Review of “Risen”

Looking for some suitable entertainment for my grandchildren, I am inspecting a site called Pure Flix, which offers a 7-day free trial. Their menu includes Veggie Tales, a Christian animated series for children. According to their site, it “is the worldwide leader in selecting and streaming faith and family-friendly media that changes lives, inspires hearts and lifts the spirits of members like you and those you love.” Because it is the Easter season of the year, they are presently promoting a movie called “Risen.” I decided to watch it.

“Risen” is a 2016 biblical drama starring Joseph Fiennes as Clavius Aquila Valerius Niger, a Roman Tribune (tribuni militum). It offers an interesting plot – Pilate instructs this military officer to investigate the rumors of Jesus’s resurrection, and to locate his missing body. This movie follows the trek of Clavius. He initially tries to break the conspiracy of the disciples of Jesus stealing his body from the tomb. The deeper he digs, the more he finds confusion. The stolen body theory does not fit the facts. He no longer knows what to believe.

One Christian reviewer describes “Risen” as historical fiction that is “largely harmonious with the Gospel story.” It follows the theme of the story of Clavius. The resurrection is the primary focus, but it avoids making Jesus and his disciples the main characters. Considered strictly as a movie, I enjoyed it. The acting was good, and the film well done. Nevertheless, I struggle to enjoy a historical biblical movie. My own biblical understanding brings out the critic in me, and I suppose rightly so, finding things here that do not fit the gospel narrative. As Jesus is about to ascend to heaven, he begins his discourse with a quotation taken from John 14, “I go to prepare a place for you.” Also, Clavius has gone with the disciples to meet Jesus at Galilee. Obviously necessary to the plot of the movie, which is presented from Clavius’s point of view, but clearly unbiblical.

Finally – and I should have dealt with this before getting caught up in the idea of watching this movie. We who believe that Jesus is “what a Saviour!” – the eternal, divine, all-holy, Son of God – must always be disappointed with any theatrical depiction of Jesus. It just cannot measure up. Truly, is it a good or even biblical idea to hire a man to play Jesus?

Though None Go With Me

Last week I watched a movie titled Though None Go With Me (2006). I don't make a habit of recommending movies, but I thought this one was well done and sent out a good message. Though None Go With Me is based on a novel by Jerry Jenkins with that same title. Sources say the movie premiered on Hallmark Channel. It was directed by Armand Mastroianni and stars Cheryl Ladd. It tells the story Elizabeth LeRoy, a Christian woman who endures great losses in her life. We can trust the Lord in our sorrow and suffering. The book's and movie's title comes from the words of a Christian song called I Have Decided to Follow Jesus (and part of the song is referenced in the movie).

I have decided to follow Jesus; 
I have decided to follow Jesus; 
I have decided to follow Jesus; 
No turning back, no turning back.

Though none go with me, still I will follow; 
Though none go with me, still I will follow; 
Though none go with me, still I will follow; 
No turning back, no turning back.

The world behind me, the cross before me; 
The world behind me, the cross before me; 
The world behind me, the cross before me; 
No turning back, no turning back.

The origin of this song lies in obscurity, and is often attributed as "author unknown" or "anonymous". The words were possibly written down by Sadhu Sundar Singh (1889--circa 1929) an Indian Christian minister, a Sikh who converted to Christianity circa 1905. In his book Why, God, Why, Peramangalam Porinju Job tells a story of the origin of the words -- some of which were based on the last words of a Christian convert in Assam in northeast India in the mid-1800s. Tribal leaders persecuted the man and his family and adjured him to renounce his faith. He replied, "I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back." The chief ordered the execution of the man's children, but the man said, "Though no one joins me, still I will follow." Next they killed his wife. With a final opportunity to recant, he refused to deny Christ. Before he was executed he said, "The cross before me, the world behind me." Job's story goes on to relate that the village chief came to know Christ, as well as many others in the village.

Singh, it is said, formed the words into an hymn. According to some sources, the melody is also Indian. It is titled ASSAM after the region where the martyr lived and died. William Jensen Reynolds, American musician, teacher, composer and Sacred Harp singer, made an arrangement of the tune, which was published in the Assembly Songbook (of which he was the editor, 1959, Broadman Press). This book was (apparently) used at the 1959 Southern Baptist Convention and Reynolds's version would later become a regular feature in Billy Graham's revival meetings. Much of the song's popularity can be attributed to that connection.

