{"id":1219,"date":"2022-08-16T22:05:22","date_gmt":"2022-08-16T22:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fruitinthedesert.com\/NewFruits\/?page_id=1219"},"modified":"2024-04-19T20:12:26","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T20:12:26","slug":"reel-faith-inspiration-and-redemption","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/fruitinthedesert.com\/NewFruits\/reel-faith-inspiration-and-redemption\/","title":{"rendered":"Reel Faith, Inspiration, and Redemption"},"content":{"rendered":"

By David Ray Skinner<\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/h4>\n

A few weeks ago, I downloaded and screened the Danish film, \u201cBabette\u2019s Feast.\u201d<\/em> I was reminded of the film during a phone conversation with a friend (and fellow film buff) when he referred to it and asked me if I agreed about a point he was making. I drew a blank. Of course, I had heard of the film and had seen it when it was released back in 1987.<\/p>\n

Or did I?<\/em><\/p>\n

Back then, I prided myself on keeping up to date with all the latest and artistic foreign films. However, once I downloaded it and I began screening it, I realized that I had somehow missed the \u201chidden agenda\u201d of the movie\u2019s story. Upon viewing it again, I was immediately mesmerized by the simplicity and power of its message.<\/p>\n

The film is set in 19th<\/sup>-century Denmark and features two elderly and pious Christian sisters, the daughters of a pastor who shepherds a dwindling and elderly, yet faithful congregation. One of the sisters is romanced by a famous French opera singer, and the other is courted by a Swedish cavalry officer. However, both sisters reject their respective suitor and remain with their father to aid in his church.<\/p>\n

Thirty-five years later, Babette, a refugee from the counter-revolutionary bloodshed in Paris, appears at the aging sisters\u2019 door with a letter of recommendation from the (now even more famous) French opera singer, offering to work for free, cleaning and cooking in return for a place to stay. The sisters\u2019 father has passed away and money is scarce, but they hesitatingly agree. Babette serves them as a cook and housekeeper for 14 years, and meanwhile, the remaining church members become more argumentative among themselves with each passing year.<\/p>\n

Then one day, Babette receives some exciting news. A friend in Paris has annually renewed a lottery ticket for her, and her number comes up, winning her 10,000 francs. She tells the sisters (and the members of their church) that she wants to prepare a meal for them in celebration of the 100th<\/sup> birthday of their late father (and pastor). She travels to Paris and returns with a wagon load of plentiful and exotic ingredients, and the day arrives to cook the meal. The church\u2019s congregants arrive (determined to not enjoy what they consider to be a \u201csensual\u201d meal), as does the Swedish cavalry officer who had once courted one of the sisters. He is now a highly-respected general who is married to a member of the Queen\u2019s court.<\/p>\n

Although all of the diners at the table are amazed at the extravagance and the deliciousness of the feast, the general, who is a world-traveler (and accustomed to dining in the best restaurants in the world), comments that it reminds him of a meal he once had at the world-famous Caf\u00e9 Anglais in Paris. The meal unifies the diners at the table; old slights are forgiven, old loves are rekindled, and a spirit of redemption falls upon the table and transforms the dinner guests.<\/p>\n

As the guests leave, the sisters sadly realize that with her new-found money, Babette will be probably be leaving them and returning to Paris. However, Babette tells them that all of her money is gone\u2014spent on the ingredients of the feast, and she has no plans to leave. Then, she reveals that before her exile, she was the head chef at Caf\u00e9 Anglais, where a dinner of 12 cost 10,000 francs.<\/p>\n

As a Christian, the message is clear. Babette represents Jesus as a servant\/savior\u2014someone who left an exalted position to work as a lowly cook and housekeeper and ultimately to bring the small church congregation back together. What a different kind of film. No chainsaws, psycho murders, terrorist masterminds, alien armies or super-power, spider-bitten heroes.<\/p>\n

In the early \u201870s, I studied \u201cAesthetics of the Film\u201d at my little Baptist college. The course was the brainchild of one of the college\u2019s young and recently-hired English professors, who loved the artistry of the film\u2014I\u2019m sure it wasn\u2019t the college\u2019s idea, and they most likely agreed to the course with no small amount of trepidation. However, it was one of the classes that made the biggest impression on me and totally changed the way I viewed movies. I was amazed to learn about the \u201cstory within the story,\u201d the subliminal theme that many of movies contained, buried beneath the plot.<\/p>\n

Starting with German director Josef von Sternberg\u2019s, \u201cThe Blue Angel,\u201d<\/em> an early talkie released in 1930, our professor revealed the power of the subliminal message. The movie tells the story of a respected professor who is seduced and driven to madness by Lola, a flamboyant cabaret singer (played by Marlene Dietrich). At that point in history, German filmmakers were becoming more and more scrutinized by the rising Nazi party, who were very aware of the propaganda power of the movies. Sternberg\u2019s message in \u201cThe Blue Angel\u201d<\/em> was that just as in the case of the professor, the proud and intellectual Germany was in danger of being seduced and destroyed by the charismatic Hitler.<\/p>\n

