Movie Mayhem with God Part 13: The same vulnerable Wolverine; two very different outcomes

Friends of mine may know that I’ve had the honour of winning an online competition to get the opportunity to interview Hugh Jackman face-to-face live in Singapore, when he came down in May to promote X-Men Days of Future Past. He was a very friendly star with no airs, and it was after the interview, that I felt curious enough to look for his other works, such as the Prestige.

During my retreat in CISC over the past week, while I was mulling over the concept of “mercy” in the Beatitudes, when I was suddenly reminded of two very different characters played by Mr Jackman, in two films which could not have stated the contrast better, what it means to accept mercy and what it means to deny mercy.

In The Prestige, Hugh Jackman’s Robert Angier is so consumed with Christian Bale’s Alfred Borden at having caused his girlfriend’s drowning accident, he practically devotes his entire life towards getting back at him. In the movie poster, the tag line states, “are you watching closely?” Sad to say, for their characters in the film, are so concentrated on watching as each other as adversaries closely, they completely lose sight of themselves. In the process of this relentless duel, they sacrifice their physical health, career, friends, loved ones, and eventually themselves. What was initially a healthy devotion to professionalism for their vocation of performing magic, veers off course till they’re so possessed by the notion that the other party has trumped them, they fail to treasure what they have till all was lost. By refusing to show mercy to each other, they were actually denying themselves of mercy. A conversation in the movie sums things up quite nicely.

Nikola Tesla: Mr. Angier, have you considered the cost of such a machine?

Robert Angier: Price is not an object.

Nikola Tesla: Perhaps not, but have you considered the ‘cost’?

Robert Angier: I'm not sure I follow.

Nikola Tesla: Go home. Forget this thing. I can recognize an obsession, no good will come of it.

Robert Angier: Why, haven't good come of your obsessions?

Nikola Tesla: Well, at first. But I followed them too long. I'm their slave... and one day they'll choose to destroy me.

Robert Angier: If you understand an obsession, then you know you won't change my mind.

Les Miserables is a well-known epic by Victor Hugo, which has been adapted into films and even a staple Broadway musical. Hugh Jackman plays the role of protagonist Jean Valjean in the most recent film adaptation in 2012. A friend always jokes that the story is essentially about the rest of the life an ex-convict who had stolen a loaf of bread. Well, I’d like to add she missed out the critical “redemption through mercy” part in the equation, which without it, would quite frankly render the entire story meaningless.

Having been inspired by a kind bishop, after his release from prison, Jean Valjean turns his life around as mayor of a small town. However, his old enemy, the fanatic police inspector Javert is convinced that a leopard never changes his spots, and he makes it his personal mission to “stalk” Valjean. In the midst of this, Jean Valjean adopts Cosette, daughter of Fantine (an ill-treated factory worker of his), as he feels responsible over her descent into prostitution. As he tries his best to protect and provide for Cosette throughout the rest of his life, all members are swept into the political turmoil in 1830s France.

At the finale of the film, Jean Valjean passes away content and peaceful, knowing he has done it utmost to uphold his promise to the bishop and Fantine. However, things are much bleaker for Javert, who unable to reconcile his devotion to the law with his realisation that sometimes lawful course is immoral, takes his own life.

The movie poster has the caption “Fight Dream Hope Love”, each representing the life mottos of the characters of Javert, Fantine, Valjean and Cosette respectively. Fantine’s courage in asking Valjean for mercy in taking care of her daughter, as well as Valjean’s willingness to grant mercy, accounts for the peace granted to Valjean and Fantine as the end of their days. Meanwhile, Javert’s obsessive stubbornness at denying others that much needed mercy, is precisely the factor which drives him to suicide as he is unable to forgive himself when he discerns the error of his past beliefs.

