Worldview movies

Over the weekend, someone asked me about the "Worldview Movies" series I led at our church two summers ago and what movies we watched. I've been asked this question a couple of times recently, so I thought I might put together a short list of favs.

1) Seven - Starring Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt, this movie is an interpretation of Dante's Inferno. As police investigators chasing a seriel killer in a modern-day city that kills his victims according to the seven deadly sins, Freeman is the proverbial Renaissance Man to Pitt's Postmodern Man. While Freeman spends his night hours combing through the city's libraries looking for clues, Pitt resorts to Cliff's Notes. Kevin Spacey does an incredible job as the killer. The most important scene in the movie is towards the end when all three are in a car together and the killer explains his crimes and his critique of society. The final scene in the "Wasteland" was masterful. You will never expect the ending, but once you've seen it, you would agree that it couldn't have ended any other way. Keep track of the weather and scenery. Watch the credits at the end and figure out what they're trying to say by the direction the text moves. I saw this in the theater when it first came out - by myself. It scared the hell out of me, and I missed most of what was being said. Years later I read a review by Jean Bethke Elshtain that convinced me to see the movie again and reevaluate its meaning. Warning: this one doesn't end happily ever after. Not one for the kids.

2) The Addiction - How many movies quote R.C. Sproul by name? Abel Ferrara (director) and Nicholas St. John (screenwriter) team up on this movie investigating the relation of evil and humanity. An anthropology grad student, Kathleen Conklin (Lili Taylor), is bitten by a vampire (Annabella Sciorra) and seeks to satisfy her new lust. The philosophic discussions throughout the movie are provocative and get to the root of the problem of man's addiction - to sin. The pivotal figure, Peina, is played by Christopher Walken, who appears in the middle of the movie to tell Kathleen about her true nature. Also stars Edie Falco (The Sopranos) and Kathryn Erbe (Law and Order: Criminal Intent). The last 25 minutes of the movie are absolutely the most powerful and meaningful statements on the Augustinian view of man I have ever seen on film. Ferrara and St. John teamed up on another excellent film, The Funeral, which I highly recommend.

3) Magnolia - I'm no fan of his work, but this is the movie that Tom Cruise should have won the Oscar for. He flat-out steals the show. A series of random scenes in L.A. finally comes together in a tapestry of nine broken lives grappling with regret and redemption. Note the references to Exodus 6:3 throughout the movie, which foreshadows the suprising, biblical ending. The theme repeated several times throughout the movie is: "We might be through with the past, but the past isn't through with us."

4) Unforgiven - This Clint Eastwood-directed/starred film won the Best Picture Oscar. Law, order, death and the nature of man set in the Wild West. Eastwood stars as a "reformed" killer and thief that had been "tamed" by his now-dead wife that travels with two friends to take vengeance on two cowboys who viciously slashed a prostitute, but had been released by the sheriff (Gene Hackman). The stripping of Eastwood's character back down to his true self results in a final violent confrontation between Eastwood and Hackman. Note the discussion the two have in the closing moments of the film.

5) Apocalypse Now Redux - I saw this when it first came out, but I was too young to understand it. The next time I saw it was three years ago on a rainy spring day in St. Andrews, Scotland at a theater that was showing the re-released Redux version. Based on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, and starring Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando, this is a tale of disenchantment with "civilization". But what does Brando's Kurtz find when he "goes native", and what does he teach the man sent to kill him? Somewhere I have an essay examining the New England Calvinist ideas behind the movie, with a little bit of The Golden Bough thrown in at the end of the movie by Coppola. One of the best movies of all time. "The horror...the horror."

6) The Truman Show - Existentialism and Nihilism, starring Jim Carrey. When we showed this film on one of our movie nights, most everyone had seen the movie when it came out and thought it nothing more than a funny comedy. But no one had picked up on what they show was actually saying. I started off giving a quick 2 minute introduction to late 19th Century philosophy and epistemology (yes, it really did only take 2 minutes). Like those one paragraph summaries of Shakespeare that were featured last week on Worldmagblog.com. The movie is about a man who rejects God's governance of the world and opts to leave the world entirely.

