Welcome to the Film Series

Second Thoughts on Two Films

Last summer, I launched into a writing project and it was my first foray into public writing. I took the approach of not writing for an audience. Generally, this is not the recommended path, but I had decided to write about something particular, the music of Willie Johnson. Despite the lasting influence of Johnson’s music and talents as a slide guitarist, most people reading my reflections had probably never heard one of his songs, let alone the song I was writing about. This summer, I will begin writing a short series based on my experiences watching popular films.

Since my youngest days, I have enjoyed watching movies, and over the coming weeks, I will be posting a brief reflection prompted by my engagement with the art of motion pictures. The movies will likely be ones you have heard of, if not seen. My approach will be to put a couple of different films in conversation with each other based on some connecting thoughts. As much of my thought life swirls around theological questions, I expect the reflections will often carry that flavour.

As an art form, I believe film has particular qualities that make it unique in its ability to engage an audience. The way that images, sounds, stories, songs and sequences can be pulled together to create an immersive experience of otherworldly proportions should not be understated. Books, music, photographs and choreography can all do powerful things in their own right, but the ability for them to be assembled with careful intention makes for something very different.

Throughout this series, I intend to explore many different genres, from biblical epics to heartwarming coming-of-age dramas, dystopian future sci-fi to gunslinging westerns. Although I will be considering the serious questions of ultimate concern, the nature of reality and the meaning of life from my Christian perspective, when it comes to what we might call faith-based movies, I find myself in agreement with the theologian Chris Green, who quotes another theologian and bishop on what happens when a message is overplayed:

I’m convinced that what Rowan Williams has said of serious fiction is true of good cinema, as well:
“What you learn, I think, after absorbing a really serious piece of fiction, is not a message.
Your world has expanded, your world has enlarged at the end of it, and the more a writer focuses on message, the less expansion there’ll be. I think that’s why sometimes the most successful, “Christian” fiction is written by people who are not trying hard to be Christian about it ... but want to build a world in which certain things may become plausible, or tangible, palpable ...”¹

I hope you will join me for this series and perhaps I may be able to help you find a few movies that are worth watching. The reflections will, from time to time, give away spoilers for those who have not yet seen them. I certainly encourage you to watch the films before reading about them, but if you’re unlikely to do that, don’t worry, just keep reading.

1. Chris E.W. Green, ‘The Spirit of Time: Pneumatalogical Reflections on Malick’s Cinema’ (46th Annual Meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies, St. Louis, MO: Society for Pentecostal Studies, 2017), https://ac.primo.exlibrisgroup.com.