I’ll conclude this entry with a snapshot of the process towards and away from God, which I had gotten from the retreat. Both journeys start from the same point and their various “symptoms” at each stage may mirror and contrast their corresponding stage in the alternative journey.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Matthew 5:7 (NIV)

Movie Mayhem with God Part 12: Transcendence

Transcendence was another movie that I had wanted to write about when it had been on the screens in March this year, but I hadn’t been able to sort of my thoughts about it then though I was moved by it. Even though the movie wasn't fantastic (yes, Johnny Depp practically does most of his performance in a manner as if via Skype), the themes present in the movie are quite worth discussing. Now, I’ve finally been able to sift through it properly to write in a manner as coherent as I can.

A brief synopsis of it would be that scientist Dr Will Caster and his wife (a fellow scientist who also stands in to help him on PR duties), have been trying to invent this computer which is able to process human conscious, but at super human speed. They believe in the unlimited potential of the human consciousness, and how it can be used to do good. However, opponents of this idea, feel that they are literally trying to “play God”, and Will Caster gets assassinated by them during a presentation when he’s pitching the idea to both the scientific community as well as potential corporate sponsors. His grieving wife, out of an inability to accept his death, transplants his consciousness into the machine and then mayhem slowly ensues. Unfortunately no matter how hard I try to talk about this film, I’ll eventually spoiler the plot, so here goes…

The two main themes that struck me in this film, are the concept of “playing God”, and the concept of “being human”. Let’s start with “playing God”. “Playing God” suggests that the party in question, firstly over-estimated his or her abilities to handle something (the layman phrase for it is “you don’t know what you’re in store for” in the negative sense), and is acting out of sheer self-interest and nothing else. During the film, after Will Caster’s death, his wife impulsively uploads his consciousness in the computer system, in a way “resurrecting” him. Through the film, the resurrected Will Caster does increasingly astounding yet disturbing things, unsettling former colleagues, friends and eventually even his own wife.

Both acts on surface may seem to be “playing God” in a sense, but eventually as the plot unfolds, we see that only one act is “playing God” in the strict sense. Will Caster’s wife’s actions are the confirmed act of playing God. Her choice of “resurrecting” him to life, is solely out of her grief of losing him forever. She had not contemplated whether it was in accordance to Will’s wishes, or of anyone else’s, as well as the consequences of this action, apart from the fact that she’d be able to “keep him with her forever” in a sense. This is evidenced in the scene where she and a common friend were grieving and going to shut down the machine and leave. The friend encourages her to end the “experiment” and she is about to. However when the grief gets the better of her, she abruptly changes her mind and decides to persist.

Meanwhile, for the case of the resurrected Will Caster, his decisions and “actions” (if they can be deemed as such, since he is merely a “machine” in the strict sense) increasingly defy the understanding of everyone, thus scaring them. However through his final act of choosing to die, he proved himself to be who he was and is all along, merely that his abilities have been heightened and expanded beyond what anyone else in the film can grasp. So in an oxymoronic way, he resurrects the love and trust between him and his wife through dying. Dying is inevitable for human beings. However, it is through the very act of willingness to die, that Will Caster proves he is no longer “God” in the cruel sense of that of a mere machine, but is a human being who has the ability to love, made in the image of God.

On the movie poster, the advertisement line for the film reads “Yesterday, Dr. Will Caster was only human”. It is actually true, but not just in the conventional train of logic. Without having watched the film, just based on what we think we know of the film from the trailer, we tend to hastily jump into conclusion that that the “transcendence” of Will Caster is of his superhuman abilities. However the other “transcendence” of Will Caster, is of the grand vision he has for the future and the love for his wife, such that eventually when everyone else loses faith in him, he is willing to die again, in order to keep that vision and love alive. Hmm, I’d play with the movie poster line a bit. “Yesterday Dr. Will Caster was only human, he still is human, and yet he is not just human!”

Before I end this blog entry, I’d like to bring up this dear Bible verse which is my current motto in my walk with God, as well as the two famous new covenant commandments which appear in as many as three of the four Gospels of Christ. It is of no sheer coincidence that all these four verses are quoted directly from the mouth of Jesus Christ himself.

Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

Matthew 10:39 (NIV)

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:36-40 (NIV)

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Mark 10:28-31 (NIV)

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

Luke 10:25-38 (NIV)