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 By Peter T. Chattaway
THANKSGIVING is just a couple of weeks away, so you
know what that means: It must be time, once again, for the Vancouver
International Film Festival.
As always, the festival, which runs to October 10,
includes a number of films that tackle religious subjects or themes, some
more obviously than others.
One of the more subtle examples is Blindness, the opening-gala film, which
comes to regular theatres October 3. Directed by Fernando Meirelles (City of God, The Constant Gardener), it’s a
sort of post-apocalyptic nightmare which imagines the dreadful effect on
society of a plague that wipes out nearly everybody’s vision.
 | Danny Glover as one of the victims of an apocalyptic malady in Blindness |
The disease in question does not cause people to live
in darkness; instead, it makes them see nothing but light. Someone wonders
if the victims might be suffering from ‘agnosia,’ the inability
to recognize familiar objects. Someone else replies by wondering if that
word is related to ‘agnosticism,’ the lack of belief.
Much, much later – after quarantines, blackmail,
sexual exploitation and violent revenge have ripped society apart –
there is an even more explicit religious parallel, brief and fleeting
though it may be, as someone recalls how Paul was rendered blind by his
encounter with God. Challenging stuff, but good discussion fodder.
Other noteworthy films:
The Desert Within (September
27, 29, October 6) concerns a widower who retreats to a secluded place with
his family after the Mexican government begins banning church services and
shooting priests in 1926. Convinced that he is responsible for the deaths
of several people, the father spends years building a church of his own to
earn God’s forgiveness. But he remains trapped in his own guilt, and
his efforts to soothe his conscience have an increasingly corrosive effect
on his children.
Birdsong (October 5, 7) is
Spanish director Albert Serra’s extremely minimalistic take on the
journey of the Magi, depicted here as three mildly buffoonish old men who
trudge against the landscape and stare up at the sky, discussing everything
from the dreams they’ve had to the pressing question of whether the
clouds are held up by ice. Interesting, but very, very slow. Mark Peranson,
who plays Joseph, shot a documentary on the making of this film called Waiting for Sancho (October 6, 7).
The Longwang Chronicles (September
28, 30, October 6) depicts one year in the life of a Chinese village. Rice
and pigs are harvested, Communist party officials lecture people on family
planning, and the pastor of the ‘official’ local church kills a
snake in Jesus’ name while campaigning against some of the other
sects and cults.
Also worthy of note: Christian filmmaker Robert
Kirbyson’s amusing short film Ctrl Z plays as part of the program The
Obstacles Are Everywhere (October 1, 2).
I’ll be posting brief notes on some of the other
films at this year’s festival – including The Eternity Man (September 26, 29), Religulous (September 27, 28) and
the short film Paul Pontius (October 8, 9) – at my blog over the next two weeks.
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Two documentaries with local connections are coming out
on DVD this month.
First, Murray Stiller, who teaches filmmaking at both
Capilano and Simon Fraser universities, has released his documentary, Nailin’ It to the Church, on
DVD.
The film, subtitled ‘Religious Satire and the
Gospel According to The Wittenburg Door,’ will have its premiere at the Dallas Video Festival
in November; it can be ordered at the website,
NailinItToTheChurch.com.
I caught a screening of the film at Regent College back
in April, and it’s certainly an interesting look at the current team
which puts out the Christian satirical magazine originally called
simply The Door,
which has been around in one form or another since 1971.
However, those who, like me, thought the magazine
jumped the shark when the late Mike Yaconelli sold it to Ole Anthony in
1996, may be disappointed by the film’s present-day focus, which
gives relatively short shrift to the magazine’s early days.
Meanwhile, Expelled: No
Intelligence Allowed, the controversial, Ben
Stein-starring, evolution-challenging documentary produced by Bowen
Island’s Walt Ruloff and co-written by Abbotsford’s Kevin
Miller, is coming to DVD and Blu-Ray October 21.
• • •
Coincidentally, next year marks the 200th anniversary
of Charles Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the
publication of On the Origin of Species. And to mark the occasion, not one but two movies about
Charles Darwin and his deeply religious wife Emma – and the strain
his theories put on their marriage – are in the works.
One, Mrs. Darwin, stars Joseph Fiennes (Luther) and Rosamund Pike (Die Another
Day). The other, Creation, stars real-life couple Paul Bettany (The Da Vinci Code) and Jennifer Connelly
(A Beautiful Mind),
and is based on a book called Annie’s Box – written by the Darwins’
great-great-grandson Randal Keynes.
And get this: Keynes’ son Skandar plays Edmund
Pevensie in the Narnia movies.
So the ‘son of Adam’ who betrayed his
brother and sisters in the movie version of The
Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is played
by the direct descendant of the man whose theories on evolution had such a
profound effect on the relationship between faith and science. One can only
hope C.S. Lewis would be amused, at least.
– filmchatblog.blogspot.com
October 2008
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