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Looking Closer: How movies reveal the human heart By Kevin Reynolds According to John Eldredge, author of "The Sacred Romance" and "Journey of Desire," we as a church have ceased our study of the human heart, its desires, needs, wants, and its nature. Somewhere along the line of life, Hollywood picked up where we left off. Eldredge is referring to the uncanny way movies and cinema tend to touch our hearts. Whether it's an action flick dipping into our sense of and need for adventure, or a sappy love story taking advantage of our wish, our desire to be pursued, Hollywood is identifying these desires and speaking to them. Take a Van Damme movie (the earlier ones, when they were still good). Guys flock to the box office or rental stores to share in the adventure. Think about it, a muscled guy who goes around beating up bad guys, conquering obstacles, dodging bullets, and looking great doing it. And on top of all that, he gets the beautiful girl! What guy's heart doesn't long for that? Or, for the women, imagine being pursued and fought for like Jack does for Rose in "Titanic." Hollywood has learned their lessons well. They study the human heart, and write to please it. But movies also do more than just offer an appetizer for this brief existence, our last stop before eternity when all those desires will be satisfied. They serve as the medium, the language that directors, writers, actors, and society use to convey their thoughts, feelings, and their own longings. And every once in a while, a few movies come along that positively scream it with so much fervor, the only way to ignore the message completely is to aggressively reject it. Recently, I entered a video store on a Saturday night, desperate for something to watch. As you know, the worst time to rent is on Saturday night. But, not wanting to face the evening lacking in entertainment, I forced hope to guide me. As I walked down the row of New Releases, I noticed more and more holes, vacancies where I had been beaten to the punch. And then, a word caught my eye. It made me pause, contemplate, and, I admit, conspire. The word was "controversial." Now, I'm not one to stir up the waters (although my wife would disagree, but I swear, my bark is worse than my bite), but I felt compelled to at least investigate. The video was "Dogma," starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck playing two angels cast out of heaven. The film focuses on their discovery that a loophole exists allowing them to reenter heaven. As I asked around, I was told, through a cautious wince or a barely contained smirk, that the movie was incredibly funny, if you had the right sense of humor. Apparently, it poked fun at religion, Christian religion specifically. I was told that prominent Catholic groups had condemned the movie, lining up outside the studio alongside Baptists and other conservatives to picket the flick. At this point, I feel it imperative to mention that I am a youth director at a Southern Baptist Church (a very old one), making it doubly mischievous for me to even consider renting a movie like this one, filled with foul language, sexual innuendoes, and blasphemy. I couldn't resist. With a quick glance over each shoulder to make sure no one I knew was watching, I rented the movie and drove straight home to see what all the fuss was about. It lived up to every negative comment I had heard. It was foul-mouthed, cluttered with religious stabs, and flat-out inaccurate. Everything from Chris Rock playing the 13th apostle left out of the scriptures because he's black to Alanis Morissette as God, a child-like woman with an affinity for standing on her head. In short, I laughed so hard my sides hurt. At first, I simply thought "funny movie, but I wouldn't rent it again." However, as I thought about what I had seen, I realized an underlying theme perfectly conveyed through one single conversation between Affleck and the undercover human woman assigned to stop his reentry. During this exchange, the woman, a member of the Catholic Church as well as an abortion clinic employee, expresses her loss of heart and desire to attend what church has become. In her words, the only reason she still attends every week is because it "provides an opportunity to balance her checkbook." In other words, the church has become boring, unresponsive, and inadequate when dealing with the needs or desires of her tragedy-stricken heart. Heads up! There's the message. They're trying to tell us something. From this level of awareness, I traveled back, trying to remember movies I had recently seen and the messages they were trying to convey. Instantly, my mind sprung to "American Beauty." While not quite as controversial, "American Beauty" drew its fair share of criticism from the Christian community. It was attacked for what was deemed inappropriate material. And several Christians boycotted the movie based on comments from friends or respected movie reviewers. The film is the story of an average, modern American family that has lost what it means to live and a daughter's quest to discover it. Specifically, the story focuses on Kevin Spacey's character, a middle-aged man attracted to a high-school girl. He quits his job, spends money on toys and a sports car, and goes back to "flipping burgers" like he did when he was younger. At first glance, it simply appears to be a movie about a man in a mid-life crisis. But when viewing the movie for the purpose of receiving the message it is trying to convey, it becomes clear it is a mid-life "awakening" instead of a "crisis." Spacey's character has discovered his desire to be significant and to follow his heart. He realizes there is more to life than his career, his wife's career, or his daily life of living behind the scenes. He returns to flipping burgers to obtain a job that has "the least amount of responsibility possible." In this way, he has simplified his life. He is enjoying it. And for the first time in years, he is happy because he is listening to the desires of his heart. The surface attraction to the young girl is simply an example of his desires busting free and manifesting themselves in other arenas because they have been suppressed until it is impossible to suppress them any longer. Finally, there is a joy in his life. Thus begins his "awakening." He is able to endure life because of the joy set before him. What does this all have to do with us as the church? They're speaking to us! Or, in the case of "American Beauty," anyone who has the answers and will listen. Society is crying out for spirituality that actually fills the void in their hearts and for a real joy that allows them to endure life. Guess what, as Christians, these things are exactly what we have to offer. But, here we are faced with a problem, because in order to help those crying out for help, we must at least be willing to speak their language. In a recent interview with Leonard Sweet, he tells a "parable" of missionaries in China. They step off the plane and immediately start off with comments like "you dress funny, you eat funny foods, and you talk funny, but listen to what I have to say about Jesus." Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? The same is true with movies. We say over and over again how we wish society would realize their need and turn to Christ. The only problem is that we expect them to do it exactly like we want them to. We want them to speak our language and walk through the church doors on Sunday in a 3-piece suit asking for Jesus. Unh-uh. It doesn't work that way. Society has its own language, and in order to understand it, we have to listen to it. If we really are interested in helping the world find Jesus, we are going to have to reevaluate how we "do business." Hollywood makes a movie and we get so caught up in our list of rights and wrongs we ignore the cry for help, and then we boycott it. Have you ever studied the main beliefs of the Pharisees? You know, that Jewish sect Jesus constantly had to contend with. Did you know there is only one main difference in belief between what Christ taught and what they taught? Know what it is? It's actually quite simple, and it deals with their style of practice and teaching. It is this: They focused everything on ethics more than on spirituality. What does that mean? That they were more concerned with the law than the spirit. Christ taught us the opposite. The law is something that should be a side effect of a Christian's life. If you focus on God and love Him, the obedience comes naturally (more or less). But, in modern life, we have allowed our focus on the law to interfere with the spirit. Focus on the law comes after we join the family of God. Until then, it is a fight for our souls, and a quest for the spirit. And until we learn this and begin to look past the ethics to the cries coming from hearts desperate for the spiritual truths of life, our efforts will bear little fruit.    READER RESPONSES Michael Curley I really enjoyed your article. Society is trying to fill their spiritual void through film and other sources. To most, the church seems out of date. But the truth is, Christ's message is as exciting and life fulfilling as it ever was, and I see a new movement of activity happening today (such as this site) to share that message in a way that will reach out and touch those who are searching. The only caution, however, is that we don't conform to, or water down the Gospel to make it "fit into" a hip and modern day version of Christianity. One that is safe, easy, and politically correct. Just like George Carlin in "Dogma," as the Catholic priest behind a marketing campaign to reinvent Jesus to appeal to the masses, we must find new ways to reach those who are searching for spiritual fulfillment, but not at the expense of God's word.