What the Bible Movies Can Teach Us

The One You Missed

            On Saturday October 14th my wife called the house from work. She said she’d just seen the online trailer for the new movie about the story of Esther and that we were going to see it as soon as she came home. I knew better than to argue. So I looked up the movie times, told my daughter to get dressed and get ready to go to a show. Most people didn’t even hear about One Night with the King. It got little advertising and limited distribution (909 theaters). It earned 4.3 million dollars in its opening weekend, finishing ninth overall—pretty respectable for a Bible movie and grassroots advertising.

            I realized in the first ten minutes what kind of movie it would be: a romance story that would take liberties with the biblical text in order to tell a story in a way that would be interesting on film while also trying to be faithful to the primary plot and themes of the original biblical book. Once I was satisfied that the movie was going to try to be true to the spirit of Esther if not the letter, I sat back, relaxed, and said to myself, “Okay, I can handle the liberties; let’s see how they make the story interesting.” The movie was a bit overly romantic, even cheesy, but it worked. I liked it. I even liked the way they filled in some blanks to bring the life of the Jews under Babylonian captivity to light. The plot additions were acceptable, even surprising and interesting. The acting was decent, the costumes and sets wonderfully exotic. The production level and special effects were high.

            And it occurred to me that this is an excellent movie for families to see for a great learning experience. If you missed One Night with the King, rent it (or even buy it) on DVD and, after you watch it with your family, take an hour or two to read the book of Esther together and talk about how the movie got it right, how it got it wrong, and how its additions help you appreciate the biblical book more (or even how the additions may lead people to wrong beliefs about Esther). This movie can be a great tool for Bible study.

The One You Saw

            The Nativity Story got a lot more advertising and distribution and odds are you saw it last December. I don’t know if I liked it or not. I know that I wanted to, but I was also expecting more. I guess I wanted Passion of the Christ power and didn’t get it. I didn’t like the angel, Mary’s acting was hit and miss, and the director couldn’t decide whether to make a historical film or one meant to appeal to our traditional images of the nativity. I loved the magi—great humor. And I loved several moments where the blanks were filled in, improving our understanding of the biblical narrative. There’s so little we know about Joseph that to portray him in a movie can only be done by adding material. In this film we see the man who struggled with his wife’s apparent infidelity, and, though the Bible barely describes his conflict, I think the movie’s description adds positively to our understanding of what it was like for the stepfather of God. And I appreciated very much the focus on Mary. It’s far too easy for us to skip over the gritty reality of her story—to read the passages in Matthew or Luke at Christmas time and not see what an amazing sacrifice she made.

            Start with this: can any of you women see yourself volunteering to become pregnant? And before you’re married? And when you’re still a teen? And in a society where your pregnancy, once it begins to show, could get you not only ostracized by all your friends and family but even stoned to death? Think about that. Then think about traveling pregnant in the heat, on a donkey, without family (or your obstetrician) when you go into labor, and having to give birth in a barn. Imagine being the husband having to watch all this happen without knowing what to do or from where help will come. It’s easy to miss the concrete reality that really is there in the gospels. The movie helps us better see what’s written there, just between the lines.

A Hopeful Future

            This is an exciting time. The Passion of the Christ has opened up opportunities for big budget, nationally released Bible movies. I wanted the Bible movies of 2006 to be a little bit better, but I’ll take what we got. Both One Night with the King and The Nativity Story are valuable—they can give us opportunities for learning even with their flaws. I’ve written before that it’s important for us to be aware of how much influence we can have in Hollywood by our spending. I don’t know if I’ll buy these films for my DVD collection when they come out, but I know that I’ll rent and watch them again if I don’t. And the few dollars we spend supporting such films will keep Hollywood producers interested in Bible movies for 2007 and years to come.