Reflections on faith in the Oscar nominees

The Oscars will be presented this week, which is my annual excuse to use this space to comment on the intersection of movies and religion.

This year, Avatar is the big story, with its innovative effects and its box office records. I enjoyed Avatar, although I don’t think it deserves the best picture award. One aspect of the story that interests me is the issue of the human character’s incarnation as a Nav’i, the alien species who inhabit the distant moon. Our Christian story tells of the word of God becoming incarnate as a human out of God’s love for us. In Avatar, the protagonist becomes incarnate for rather mixed motives. At first, he means the Nav’i harm, but he is changed by his actual encounter with them, and he finally becomes instrumental in their survival. This is a complex incarnation, but it does show us the importance of actually experiencing life from the point of view of another person (or species).

I haven’t seen all the nominees, but my favorite is the Pixar animated movie Up. There is a magical quality to Mr. Fredricksen’s house flying away from the city, lifted into the air by hundreds of brightly colored balloons. It speaks to the complex emotional ties we all have to home, and to our things, especially when those things are attached to important memories and strong emotions. In this case, everything in the house is attached to his wife, who has recently died. In a metaphoric way, many of us move through life carrying our history with us.

One of the real joys of Up is the way in which Mr. Fredricksen is transformed by his engagement with the needs of the young boy Russell. He is reluctant to get involved at first. He is set in his ways. And yet, because he is stuck as the temporary caretaker of this young boy, he develops a fondness and love for him in the course of his unwanted obligation. His change speaks a truth about how we are often changed. Sometimes we have to do the compassionate thing before we have the feeling of compassion. Sometimes it is the fulfillment of our duty that leads us to a new way of feeling, thinking, and viewing the world. We act our way into a new way of thinking, rather than the other way around.