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Of Pilgrims & Fire

Reviewed by Philip Joy.

Finding God in a secular genre such as the Hollywood blockbuster sounded like a fascinating book review to undertake! Written by a film teacher and critic who is a Christian! Great! Embarrassingly, as soon as I looked at the chapter headings, I had to admit to a serious lack of knowledge in the area of popular culture; for out of some twenty films under consideration I had only ever seen or own one: Thin Red Line.

Since, however, you assuredly have a broader experience in film than I, let me first give you the line-up. Sub-titled “When God shows up at the movies,” we start with a couple of introductory chapters setting out the stall and suggesting useful tips for viewing. The films then considered are as follows: American Beauty, The Thin Red Line, The Color of Paradise and Decalogue I, all in a chapter entitled “The Gift of Splendour...”; in “Wrestling with Angels and Demons...” we have: Crimes and Misdemeanors, The Godfather Part 3 and Wide Awake; in “New Life...”: Tender Mercies, The Shawshank Redemption, Dead Man Walking, The Mission, The Apostle; in “Facsimilies of God”:  E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, Superman the Movie and Millions; in “The Feast of Love”: Places in the Heart, Grand Canyon, Babette’s Feast; and finally, in “Signs and Wonders,”  we are offered Magnolia and Heaven.

So how did reading the chapter on “Thin Red Line” change my experience of the movie? Did “God show up” when I watched it again, as the book’s subtitle proclaims? Hmmm. How can I say it strongly enough? It was awesome: absolutely awesome! I’ve puzzled over this film for a few years now - its montage of dreamy nature/native scenes with some of the most visceral combat footage and obvious overt moral dilemas like “How many of your men are you prepared to sacrifice to take that hill?” But it never added up - there seemed to be a narrative problem, the film didn’t go anywhere. Yet after reading this one short section, my perceptions changed entirely. I discovered the true narrative of the film was a spiritual one: the agonies, the questions, the self-talk of several characters, the issue of who the true villains are - Japs, heartless GIs, barking Colonels (“this is my first war, Goddammit”), the utter perplexity which the beast war throws up, the final question of death and how we can meet it calmly.

This was not an overtly Christian film, but the GIs asking the questions, the Buddhist Japs praying, and the glory of another world throwing strands of sunlight through leafy fronds, not to speak of the hugely ‘evil’ crocodile entering the primordial waters at the start of the film, together mixed imagery, reality and spirituality in a way which would speak to any man or woman seeking truth. Not any film sets out to do this, or succeeds. But when such themes are dealt with powerfully by a director like Terence Malick, and when a critic like Anker points the way, there really is rich material here. Let’s face it, film is the majority medium of our era, not plays, novels, poetry or the various musical genres, however special these may be to their adherents. If we wish to reach a wider audience, this book could show a way. I can imagine some gifted evangelist moulding these materials into a tough yet palatable medium for breaking up the fallow ground of so many with whom such questions are bound to resonate. I also think I will from now on be more on the look-out for ‘spiritual’ narrative when watching any movie. Admitttedly on the basis of this one section of a chapter, I nevertheless give this book my whole-hearted ten out of ten!