Another Hollywood Thumbs down to Christianity
Yet another movie that portrays Christians as vicious, backwoods idiots, serving an ineffectual God, who is powerless against a wiccan curse. Feh.
shareWelcome to reality.
Hidyho!
MovieChat Forums > From Within (2009) Discussion > Another Hollywood Thumbs down to Christi...
Don't portray "all" Christians as what you described, just a small community that has little outside influence. Hence the power that the sect has on that community.
shareI'm sure your god is strong enough to handle it.
shareIf you can't bring yourself to recognize that fanaticism and intolerance can take root in even the most benign religious traditions (let alone one with a history of witch trials, Crusades and carnage), then what kind of Christian are you really?
A lot of fundamentalists have bad things to say about Catholicism, but what I like about that tradition is that its history forces its practitioners to recognize the vulnerability of belief. Faith is tested not only by doubt but by credulity, and the religious person who will not tolerate criticism has confused their own vanity for faith and hypersensitivity for blasphemy.
Couldn't agree more. It's significant that the forward for the book Liars for Jesus was written by a minister. That person values the truths in which he believes and doesn't want them abused for selfish and dishonest ends. Every faith should have selfless watchdogs like that minister to keep them from being twisted into the reflection of precisely those sins of vanity against which Christ spoke eloquently.
The conflation of patriotism with religion is one obvious source of fascism and corruption; Hitler, too, spoke of wanting to create a Christian nation. And that isn't an example of the sort of hyperbole that Godwin created a humorous law to try to avoid. That's a direct quote from Hitler himself and a pure cold fact.
Christianity should never be that, and films like this serve as warnings to be heeded, not anti-Christian radicalism to be railed at defensively.
The Commandments warn against false gods and Christian vanity in the face of criticism *is* a false god. It's a god that wears your own petty face, not Christ's.
An intelligent, well written comment. Nicely done.
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Hence the Cruisadea
shareThere's no doubt that there are those in Hollywood who have an ax to grind with Christianity. That's been going on at least since the late 60s. It's important to remember though that films are works of fiction. the filmmakers aren't saying that all Christians are like the ones in the film.
shareSo before the late '60s, everyone in Hollywood were devout Christians?
Revenge is a dish that best goes stale.
I'd really be interested in knowing how you'd read what I said as a claim that "before the late '60s, everyone in Hollywood were devout Christians".
shareBecause you said:
There's no doubt that there are those in Hollywood who have an ax to grind with Christianity. That's been going on at least since the late 60s.
What else am I supposed to infer from that statement? And what ax are those people grinding and who are those people, anyway? When did any Hollywood movie from the late '60s denounce Christianity, for that matter? If you mean movies that have an ax to grind with Christian hypocrisy, then that's a different matter, since movies were doing that long before the late '60s. In fact, all types of media did that long before there were movies.
Revenge is a dish that best goes stale. share
What else am I supposed to infer from that statement?Nothing more than what I actually said.
And what ax are those people grinding and who are those people, anyway?You'd need to ask filmmakers that question, not me.
When did any Hollywood movie from the late '60s denounce Christianity, for that matter?I never said anything about denouncing Christianity.
If you mean movies that have an ax to grind with Christian hypocrisy,I meant exactly what I said.
since movies were doing that long before the late '60s. In fact, all types of media did that long before there were movies.That's one opinion, yes. share
Truly bizarre.
This childish, cliched right wing fantasy of Hollywood attitudes only betrays your outright ignorance of 'Hollywood'. Whatever the hell the term 'Hollywood' means these days.
What's rather bizarre is your reaction to my post. If you really believe there are no Hollywood film makers that employ anti Christian themes, then YOU'RE the ignorant one. It's also quite comical that you in your knee jerk reaction, you totally missed the point of what I said. I was DEFENDING the film makers. Brush up on your reading comprehension. Until then, piss off.
What are words for when no one listens anymore
Your defense of traditional, Christian values might be more compelling in you didn't have a woman wearing thong underwear as your avatar. Just sayin'. Nice cheeks, for what it's worth.
shareAnd Wiccans as emo trash who will kill everyone in a town to get back at a few.
shareJust the vicious, backward idiot kind of Christian... say for example, militant creationists.
shareThere's more to this film than initially meets the eye (just like the excellent "The Mist"):
Some might criticize the film as anti-Christian but this is a superficial and knee-jerk reaction. The story's main protagonist, Lindsay, is shown in a completely positive light and most of the other Christians reveal positive and negative qualities. Is this anti-Christian or simply the way it is? Besides, the film clearly shows the negative sides of the Wiccans as well.
The picture acknowledges the human need for belief systems to get through life and that people are still people regardless of what they believe. It doesn't tell the viewer what belief system to adhere to (or which one is 'right') but it does unveil the existence of dark spiritual power and the dangers of sin, so what's that tell ya?
Some rightly point out that the influential mega-church in the film shows aspects of numerous Christian sects, which isn't realistic. I believe this was done intentionally by the writer (Brad Keene) so that the film's not picking on just one group. Hence, the mega-church is a microcosm of Christendom and represents all Christianity. Such an approach yields a group that is not fully believable even while having many aspects of truth. Needless to say, don't look to this film for a completely accurate depiction of legitimate Christianity. It's a movie, not real life.
The way the death-curse works is very interesting: The curse is spread socially via the first person exposed to the latest victim; in other words, it's contagious. Also, the victims die via an evil doppelganger (an obvious type of the flesh or sin nature) who kills them in a way that looks like suicide. This supports the idea that evil can only slay or ruin or limit a person through their own volition, i.e. 'from within'. You could put it this way: The way of darkness is the way of self-destruction.
I liked how the film shows members of both belief systems humbly admitting they made mistakes and willing to make things right, whatever the cost.
The story shows the domino effect of human failing. One person's moral failure leads to a deadly cover-up & slander which, in turn, brings about retribution and numerous innocents' deaths. On and on and on. Evil begats evil.
As noted above, the film is truly thought-provoking. Lindsay sees her church's error and hypocrisy even while she experiences its positive aspects. She reaches out in compassion to the Wiccan dude, a purely loving gesture, but ultimately realizes that witchcraft is what released the death-curse. She's stuck between evil & error on both sides, what can she do?
"From Within" is a horror film in the truest sense. Although it reveals a lot of truth about the human condition -- both good and bad -- it's not ultimately life-affirming. This is horror.
This movie was actually closer to reality for some so called Christians than you might think. A bit exaggerated, yes, but it is a movie and not real life.
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