Why Yes, I Did See That. And I Liked It.

Christianity Today's website (http://www.christianitytoday.com) tends to do good movie reviews - generally reasonable, insightful, and they understand that there are many good and useful stories that come with life's R rating. Of course, it needn't be said that they get a lot of flack from a portion of their readership simply for reviewing these films, whether they thought the film was good or not. So, every little while, they post a response to the angry letter. Here's their most recent.

As a Christian, neither ultra-conservative nor ultra-liberal, and as an artist, and as someone interested in humanity, I genuinely don't understand my brothers and sisters who would have us discard films out of turn because of the rating. For one thing, there's the old but true argument that the Bible is extremely R-rated. My husband and I read aloud a chapter each per night together, and we're currently in the middle of 1 Samuel. But that's nothing compared to Judges.

And then, there's the fact that, to quote (or paraphrase?) Frederich Buechner, "the world speaks of holy things in the only language it knows, which is a worldly one."

The single best, most effective extra-biblical story I've ever seen about the destructive nature of un-confessed sin and man's burning need for repentance and redemption was an R-rated film that few have heard of - The Machinist, starring Christian Bale, released shortly before Batman Begins. Due to the stated subject matter, the film is appropriately dark. The machine shop accident that serves as the plot catalyst was so realistically horrific that I couldn't watch (and had nightmares just from the sound of it), and since Bale's character is an extreme insomniac, the only people he can find companionship from in the wee hours of the night are prostitutes. Oh no! Gore! Swearing! Prostitutes! Hide! Hide from the most important lesson man can learn. And, if you want to talk shop, it also happens to be a great example of how to make a movie.

Another R-rated film, No Country For Old Men (reviewed on this blog), is also a very important story. My reasons for that are in the review, and need not be reiterated. Brick, though somewhat art-house, did by its unusual methods tell the ugly truth about the mindset of the suburban teenage drug scene without being sensational or melodramatic.

I once heard an analogy about Christians and the arts that compared us to baleen whales (really). The baleen whale, swimming for food with its mouth wide open, taking in everything - water, plants, other marine life, and the plankton it feeds on - and then the bony filter for which the whale is named expels everything it took in that is not nourishing. This to me is the most scripturally sound, disciplined, and healthy way for Christians to use media and the arts.

That is not to be said that I encourage taking things to the extreme - I don't think there's any need to run out and rent porn. The issue here is information, not exploitation. Information about how people who are not you think and act, information about their philosophies and worldview, information about their perceptions and assumptions, and even information about the way you see things. And, perhaps, there may even be some entertainment along the way. Now, that would be grand.