Celluloid Dreams

"The same God who spoke through dreams and visions in the Bible is still communicating through our celluloid dreams - the movies."     

-Craig Detweiler, Into the Dark

At my internship site we have what we call "God Moments" in the liturgy for each worship service. One of the pastors or a member of the congregation is invited to identify where they have recently found God in their life. It could be as simple as attending a grandchild's first communion, getting into college, or finding strength while being unemployed. These God Moments are ways in which we can share the divine in tangible ways from our life, ways in which we have likely shared a similar experience. But God does not occasionally break through the din of the world to speak to us, God is always working in the world. So why not look to everyday mediums to find God? In a culture that is extremely visual, movies seem to be the best way to look for God. Such a discourse needs to happen because God is not trapped within the confines of a congregation, God is out and about doing big things! We need to get caught up.

When we look at movies to find God, faith, inspiration, or ethics we need to do so through the lens of general revelation. This term can be defined as God revealing something about the divine through the created order. It is general because it gives indirect information about God that is available to all humankind. For example, when someone sees a sunrise or a sunset they might be filled with awe and come to know that there is higher being that has created such a majestic world. This is different than special revelation which focuses on God's revelation of salvation history within Scripture. General revelation tends to look outside of the Bible, though there are instances of general revelation within it. Such an approach makes sense because we find God not only in Scripture, but also within our lives. It is by being open to God's general revelation that we can notice God sneaking up on us through unlikely people and unexpected situations.

However, we must also be literate of the nuances in film that communicate such revelations from God through the writer, director, editor, make-up artist, cinema photographer, etc. In Robert K. Johnston's excellent work Reel Spirituality: Theology and Film in Dialogue he notes a few things for people to take note of when viewing a film alongside theology. Among them are editing, setting, composition, lighting, color, camera, special effects, imagery, opening credits/sequence, and the ending. To put all of this in practice is a lot of work. But with continued use it becomes easier to pick up on these things. Let's engage such a task with an example.

Last night I watched The Pianist (2002) for the first time and I was impressed to say the least. This film is about Wladyslaw Szpilman (played by Adrian Brody), a Polish Jew, who is a brilliant pianist and the movie follows him as he witnesses the encroachment of the Nazis into Warsaw. As the Nazis gain control, he is forced into the Jewish ghetto with his family only to be shipped out to labor camps. However, he escapes and tries to live within the ruins of Warsaw. But what is God revealing in a film focusing on the past?

The Pianist forces us to look at matters of perseverance, how much we can tolerate, and what courage can we muster in the face of wartime horrors. In this film Brody's character does not become one of the resistance fighters in the Warsaw ghetto uprising, rather he blends into his surroundings in order to survive. Craig Detweiler notes, "The Pianist represents a rare instance when passivity in a title character works. We cheer for him to vanish, to go unnoticed" (Into the Dark). It seems to me that this works because such passivity is the experience of many people. Yes people have convictions, but when action is necessary some prefer to blend into the background and vanish as opposed to risking their life for vocal expression. It begs us to reflect on what we would in his situation. It shows us that God was most certainly present with those in the death and labor camps of the Nazi regime, but also in the frantic hiding of so many others.

This movie also reveals the divine through music. So often we find holiday music in congregations moving and inspirational. It holds a certain nostalgic quality that brings us back to a time when things were better, when innocence was maintained. Music in this film plays a similar role. As a musician Szpilman lives to play, but can't when he must keep quiet to evade detection. However, later in the film he must play for a German officer in order to live, and play he does. The piece is haunting yet life giving, frantic and peaceful, beautiful and tragic. It is this song that saves his life. It is through music that God's hand is at work.

However through our lens of general revelation we must also take into account that the German officer becomes the source of salvation (as opposed to the cruelty of other Nazis throwing a man in a wheelchair out of a window for not standing to greet them). God works through Szpilman's enemy to give him life and sustenance. Such a twist in the narrative forces viewers to look to "the other" as a means of divine activity in the world.

More can be said about The Pianist, but this was just a cursory exercise. My intention was to awaken sleeping eyes to God working through unconventional means, the movies. Paying attention to film and television may then serve as a primer to looking for God throughout our entire lives. Music, relationships, work, chores, sports, hobbies, eating, walking, breathing. God is in all of it, God is in our life redeeming and reconciling the world in fantastic ways. May we discover such love everyday.

Peace,
Tom