Well, in the silly manner that one has fascination with movie stars, one of those for me is Rachel Weisz. She was fine in The Mummys, and a librarian too, but I think it was Enemy at the Gates and About a Boy that made say hmmm! The latter is on my list of favorite movies. What inspired this post, though, was some of her comments in an interview about the movie Constantine, which I am probably not going to see unless a roommate brings it home on DVD one day. Regarding evil she says:
ItŐs about the capacity that we as human beings have to do good or to do evil. Good and evil occur on the earth, and we have freewill. We can choose. But there is also a question of predestinationŃGodŐs will. ThereŐs a tension between these two things, and itŐs in a state of flux. ItŐs one of the biggest questions you can ask. For me itŐs a question that is unanswerable. We canŐt say to what degree weŐre in charge. We donŐt know these things. ItŐs a mystery.
I know a five point Calvinist would not be pleased with some of the wording, but, hey, its really quite a knowledgeable statement. Any other Christian would be quite happy with such a framing.
On a question about humanity’s alienation from God and each other, Weisz replies:
The breakdown of the relationship between man and God, and the breakdown of nuclear families É society is moving more and more toward very alienated individuals. Individuals are on computers all day, and [theyŐre] not interacting with other human beings, not being part of a church, not being part of a community. TheyŐre [interacting] less and less. People are alone and alienated. Playing computer gamesŃfor me, thatŐs a very alienating thing to do. Anything where youŐre not in relation to family, friends, community, God É thatŐs alienating.
So yes, I think the movie is holding up a light to something thatŐs happening in the world, even though itŐs a completely supernatural kind of [story]. But it is the world, isnŐt it? ItŐs a world with supernatural edges that take over. I would say [the movieŐs] a comment on that.
Again, pretty good. Also, if you like this type of analysis, there is spades more at Jeffrey Overstreet’s Looking Closer site.
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