These words falling from the lips of modern Western Christians give the hymn a "decided" decision theology flavor. Knowledge of it's origin in the grace of martyrdom and movement of the Holy Spirit should set a more serious and solemn tone for it.

The Box

Several years ago, I wrote about The Box and the Button, something I'd seen on Twilight Zone in my youth. I found it was drawn from a short story written by Richard Matheson. A few days ago I noticed that the satellite programming had movie based on this same story -- "The Box" by Richard Kelly, with Cameron Diaz and James Marsden. According to Wikipedia, Matheson "strongly disapproved of the Twilight Zone version" of his story, but I must say that I enjoyed it much better than this movie. I found the vast differences in "The Box" and "Button, Button" made the "The Box" a torturous movie for me to try to watch. I didn't enjoy it, but forced myself to watch it through to see if it got better. It didn't.

Noah way

Matt Walsh assesses the movie "Noah" in I’m a Christian and I think ‘Noah’ deserves a four star review:

"They padded it with enough action movie clichés to draw interest from secular crowds, they hid the outright blasphemy well enough to please gullible Christian crowds, and they mocked Biblical theology blatantly enough to delight the critics.

"They came up with a way to make millions while exploiting the various sensibilities of different audience demographics."

Select the link above for the full review.

Another review:
Noah – The Emperor’s New Movie

No "Butler" in Elizabethtown, Kentucky

A veteran theater owner in Hardin County, Kentucky won't show 'The Butler' -- or any other movie -- with Jane Fonda in it.

Criminal Minds Season 8 Episode 15

On Wednesday Feb 20, NBC aired the Criminal Minds* episode "Broken". It featured a homosexual serial killer suffering from an identity crisis. He loves men and cannot love women the way he feels he should. So he kills his sexual partners. Parallel to the plot is the condemnation of the horror of conversion therapy -- an effort to convert or change sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual. "Broken" may not refer to the homosexual character, but to the fact that misguided therapy has ruined his psyche. There is an effort to blame the therapy rather than the serial killer, and in the end viewers may even be drawn into sympathetic association with the killer. FBI agents are mortified by the conversion camp and know it must be even more horrendous than they can even imagine. Finally they discover the ostensibly Christian camp uses physical abuse, drugs and forced heterosexual sex therapy as part of their conversion methods. One fan praised the episode for "shedding light on the darkness of so-called fix 'em camps." I expect such a camp is mostly Hollywood fantasy that produces more heat than light.

I am not a proponent of "conversion therapy". It sounds like just one more of the many shady psychiatric treatments that has been foisted on a gullible American people. On the other hand, the American Psychiatric Association promotes many vague and unnecessary psychiatric treatments, while condemning conversion therapy. Why? Because it is "based upon the a priori assumption that the patient should change his/her sexual homosexual orientation." There's the catch. It's not really the "conversion" they object to, but that they believe there is nothing wrong with homosexuality. It's still alright to analyze, therapize and convert alcoholics or fat people -- maybe even hoarders -- even if they were born that way, since society says these things are bad. (Pity the poor fat people; it's always OK to skewer them for any reason or no reason.)

Criminal Minds’ episode "Broken" is one example of the continual Hollywood bombardment against Christian moral beliefs. A belief is caricatured and the caricature then demolished. One down; another to go. Intellectually stimulating shows such as Criminal Minds probably do more damage than the mindless fodder of such offal as The Simpsons or Family Guy.

In keeping with the Bible and centuries of Christian moral teaching, I believe that homosexuality is a sin -- regardless of what Hollywood or the APA says. It is a sin of extra-marital sex and defilement of God's natural creation order (man & woman). Homosexuality is one of many sins perpetuated by depraved sinners. It is not the only sin. Conversion therapy is not the answer to that or any other sin. An experience with God and conversion by the Lord Jesus Christ is necessary for us all.

*Criminal Minds is a "procedural thriller about the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit, which profiles criminals to solve crimes."

