Finding God on the Big Screen

What commands man’s perception of God? It is a curious and even troubling question as one considers his encounters with and accountability to someone (or if he subscribes to something), indefinitely greater than himself.

Films fittingly exemplify different perspectives on the divine.

Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark, Lucas portrayed the God of Israel as a mysterious, wild spirit, a ghost of destruction in the wind. Later, in The Temple of Doom, Hindu idols (and worshipers) are bloody, diabolical, and macabre. Hower, Lucas’s attitude toward the supernatural is dissimilar in his Star Wars sagas, attributing some rightness and gentleness to the commanding Power of the universe. The “Force” is not of a terrifying nature but is of relative tranquility and stasis.

In contrast, Morgan Freeman portrays the Lord as incredibly personable and sensitive in Bruce Almighty. Recent Narnia films also reflect the supernatural as interactive but in some ways distant; God and magic are approachable yet somewhat forbidden.

Do these films reflect man’s conflicting senses of divinity? Or rather: do they direct and influence his notions? On what or whom does he rely to reach God? Who does he consult to taste the wonder and prodigiousness of the immortal?

I do not type to dissuade the seeker but to suggest that the entertaining and fantastic are not always the Truth. What entices the ear should be evaluated with equal gravity as skepticism, and the modish quodlibet should be considered with the standard of tradition.

Simply: Confront God and Truth directly.

Keep an even mind in considering popular thought.