A new wave of action and horror films borrows from biblical themes - but then, they've never really gone away, writes Anne Billson.
There's been a distinct whiff of the Good Book at the cinema of late - literally so in the case of Denzel Washington's latest, The Book of Eli. ''Dear Lord,'' he says, ''thank you for giving me the strength and the conviction to complete the task you entrusted to me.'' Washington is on a mission from God, and not in a Blues Brothers way; his task is to convey a leather-bound book with a cross on it from A to B while killing lots of evil people en route. You don't need to have seen the film, which opens in Australia on April 15, to guess the book in question is not The Da Vinci Code.
In Solomon Kane, James Purefoy says: ''Satan's creatures will take me if I stray from the path of peace.'' Nevertheless, he kills hordes of evil beings and gets crucified in his quest to rescue an innocent.
In Legion, out in Australia in May, Paul Bettany plays the archangel Michael, who rebels against God's orders to destroy mankind, saws off his wings and teams up with a handful of humans in the Mojave desert to shoot flesh-ripping zombies.
''Any artistic work that sensitively explores the stories of the Bible will be welcomed by many Christians,'' says Ben Wilson, of the Church of England communications office. ''But clearly the extent to which any particular film helps to develop an individual's faith will depend on the specific work and the specific viewer.''
At the American Christian film campaign group His Only Son for Us, the executive project manager, Brittany Hardy, says: ''Though they still seem to have some way to go, it seems that Hollywood studios may be realising that biblically themed movies that herald justice, compassion and perseverance appeal to audiences.''
OK, some of the biblical themes in the aforementioned films are a little confused by Sunday-school standards, especially in Legion, where an unseen God acts like a stroppy teenager, while the archangel Gabriel comes on like an evil henchman with a rotating mace that looks like the Phantasm killer-ball on a stick. And that's not the end of the holy horrors. Coming soon: Black Death, set in the Dark Ages, with Sean Bean's faith tested by a beautiful witch. But you get the picture: horror and fantasy have gone all biblical on us.
Catherine von Ruhland, who reviews films for Third Way (a magazine offering ''Christian comment on culture''), points out: ''Hollywood is undergirdled by the Judeo-Christian tradition, so the plentiful films that tell of a battle between good and evil in which good ultimately triumphs replicate that cultural myth. It also fits classic plot structure.''
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
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