An East Texas look at "Bernie"

Truth is stranger than fiction, and so says the movie Bernie’s tagline: “A story so unbelievable it must be true.” "Bernie" was released April 2012 and stars Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey, and Shirley MacLaine. The story is true, though the movie is a fictionalized documentary-style account of it. In Carthage, Texas in 1996, assistant funeral home director, singer and lay minister Bernie Tiede killed Marjorie Nugent and hid her body in her deep freeze for nine months before the plot was uncovered.

The movie is styled a "dark comedy."

I didn't know Bernie Tiede, though I might have seen him at Hawthorn Funeral Home. It is in a town about 30 miles away, but is not a place where we make frequent trips to funerals. Everyone in the area knew something of the surreal murder mystery, even if they didn't personally know the participants. A brother-in-law of mine didn't know him well, but had sung at nursing home singings where Bernie was also singing. I was curious about the film. We watched it over the Christmas break.

Local people and local places
One thing that intrigued me about the movie was the locals. There were a couple of people we knew -- knew of, not close friends -- so we were aware that some of the people that were "interviewed" for the "documentary" were from the nearby area. Because of this I searched for information about the interviews. Did the movie just use impromptu material from the locals? "No, it’s scripted," said director Richard Linklater, "but they kind of put it in their own words, quite often. I looked at a lot of people and found people that could be themselves, doing material and throwing in." Comparison of the movie dialogue with Skip Hollandsworth's Midnight in the Garden of East Texas shows that often the scripted dialogue is based on real comments by real people. In an interview with  of National Public Radio, Hollandsworth said that a lot of it "came straight out of my notebook." At times interviewees are actors rather than locals -- and in a few cases actors who are or were locals (e.g. Matthew McConaughey and his mother Kay lived in nearby Longview, Texas). Hollandsworth said that 21 of the "gossips" were "genuine East Texans who've had little or absolutely no acting experience whatsoever." Real or imported, the folks on "Bernie" sound like East Texans.

Most of the movie was not filmed in Carthage. According to Wikipedia, blogs, and so forth, much of Bernie was filmed in Bastrop, Texas -- as well as Smithville, Austin and San Marcos. Daddy Sam's BBQ & Catfish and Jalapeno Tree are real Carthage restaurants where we have eaten. I don't think Jalapeno Tree was opened in Carthage until after Mrs. Nugent's murder, though.

Truth or fiction
"Bernie" is based on a true story, contains much truth and some fiction. Many of the names of locals are changed, some facts are left out, and the story is told mostly from the point of view of Bernie Tiede and locals who liked him. District Attorney Danny Buck Davidson said, “The movie is not really about the murder. It’s more about the life of Bernie.” The community outpouring toward Bernie was very real, but the movie skews the fact that there were others in the community who viewed this as a heinous crime, regardless of what they thought of Mrs. Nugent.

In How My Aunt Marge Ended Up in the Deep Freeze, Mrs. Nugent's nephew, a journalist who no longer lives in Carthage, wrote, "There are little things in 'Bernie' that aren’t exactly true, bits of dialogue, a changed name here and there. But the big things, the weirdest things, the things you’d assume would have to be made up, happened exactly as the movie says they did. The trial lawyers really did wear Stetsons and cowboy boots and really were named Danny Buck Davidson and Scrappy Holmes. Daddy Sam’s barbecue and bail bonds, just a few blocks from the courthouse in Carthage (population: 6,700), really does have a sign that says, 'You Kill It, I’ll Cook It!' And they really did find my Aunt Marge on top of the flounder and under the Marie Callender’s chicken potpies, wrapped in a Lands’ End sheet. They had to wait two days to do the autopsy. It took her that long to thaw."

Local reaction
Local reaction to the movie is varied, from those who love it to those who hate it and all points in between. "The movie does not tell her side of the story," objects D.A. Davidson. He is certainly correct. Others object to a comedy -- even a dark one -- being made about the tragic death of a local resident. Carthage resident Toni Clements said, "If it was fiction it might be funny, but this was a real person in a real town and no, I don't think it's funny at all." Hollandsworth recognized this concern is his NPR interview, saying, "I think there was always the concern that people would think we were making fun of a death or we were parodying the people of East Texas."

