The Constant Gardener - Movie Review

Last night my wife and I finally got around to watching the 2005 award winning The Constant Gardener.  A bit heavy handed at times (big drug companies are evil and governments are complicit in the attrocities), but I think the intent was to be heavy handed.  I knew it was going to be my blog post here as soon as we finished the movie, though.  There are two things I found very thought provoking about the movie.  [Might be some spoilers below!]

The first one is the relationship between Justin and Tessa.  Justin is our primary point-of-view character, and his imperfect knowledge of his marriage to Tessa is probably typical for someone of his somewhat introverted, self-efacing, and confidence-lacking personality.  He fails to communicate effectively with Tessa when their relationship has some challenges.  She also promotes this failing in their relationship by keeping her work secret from him, to protect him from the dangers of what she's doing.  One of the things I saw in their lesson, though, was that failed to enjoy their relationship with each other primarily because they failed to share themselves with each other.

There's  irony with Justin as the constant gardener, since he fails to tear out the weeds in the garden of a relationship that he and Tessa share... until that metaphoric scene where he's cleaning up the patio outside her London apartment.

I wonder if there isn't also another God-centric angle to the metaphor of the constant gardener.  I'm not suggesting that God's taking a personal hand in weeding and tending our lives, but God has certainly been likened to a gardener.  I think there's something to this, but perhaps I'll have to leave that to someone with a stronger theological background than mine to write a sermon out of.

My personal take away from the movie is the reminder to share myself and ask for other to share themselves with me in the relationships that I develop -- note that I'm an introvert and this is a struggle for me!  We have to open our eyes and look for the weeds if we hope to keep a clean garden. 

Sunday Devotional - Beware the Golden Compass

Audio version here

There’s a new movie coming out just before Christmas called “The Golden Compass.” It’s a fantasy movie based on a best selling trilogy by the author, Philip Pullman. It’s the usual good vs. bad story, with the heroes winning the day. The only trouble with the book is this: the Church is perceived as being bad, whilst being a free spirit - without being encumbered by God – is the ultimate good.

In the first book, the clergy are portrayed as being kidnappers of children, who want to enslave their spirits to serve the Authority, which is God. The whole series is about rebelling against the Church and ultimately killing the Authority, in order to achieve true freedom. There’s a subtle message of atheism being glorified and religion being diminished in the book. Philip Pullman is aiming the series at children because he wants to mess up their relationship with God and lead them into the lonely wilderness of atheism and chaos.

You may decide to take your kids to the movie or read the books for yourselves. That is your own free choice. But don’t do it without evaluating your relationship with God and Christ’s Church first. If your faith is ambivalent and your notion of the Church is flimsy, you may put your beliefs on the line and end up disregarding God’s sovereignty. You may also be putting your kids in harm’s way and leaving them with more doubts about God, Christ, and the Church.

Whatever you decide, remember that Pullman has his own agenda, which certainly isn’t God’s. He wants God dead in the hearts and minds of people, so that we can live in a free-spirited world where anything goes. We had that once before, in the centuries preceding Christ. Human sacrifices, paganism, and dark forces ruled the hearts and minds of men during those times: are we sure that we want to regress back into those days, or do we instead choose to remember that God rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of Christ?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, grant us the rare gift of discernment in our lives, so that we will make better choices. Help us to know what to do about this movie and these books. Keep us from being persuaded by the hidden messages that we may encounter. Help us to deepen our faith in You by remembering that the seasons of Thanksgiving and Christmas are times when we honor and glorify You. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

Stushie writes the daily devotional "Heaven's Highway," as well as illustrating the political cartoon site "Pushing the Envelope."