Monday, February 18, 2013

Faith at the Oscars


With the Oscars being awarded this Sunday, this is my yearly excuse to look at the ways our faith intersects with the movie theater.  This past year, the movie with the most obvious religious themes was the adaptation of the musical Les Miserables.  I love the musical, and I thought that the movie got a lot of things right.  Particularly, it showed the power of holy justice to transform the life of Jean Valjean.  When the bishop offers Valjean forgiveness, he also offers him a gift of silver that will help Valjean to make a new start in life.   This is more than forgiveness, this is restorative justice.  It is a holy justice that looks to restore a lost and battered life.  Sometimes the story of Les Miserables is considered as a battle between mercy and justice: Valjean’s mercy against Inspector Javert’s justice.  But Javert’s justice concerns only retribution.  Valjean’s justice concerns restoration.  Just as the bishop restored his life, Valjean looks to restore the lives of Cosette, Marius, and the people of his city.  And so the holy justice of God is spread from one person to another.



Lincoln is a marvelous movie about the passage of the 13th amendment, which secured the abolition of slavery.  It shows the determination to do what is right, even against fierce opposition, and I was amazed by Daniel Day-Lewis’ portrayal of the president.  One of the most interesting subplots is the congressman played by Tommy Lee Jones.  He advocates for the complete equality of African-Americans, not just the abolition of slavery.  Lincoln counsels him that his ideal is right, but that we take small, careful steps. It reminds me that if we are frustrated by slow progress to changing the world, small steps can eventually lead to real change.



The Hunger Games came out last spring, based on a good young adult novel about a grim future in which children are drafted by lottery to compete in a televised reality show which is a mix of the reality TV show Survivor and a gladiator battle to the death.  Although the content of the story is quite violent, the moral of the story is decidedly anti-violence.  The Hunger Games exposes the way a society can blur the line between entertainment and violence, and the heroine, Katniss, is not willing to let the games destroy her sense of humanity.  Although it isn't nominated for any Oscars , this is a movie (or book) to share and discuss with parents and children, friends and family. 

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