certainly has quite a bit recorded about how Jesus expected us to behave toward another. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone,” “Love one another”. Gibson gives those ideas a cursory treatment, but clearly they are not the most important lessons of his film. After all, such things are not easy. And in this newly retooled modern Christian era, they are not even necessary. All you have to do is BELIEVE that Christ suffered for YOU, and you’re in Heaven.

I saw a film last night that I would argue is quite possibly the most pro-Christian film ever made; though it is unlikely one would hear many Christians say so. The film is about a socially awkward, yet endearing young man who develops a severe and unusual mental illness. His family and fellow churchgoers, under the guidance of a clever, compassionate psychologist, and encouraged by their church pastor, devote themselves to a slow, effortful course of treatment requiring them to overcome their own ignorance, to refrain from judgment and to put themselves in a position of feeling awkward and ridiculous. The love, care, and compassion of this man’s friends and family is powerful and moving and they succeed in helping this man overcome his illness. It is really quite a lovely film.

Now today’s evangelical Christian will have difficulty latching onto the Christianity of this movie. For one, the young man’s mental illness is that he holds the delusion that a mail-order sex doll is a living woman who has fallen in love with him. But probably even more so, there isn’t a whole lot of overt Jesus in the film. I think I heard his name mentioned once. No one is running around quoting Bible verses (apart from the pastor during his church service); no one is claiming to do His work. No one is talking about being a Christian, they are just simply caring for somebody in need. There is no validation and no self-congratulation; Christians get no vicarious self-satisfaction from watching the film and so I can see how many would be unable to see its Christian foundation. To quote the Good News Film Review: “Silly concept, stupid movie.”

The most disheartening aspect of the film is the utter absurdity of how the film unfolded. I didn’t believe for a moment that this group of people could band together and with the courage of conviction and pure love for a fellow man, pull off what they did. It would take a tremendous amount of compassion, devotion and selflessness. It would take behaving precisely in the manner that Jesus taught in all those pages before he fell into those treacherous Roman hands. It wouldn’t be EASY and it wouldn’t be about YOU.

Lars and the Real Girl ****

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Although I've never seen Lars...., people either love it or don't buy it. This is the only review that has essentially explained both, and why. The prologue is inspired!