Some thought it made Panola County residents look bad, but others disagreed. The Hawthorn Funeral Home allowed the movie to show a front view of their building, but did not allow the name of the funeral home to be used. Nevertheless, Carlton Shamburger, current owner of the funeral home, felt that the movie didn't make Carthaginians look bad. "If you are worried about us looking stupid, we don’t." He felt the people were the same on screen as they are every day. But he further added, "I wouldn’t recommended the [Nugent] family to look at the movie."

Concluding thoughts
One of my first reactions to the movie was that this might make us East Texans look stupid (but then again, you've got to be able to laugh at yourself). On further reflection I think that the movie doesn't really say anything more (or worse) about East Texans than it does about anyone anywhere else. Director Richard Linklater is an East Texan himself -- well, Houston, but that's just East Texas gone to town. He says "East Texas is 'where the South begins'."

To a large degree, "Bernie" is a story about people believing what they want to believe. East Texans are no more or less this way than others. Just look in the mirror for your own reflection of truth. One person can believe the moon landing. Another sees a vast conspiracy. As recently as the coverage of the Newtown, Connecticut massacre some have seen conspiracy where others see tragedy. Evidence may demand a verdict, but more often we are satisfied to approach life as we see it. Not only do we create our own reality, but also our own morality. It should not be lost on the viewer that in this conservative town where most folks would view murder and homosexuality as sins, Bernie Tiede confessed to one and was suspected of the other and was still held in very high esteem.

"Bernie" drives home the point that in some ways we are not who we are, but who the community grapevine says we are. Gossip may not be true, but it often what is believed. It not only drove the perception, but drove a district attorney (rather than the usual defense attorney) to ask for a change of trial venue!

Murder in general is not funny. Neither is the tragic end of Mrs. Marjorie Nugent. But events that are just too bizarre to be made up will likely strike a dark comedic chord that resonates with most of us. Tragedy and comedy really are two sides of the same coin.

Things to read and watch
Bernie Tiede
Carthage residents react
Carthage residents react (YouTube)
How My Aunt Marge Ended Up in the Deep Freeze
Kay Epperson
Local reaction
Midnight in the Garden of East Texas

Good movies, good revenge

Many Christians, especially older ones, decry the constant menu of sex and nudity, vulgarity and violence that is hurled at the viewers of the modern motion picture screen. They long for "the good old days" when there were "good movies" with the likes of John Wayne.

No disrespect to John Wayne, but a recurring theme in old westerns and thousands of other type movies we call "good" is revenge. A well-written script and well-directed movie will make you feel it, believe it and cheer it. You know the theme. The bad guy kills, injures, or otherwise inflicts insult of the family of the good guy. The good guy tries to avoid retaliation, welling up in the viewers to want it all the more. Finally, yes, finally and joyfully, the good guy kills the bad guy. Revenge is sweet. Justice is served. Yes!!! (Sometimes it's not even that subtle and we still like it.)

...

And then we read the words of Jesus Christ and Paul: 

Matthew 5:39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Romans 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

Who can fully believe those exortations, when we've felt the inner joy of just retaliation? It must be right. It feels right! It must be right. But, Christian, whom will you believe? Screenwriters and directors or the words of Jesus Christ and His apostle? Someone has said, "Revenge permeates our culture because it permeates the human unconscious." If true, how much more must the word of God permeate our conscious and unconscious?

Vengeance is best left in the hands of the Lord because:
1. Retaliation and revenge is a never-ending cycle. The movie always ends once the good guy has gotten revenge. All is well. In real life there is no end to the cycle. One retaliation breeds another...and another...and another. There will never be an end until someone turns the other cheek.
2. God is all-knowing. He knows when and how to punish. He knows how much to pay. We humans cannot see all or know all. We don't know the motivation of the smite to the right cheek, or even our motivation for striking back. We don't know when to stop or how to right the wrong. 

Let us be right by rendering good for evil instead of evil for evil. When we render evil for evil, there is just that much more evil in the world. When we repay good for evil, there is one small glimpse of heaven on earth.

Romans 12:17 Recompense to no man evil for evil.
Romans 12:21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.