Thirteen Dollar Sermons

If you're ever short on thoughts about faith and religion, movies could help. Lately a semi-obscure movie and a significantly less than obscure one got me thinking. Some movies, no matter how well made, are downright preachy. And who are they preaching to, anyway? But I'm getting ahead of myself. The point is, for all the complaining some of us do about tithes and offerings, thirteen bucks for a two-hour sermon isn't exactly a bargain. Yeah, I think that was more time appropriate.

In case you haven't figured out one of the movies by now, here are a few more clues. Giant blue people. Only worth seeing in 3D. Ridiculous names for minerals. (Seriously. Was "hard to getium" already taken?) And last but not least, lastest sermon from the church of James Cameron (the first being the director's cut of The Abyss).

I enjoyed Terminator 2, and season 1 of Dark Angel was cool, but beyond that, Cameron's movies don't impress me in the long run. The latest is worth seeing for the visuals, but the message sets the foundation for a religion based entirely on guilt. And I don't mean the "repent" or "go and sin no more" type, either. I mean, what good does it do to be reminded of how horrible I am (apparently the way we treat nature is comparable to 9/11) if there's nothing to be done about it? There might be solutions for intents and purposes of the movie, but they wouldn't work. Or would they? (looks suspiciously over shoulder) (pause)

No, probably not.

This religion has its own set of questions and problems, but most of us suspend disbelief because the lights are pretty, and well, we know it's just a movie. But after enough of these self-deprecating screeds I have to ask, does the director? Which brings me to faith.

I also saw The Men Who Stare at Goats, a movie claiming to be more factual than we would believe. It's satire, even though other than that small group of stoner would-be-psychics, I'm not sure who it's trying to mock. I expected a few laughs, and it delivered, keeping in mind a lot of the language and some situations will offend some viewers. But what surprised me was the handling of faith.

Whether or not psychic power was real, the central characters have faith that it is. Some move past the question of whether it's real and try to use it for evil. And so we have a plot.

Being a ridiculous comedy, it didn't go much farther on the faith issue. But it did remind me of certain unimaginatively named planets inhabited by giant smurfs as I was reminded of a fundamental truth. "Have faith", but consider the difference it makes based on what you put your faith in.