7) Rollerball - I'm talking about the 1975 version starring James Caan, not the recent butchering of the movie. Directed by Norman Jewison, this is a story of man against the system. The year is 2018, and the nation-states of the world have collapsed, with the corporations taking over. The world is rid of crime, war, famine, etc. Rollerball is a violent game designed to thwart individual human achievement, and Jonathan E (Caan) is its greatest practitioner. And that's precisely the problem. Life in "corporate" society must advance the "common good" (think of the "general will" a la Jean Jacques Rousseau), and the visibility and success of Jonathan E threatens the whole system. The beginning and end of the soundtrack features Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (think Phantom of the Opera). What is a bit anachronistic is the use of punchcard computers throughout the movie.

8) To End All Wars - Bushido versus Scotch Presbyterianism set in Bridge Over the River Kwai. A true story from World War Two, screenwritten by Brian Godawa and starring a pre-24 Kiefer Sutherland. Self-consciously Christian. Examines the nature of forgiveness and compassion. How do you respond to brutality? The running discussion of Plato's allegory of the Cave (The Republic, Book 6) is helpful. This DVD is usually available at Wal-Mart. Buy it and own it.

9) Crimes & Misdeameanors - This Woody Allen film examines the implications of a world without God, where murder goes unpunished and the righteous are forced to commit suicide. My friend Andrew Southwell showed this to our singles group at Southwood Pres (Huntsville, AL) many years ago, which was the first time that anyone had challenged me to think about what movies really mean.

10) Leaving Las Vegas - Intended for mature audiences only! This movie got Nicholas Cage an Oscar, and also stars Elizabeth Shue (all of Elizabeth Shue, if you get my meaning). Cage plays a character hell-bent on killing himself with alcohol after his addiction cost him his wife, his family, his home, and his job. He moves to Las Vegas to drink himself into the grave. Along the way he encounters Sara (Shue), a prostitute dealing with her own demons. The two quickly fall in love and try to establish a normal life together - except for the fact that he's on the sauce, and she is still turning tricks. But they still try to make love work. The light jazz songs on the soundtrack by Sting are fantastic. Warning: if you get squeemish about on-screen nudity (which there really isn't much of), or sexual situations, this movie is not for you. You've been duly warned.

Also rans:

11) My Dinner with Andre - This is a nod to my friend, Bill Heid. Two men have a dinner discussion about Andre's dropping out of New York society and traveling the world and what he's seen. A long dialogue movie, so be prepared.

12) Pleasantville - Toby McGuire and Reese Witherspoon are translated into a 1950s black-and-white TV show. A defense of relativism and cultural anarchy.

13) Gattaca - A futuristic thriller starring Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman in a Brave New World theme. Hawke tries to live as an "In-valid" in a society obsessed with genetic perfection.

14) Crimson Tide - Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman deal with authority and legitimacy on an American nuclear submarine as they decide whether to launch their weapons and start a nuclear war.

15) Dangerous Beauty - A little-noticed movie set in Renaissance-era Venice. Catherine McCormack (of Braveheart fame) plays a courtesan (based on a real-life character) shut out of the world power, politics, and love. She writes her own rules and sleeps her way to the top of society. But the plague and the Inquisition threaten to derail her plans. This movie glorifies the ideals of the Italian Renaissance, and in the end, the courageous stand against religious authority is the best that Renaissance Humanism can muster. Some nudity, but not much more than what you saw in Braveheart.

16) Grand Canyon - Friends in 1990s L.A. experience a series of events that force them to deal with the transcendent world. Note the use of helicopters as a vehicle to communicate God's constant presence in the world.

This would be a good point to direct everyone to Brian Godawa's movie blog, where he reviews current releases. If you have any additional suggestion, feel free to leave a comment.