Even more fascinating to me than Sternberg\u2019s warning to the German was learning about the theme of faith and redemption embedded in movies\u2014a message that was sometimes obvious and other times, more subliminal. At the time I was taking the class, two major movies had just been released\u2014George Lucas\u2019 coming-of-age film, \u201cAmerican Graffiti,\u201d<\/em> and the post-apocalyptic action film, \u201cThe Omega Man.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAmerican Graffiti\u201d<\/em> is set in 1962, \u00a0an age of American innocence, before the tragic Kennedy assassination and the escalation of Vietnam. It takes place on the last evening of summer vacation for a group of high school graduates and their friends. As the graduates ponder their future, the ever-present voice of Wolfman Jack\u2014the \u201cvoice of God\u201d\u2014follows them through their radios from location to location and one of them, Curt, continues to see a beautiful blonde in a white Thunderbird who mouths the words, \u201cI love you.\u201d She is always appearing wherever Curt is, but she is always gone before Curt can reach her. He drives to the radio station, hoping that Wolfman can deliver a message to her via the airwaves. As he enters the station, \u201cCrying in the Chapel\u201d plays over the speakers and an \u201cemployee\u201d at the station (who is actually Wolfman) promises to deliver the message. Curt never meets the beautiful blonde and decides to go off to college the following day. As the plane takes off, Curt sees the white Thunderbird on the highway below, following in the plane\u2019s shadow. The message was that God is ever-present, and He sends His Comforter to protect us and walk (and ride) beside us, especially in pivotal moments of our lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Omega Man\u201d <\/em>isn\u2019t as subtle with its theme of redemption. Its setting is in the not-too-distant future, after a biological bomb has been set off, sickening and killing most of the world\u2019s population. Most of the ones who did survive call themselves \u201cThe Family\u201d and have been turned into nocturnal mutants, determined to destroy all remaining technology. However, one scientist, Col. Robert Neville, M.D. (played by Charlton Heston), has been working on an experimental vaccine, which he gives himself, rendering him immune to the bio-plague. Because he represents technology and \u201cthe old normalcy,\u201d the Family is determined to kill Neville, and in fact, they finally succeed. However, in the final scene, after Neville has been mortally speared, he is found dying in a fountain by a handful of survivors who have not yet succumbed to the plague.\u00a0 Neville gives his blood\u2014containing the antidote to the plague\u2014to save their lives and ensure that the human race will continue. In his autobiography, Charlton Heston referred to the fountain scene in which his character dies as the film\u2019s \u201ccrucifixion scene.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the class was over, I began to notice images of faith and redemption in a number of movies, from the \u201ccross\u201d scene in which Paul Newman\u2019s anti-hero appears in \u201cCool Hand Luke\u201d<\/em> to the major good-vs.-evil theme of \u201cStar Wars\u201d <\/em>and its thematic reliance on \u201cThe Force.\u201d These movies are completely different than films like \u201cGod\u2019s Not Dead,\u201d \u201cThe Ten Commandments,\u201d <\/em>or \u201cThe Passion of the Christ,\u201d<\/em> that are obviously thematically Biblical-oriented. And they\u2019re different from movies like the allegorical Czech short film, \u201cMost,\u201d which depicts a bridge operator who sacrifices his only son to save the lives of the passengers on a train, most of whom are partying and therefore oblivious to the son\u2019s death. In fact, of all the characters in the film\u2014living in a broken world\u2014the man and his son are the only ones who have a truly loving relationship, which makes his sacrifice even more painful.<\/p>\n

No, movies like \u201cCool Hand Luke\u201d<\/em> and \u201cStar Wars\u201d <\/em>are not \u201cChristian\u201d movies, per se, so I have to ask myself, \u201cIs the spiritual metaphor(s) intentional, or as a person of faith, am I reading that into these movies?\u201d Was it coincidental that \u201cCrying in the Chapel\u201d was playing when Curt sought out the omnipotent Wolfman? Or that \u201cMay the Force be with you\u201d was as common a phrase in \u201cStar Wars\u201d<\/em> as \u201cGod bless you\u201d is to us today?<\/p>\n

Either way, that class forever tempered the way I watch movies (years later, I jokingly told my former professor that he ruined going to the movies for me). Maybe it\u2019s like a Rorschach test in which everyone sees something different. However, I\u2019d like to believe that the theme of faith and redemption is stamped on our artistic creations as a supernatural watermark and woven into the fabric of our art, whether it\u2019s a song, a painting or a film. It acknowledges the Master Creator as the Giver of the talent and ability He gifted us to create these pieces of art, as we we try to emulate Him and give Him honor and praise through our humble creations.<\/p>\n

\n

David Ray Skinner <\/strong>is a writer, musician, illustrator, designer and the creative director of FaithLines. His recent book, \u201cRubine River\u201d is available on Amazon\/Kindle, Scribd, iBooks and a variety of other online book sites. His website is DavidRaySkinner.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By David Ray Skinner A few weeks ago, I downloaded and screened the Danish film, \u201cBabette\u2019s Feast.\u201d I was reminded of the film during a phone conversation with a friend (and fellow film buff) when he referred to it and asked me if I agreed about a point he was making. I drew a blank. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1219","page","type-page","status-publish","czr-hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fruitinthedesert.com\/NewFruits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fruitinthedesert.com\/NewFruits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fruitinthedesert.com\/NewFruits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fruitinthedesert.com\/NewFruits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fruitinthedesert.com\/NewFruits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1219"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/fruitinthedesert.com\/NewFruits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1684,"href":"https:\/\/fruitinthedesert.com\/NewFruits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1219\/revisions\/1684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fruitinthedesert.com\/NewFruits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}