Prometheus and God
YouTube Direktheight="394"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sftuxbvGwiU[/youtube
I did wish the picture could have gone just a little deeper. It didn’t need any more dialogue or exposition, just something a little more concise. Shaw justifies her faith by repeating her father’s phrase — something like, “This is what I choose to believe,” as if theism were based on a sort of feel-good whim. Surely as thoughtful an artist as Ridley Scott can come up with something a little deeper than that. I’m not expecting the action to stop for a theological disquisition but look, while both faith and atheism require a leap of faith at the end, both are based on a series of reasoned steps. In faith, trust in the moral instincts of humanity leads us to conclude we were created purposely for love in the image of transcendent love. In atheism, you get a job as a mainstream journalist and conclude no one could possibly be smarter than you… or something. It’s all too deep for me.
Anyway, it was nice to go to a big, gooey summer picture and have something to marvel at other than the SFX. I’ve seen two of the summer’s big pictures so far — this and The Avengers — and both engaged with issues and expressed points of view normally repellent to the shallow leftists who’ve dominated the entertainment industry far too long.
Is this a good sign for our culture? I would say yes, for sure. And more to come.
Dear Klavan on the Culture:
Damn you for making me want to see this movie. I have a deep abiding hate for the Alien movie saga. When I saw the first installment back in a lush surround sound theatre near Times Square back in 1978 (or whenever the hell it was), it struck me that the only thing that made the viewers jump out of their seats was the way the soundtrack jumped a hundred decibels whenever the poorly illuminated creature pounced on her victims. Also it is my belief that the outline of the story was stolen from an old science fiction novel I read called “The Voyage of the Space Beagle.” But be that as it may.
I had happily congratulated myself on ignoring all the summer blockbusters that would debut between The Avengers and the Dark Knight. Now I must plunck down my hard-earned lucre and sit through more deafening disembowelments.
No sir, no sir. This will not stand.
Wait, the movie is not a meditation about G-d in general terms but is “essentially a meditation on the presence of God and the efficacy and humanity of faith (specifically in Jesus Christ)”.
You mean it is a specifically Christian message movie about the Crucifixtion, the Resurrection and the Eucharist and salvation by faith in the same? Sort of like the Narnia books that are Christian propaganda disguised as children’s stories?
Seriously?
The reviews made it sound rather interesting, but if that’s what the movie is really all about, it sounds like a very good reason not to see it.
Mr. Klaven, would you PLEASE review For Greater Glory (La Cristiada). A more Christian and liberty-oriented movie you will never see. American audiences should see it. And we want to know wht you think.
I agree with this review wholeheartedly.
The faith-and-scifi themes were not what I was anticipating at all, but I deeply appreciated the fact that the film treated both faith and the lack thereof in earnest fairness (in my opinion, at least).
In a way, the film was a mix of ‘Blade Runner’ and ‘The Grey,’ with ‘Alien’-type horror as a vehicle. And who can complain about that?
Good movie. But I wish the young woman, the scientist, had said : ” This is what I believe” instead of ” This is what I choose to believe.”
Andrew,
Re: “This is what I chose to believe”. This reminds me of one of the Catholic philosophers I studied in college, perhaps St.Augustine, who said that he could prove thru logic the existence of God but you first had to believe in God to make the proof. That is, you had to concede that if he could prove the existence of a superior being or entity, for instance one that is infinite in its existence, then you must concede that it is God.
It is that logic that brought me back to God.