Pierced to the Heart

Film is grist for the mill of our relationships and our growth as Christians; it is a medium for shared exploration of this life. Going places we might not ever go, living vicariously through things we might not ever experience, can bring us new insights into life and love and living. With film, we can explore widely to see many aspects of life. Yet, unless one’s attitude is “who cares, it’s just a movie” (which is not so good), choosing films to watch is difficult. To begin with, we have C.S. Lewis’ instruction that, until we have opened ourselves and received what a work of art is doing, we are in no position to judge it. But how, without seeing the film, will we know if we should see the film? Broadly speaking, there are four dimensions to our decisions about which films to see:

• You. The single most important set of factors concerns your own position in relation to the film: If, for you as an individual, viewing a given film’s content is sinful, you should not see the film. The film should be appropriate for you individually, and you should be ready and able to experience the film in a healthy way. Ask these questions about yourself in relation to the film:
• Who are you? Knowing yourself is the most important factor in making personal film choices. What happens when you see various kinds of film content? Where are you in your spiritual journey? Where are you weak or strong? What is God currently working on in you? How do you need to be stretched? What types of people do you have a hard time loving and so you need to understand them better by walking in their shoes? Knowing yourself also means knowing what you can take. For some, certain types of content simply hit too close to home in regard to the pains of their lives. We should want to grow our weak places, but we should not violate ourselves in the name of being broad-minded about film.
• Are you ready — really ready — for the film’s content? Readiness to see a film begins with maturity, which takes time and work. Some are simply be too young — psychologically, emotionally, or spiritually — to handle certain content and themes. Does ugly content reinforce your tendencies to treat people poorly? It should not. Does certain content feed distracting fantasies of love, relationship, or wealth? It should not. For such reasons, it may indeed be the right decision to stay away from a given film — but you still need a plan for strengthening your places of weakness and immaturity.
• What do you want from the film? What is your motivation to see a particular film? Do you want to see a film because of its ugly content? You should not. Your motivation for engaging with film should be to live and to learn to live more fully, to enrich and deepen your life in the heart of God. This might be by laughing for a while with a light-hearted film that plays off our human foibles. It might be through a film that explores deep, even dark, places in your heart. Part of the film experience is getting away to see something different — just don’t sell your heart out in the process, reveling in and enjoying ugly things.
• Are you stretching yourself? You should see a wide variety of films. You should have a propensity to enter in where you know you need to grow. You might even explore stories that you know you don’t like with the express intent of learning to love some new aspect of God’s creation. To play with stereotypes: Men, go see a chick flick not because she wants you to, but because you need to learn to love what’s soft and beautiful. Women, see action films and crime flicks that make you wrestle with the dark side. And for all of us: Go see well-made kids films, too. Be a child again. Let’s get outside ourselves.
• What do you think you’ll walk away with? After learning what you can about the film and examining your own heart, sum it up by asking “what I think I’ll walk away with?” Of course, the film may quite surprise you but, going in, can you expect to be better for having seen the film? “Better” might mean simply that laughter gave you a fresh perspective on life, or it might mean that you were deeply impacted and changed. Either way, can you expect to meet the Spirit there?
• Your community. The second most important factor in choosing a film is the strength of the community around you. God made us as relational beings, and in a healthy community we tend to correct each other. As together we discuss and question and process what we see in film, and as active, humble seekers, boldly and lovingly challenging one another, we open ourselves to deeper levels of God’s using the film — and our community — to write on our hearts. If you have the support of a strong community, you may be more adventuresome in the films you explore.
• The film. In choosing films to see, you want to take care, but you can take too much care. Surely you want to see more good films than bad, but the more tightly you control what you see, the more you risk being isolated from the serendipity of meeting the Spirit in unexpected places. Basic information (director, general plot line, etc.) can tell you something about the film, but stereotyping of a filmmaker’s work and quick judgments from available information are of mixed value in making a film choice — individual films can depart from the stereotypes. Watching a preview tells you something about the type of audience the filmmakers are selling to and can give you a sense of the style and content of the film. The single best way to decide is to get the recommendation of someone who knows both the film and you as an individual. See the list of sample film review sites for some pointers on online resources.
• Your cultural context. If your neighbors and colleagues at work are talking about a film, seeing it too allows you to enter the conversation. In charitably discussing a film — even or especially a controversial one — you get to know others better, and you can develop deeper relationships with them. Charitable discussion draws people together, unlike the cultural battle stance Christians sometimes take. Cultural battle divides people and creates a broad set of negative perceptions of Christianity. If you are concerned about a film, a response born in love might be too see the film and then write to the filmmakers — using a polite, respectful, constructive tone — about your concerns and how they might address those concerns in a manner that is in keeping with the studio’s goals (e.g., broad appeal).

Once you make your choice, sit back and enjoy the ride. In making film choices, there’s a sense in which we lay our money down and take our chances. Once we’re watching the film, the real question becomes: Can we open ourselves to hear what the film is saying? Through the film, are we open to God’s writing? When the movie starts, how we watch the film is much more important than which one we chose.