Some thoughts on Home

I sat down with the boys yesterday to watch 'Home' the recent children's film which has just come out on DVD.  As I sat watching it was impossible not to see it in many ways as a reflection on our modern society.

The Boov are an alien race - experts at running away- who take over earth, move the humans to Humanstown and hide from their great enemy.  It's not a complex plot but it revolves around an unlikely friendship between a rogue Boov called Oh and a human fugitive girl called Tip.  The film is good fun for children but there are themes to chew on for adults too.  The Boov are fearful of any and every challenge, if something is hard they will simply run away, they crave comfort and ease.  But the real contrast stands out in the Boov's fearful individualism, something Oh comes to see only when he sees close up the contrast with the human concept of family and the lengths to which Tip will go to be reunited with her mum.  Then in a twist at the end he realises their greatest enemy is not really their enemy but is fighting for his family too.

This contrast between fearful individualism and family raises all sorts of questions in our western society which so prizes individualism often at the expense of family.  A great thing to chat through with kids as you watch the film.

In Time

I sat and watched the film 'In Time' on Tuesday night, it's an OK film based on a very clever premise.  The premise is that money has been replaced by time as the new currency, everybody is given a timer in their arm and once they are 25 their timer starts.  Initially they have one year to live, though they can add time through work, or by borrowing time at interest, by inheritance or even theft of time from others.  Medical science has also meant that people don't age any more once they are 25, no matter how old they get.

The film isn't brilliantly executed though it does make you think about some of societies preoccupations:

Our fear of death - the greatest driver in the movie is the fear of death.  People work, steal, cheat, etc all so that they can have more time, so that they can live.  Some (the wealthy) deliberate perpetuate the system because for the few to be immortal many will have to die.  Others are so afraid of dying before they have used up their hard won time that they avoid anything that may be viewed as potentially risky but in the process never really live.

Our obsession with looking young - the idea that you stay how you looked at 25 brilliantly reveals our societies rejection of ageing and love of youth and looking young.  Though in the film it makes it impossible to know anyone, or even to guess if someone is someones grandmother, mum, wife or daughter, a very clever and thought provoking idea.

Whilst not a brilliantly executed film it is an interesting watch and one which reveals our societies fear of death and obsession with overcoming it.  It is fascinating having watched it as I prepared to preach Luke 24v36-53 this week where we see Jesus resurrection body and the hope it brings for his followers - death is conquered for them and resurrection is assured by Jesus and it liberates them and us to really live, risking all to tell others the great news that death has been defeated and sin overcome by Jesus the suffering, risen, reigning Messiah.

The Day the Earth Stood Still

Finally got round to watching this film last night. It was fascinating, its not a great film, its OK. But the ideas in it are fascinating.

The basic synopsis is that a collection of alien civilisations send a representative to assess humanity and judge whether they should be wiped out in order to save the earth. Needless to say things don't go well.

One of the most fascinating scenes is when Keane Reeves character meets with the long term undercover alien to get his assessment on humanity. Despite his damning summary of mankind he does not want to leave choosing instead to die alongside mankind because he loves them.

Inevitably it is love that wins the day but I don't want to ruin the ending.

You've got lies

I have been directed to this today as an article designed for ladies about the perils and problems inherent in watching chick flicks, its by Beth Spraul from Capitol Hill Baptist Church in the States and it is well worth reading and thinking through. http://www.capitolhillbaptist.org/wp-content/uploads/youve_got_lies.pdf

A film with a positive message about dads

Have you noticed how the media keeps on knocking fathers. Increasingly children's books feature the mum, and either dad is not mentioned or appears only fleetingly. In many cartoons dad is little more than an overgrown 12 year old for mum to look after.

I've been really pleased to find a family film which portrays a healthy father son relationship. Robots is not a new film but it has been a pleasure to see a film in which a father is presented as loving, caring, devoted and as someone to look up and aspire to be like.

The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas

This is a very cleverly written book as we see events in Germany during the Second World War through the eyes of a young boy called Bruno. We meet him as he has to leave everything in Berlin to move with his dads job. The innocence with which the story is told is what makes this story so compelling. As Bruno gradually discovers what his dad does at 'Out-with' as camp commandant.

Bruno's growing friendship with Shmuel who lives the other side of the fence is a fascinating mix of honest conversation and yet things they will not ask because it makes them uncomfortable. The end of the story does not sneak up on you, but neither is it so blindingly obvious that it ruins that book.

The book does give us an insight into the natural revulsion of a child to racism. As Bruno struggles to understand why a Jewish doctor is reduced to the role of a waiter, as he is appalled at the treatment of that man by the soldiers. In fact the mother's discomfort with the situation is also made apparent. It proves the maxim that all it takes for evil to prosper is good people to do nothing.

However, it also reveals to us the depth of evil man is capable of. We live in a world where such atrocities are not a one off event. Iraqi treatment of the Kurds, Hutu treatment of Tutsi's and other examples of ethnic cleansing cause us to recoil. Yet they keep happening, ordinary people with wives families, children keep perpetrating the most awful crimes. And no sociological theory adequately explains why? Indeed that is one of the cleverest parts of this book, we see Bruno's father as a moral man, a good father and yet he is the camp commandant overseeing 'Out-with'.

It confronts us with the problem we all have, we are a contradiction of the good and the bad, capable of great love and great hate. Capable of kindness and of cruelty, great good and great evil.

What Shmuel needs is someone to free him from the fence. Bruno devastatingly lets him down when he could defend him and then in an attempt to rebuild the relationship goes under the fence, taking on the role of a prisoner with the shaved head and stripped pyjamas to help Shmuel find his missing father. It is a gesture that ends in the shower block.

In one sense Bruno's actions are like those of Jesus. He too becomes what he is not, in Jesus case human. But Jesus incarnation is not futile but he is able to save, to save us from the contradiction that is our hearts, to save us from our sins and help us find our Father. He does so not by dying with us but by dying for us, in our place, and he guarantees our future by rising again and going to prepare a place for us.

Going to the movies for God

Over at reformation 21 there is a very helpful article on watching movies for the glory of God. To read it click on this link

Kung Fu Panda

Took the family to see Kung Fu Panda. It is a good family film which we all enjoyed, it is a fairly traditional children's film, with someone who feels incapable and everyone thinks is incapable achieving the impossible and realising their potential to be a hero. In this case it is Po the Panda who must become the Dragon Warrior and bring peace to the valley by defeating the evil Tai Lung, his big hope is the dragon scroll which will give him the secret to victory.

However it is blank, he sees only himself and eventually realises he just needs to believe in himself.

The Bible has much to say about our need of a hero, except it tells us we cannot do it ourselves, we can't bring peace, we need someone to come and bring us peace. That is what the gospel is about, peace between us and God through Jesus Christ.