Hagiopics from Hollywood

Culture B O O K S | F I L M | M U S I C [FILM] Hagiopics from Hollywood AVATAR,TwentiethCentury-Fox LEGION,ScreenGems,2010 THELOVELYBONES,DreamWorksSKG,2009 THEBOOKOFELI,WarnerBros.Pictures,2010 Review by David Sterritt R eligion has a checkered history on the silver screen. Most films with spiritually tinged agendas are merely wish fulfillment in drag, and the challenge for progressive moviegoersistosifttheoccasional worthy items—such as Scorsese’s Kundun, Ferrara’s Bad Lieutenant, and yes, Monty Python’s Life of Brian—from run-of-the-mill “hagiopics,” to borrow film scholarPamelaGrace’sexcellent term. The latest crop includes a couple I can recommend. But others also deserve mention, partly becausetheirfailingsshedlight oncurrentHollywoodmindsets , and partly because ignoring them would give them a free pass they don’t deserve. Avatar was temporarily kicked off more than 1,500 screens in China to make way for a state-sponsored biopic starring Chow-Yun FatasConfucius,theancient sage who’s making a major comeback there. But overall James Cameron’s epic is going strong, racking up huge grosses and a fair share of religious commentary. Telecommunications critic Jaron Lanier sees it as a parable of the “hive mind,” viewing the spirituallyattunedNa’vipeopleasplugging into a planetary super-consciousness the way some real-life internet users believe they do when they network with computers around the globe. Lanier may be onto something, which is more than I can say for conservative New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, who says Avatar is propaganda for pantheism, a false religion that worships heartless Nature and offers “no God to take on flesh and come among us.” No wonder it opened at Christmastime, Douthat observes—it’s the Gospel According to James, designedtochangeworshippers of God into huggers of trees. My own take is less portentous . Avatar is awesome asa3-Dtechnicalfeatandits subtexts are right on target, calling out the perils of environmentalpillage ,thesinsof colonialist exploitation, and the evils of militaristic adventurism. What curbs my enthusiasm is a contradiction I sense between the film’s eagerness to entertain, on one hand, and its desire to uplift and enlighten ,ontheother.Whileitsideasareadmirable , they’re swathed in so much cinematic razzle-dazzle that the spectacle outweighs the significance for most viewers , judging by what I’ve read and heard from people who aren’t critics or pundits but simply wanted a lively night at the movies. I hope the film’s messages will get across more pointedly as the excitement over its effects inevitably moderates over time.Unlessanduntilthathappens,count measanagnosticonthismovie. Very different messages slither out of Legion, an eschatological horror film wherein God decides to touch off the Apocalypse, sparking a battle between well-meaning mortals and “angelically possessed”zombies.Thetwocampsareled by the archangels Michael and Gabriel, respectively , each armed to the teeth with heavy-duty lethal weaponry. Michael wins the fight and prevents Armageddon, becoming the hero of the movie by nullifying God’s will—a surprising twist, since even M A R C H / A P R I L 2 0 1 0 W W W. T I K K U N . O R G T I K K U N 65 66 T I K K U N W W W. T I K K U N . O R G M A R C H / A P R I L 2 0 1 0 town ruled over by an evildoer named Carnegie, who’s been hunting obsessively for a book that will, he claims, enable him toruletheworld. Although much of the story is standard-issue action fare, it gains interest from the identity of Eli’s book. (If you plan to see the picture, you should put off the restofthisreviewuntilthen.)Itturnsoutto betheBible,whichhasbecomeararitybecause some people held it responsible for the nuclear cataclysm and destroyed every copy except the one that Eli found. As its guardian, Eli is the hero of the film, and a finale resembling Fahrenheit451 confirms the wisdom of his struggle to preserve it. But it’s revealing that Carnegie covets the book because he knows how readily its meanings can be misappropriated to deceive and manipulate the masses. Could the nuclear disaster have indeed been caused by a demagogue—like Carnegie, or like the Rev. Robertson, for that matter—who...