A Borrowed Post: Man On Fire: Great Christian Movie.
I don’t normally borrow posts from other people’s blogs, but this post (originally written by Prodigal Jon over at Stuff Christians Like) really stood out as a fantastic comparison of Christianity and the movie Man On Fire.
In the film, Denzel Washington plays the role of Creasy, an alcoholic black ops military man in Mexico City serving as a bodyguard for a little girl named Pita. Pita is a blonde sprite of a seven-year-old played by the ubiquitous Dakota Fanning. Throughout the first half of the film we watch as Creasy hits rock bottom, only to find a new reason to live in Pita. Along the way, we see him spend increasing amounts of time in the Bible.
But because this at the core a revenge film, Pita is kidnapped after a piano lesson. Creasy is shot multiple times and the doctors say that without a month of rest, he will die. While Creasy is trapped in bed, Pita is executed by the kidnappers. He is devastated, his world collapsing in scenes of Pita laughing and playing. He leaves the hospital and decides to track down the killers.
In a hinge scene the young mother of Pita asks Creasy what he is going to do. His response is simple, “What I do best, I’m going to kill em. Anyone that was involved, anyone that profited from it, anyone that opens their eyes at me.” This statement serves as the doorway to a veritable house of pain and suffering. The violence is shocking in both its graphicness and its creativity.
At this point, my initial idea that I saw the love of Christ in this movie seems impossible. We do not serve a God that would torture a man with a cigarette lighter or plant a plastic explosive inside another kidnapper. Our God is not cruel. I think that’s worthy of argument though, at least from an Old Testament point of view. Would the Egyptian mothers that woke to find their first born children dead in their beds agree that God can not be cruel? Would the residents of Sodom, with flesh ripped apart by sulfur falling from the sky agree that God is not violent? I’m not saying these things were not justified. I just think that maybe we make too light of the fury and might of God.
Thoughts about Lost: Via Domus (in 250 words)
The Break Down:
Lost: Via Domus casts you as an amnesiac previously unseen survivor of Oceanic flight 815 and plays through the first 3 seasons of the show. Game play is broken down into 6 episodes including character flash backs.
The Game Play:
Game play consists of exactly 2 action sequences, playing hide and seek with the smoke monster, character interaction, photography, exploring flashbacks, and doing basic math to solve puzzles.
Interacting with the other survivors is a novelty, though it hardly gave any additional incite into anyone’s back story or the island. Exploring flashbacks primarily consists of watching cut scenes and looking at newspapers, and the game’s puzzle elements (though challenging, but just enough to make you think without frustrating you) really just felt tacked on.
The real gem of the game is the photography element. Fans of the show will recognize key places and items; and I was very pleased to see many of the achievements in the game set aside to taking pictures of them.
The Final Verdict:
When all was said in done the game took me about four and a half hours to play through and I enjoyed it every minute. I think the game’s ending can be seen as either “the cheap way out” or intriguing twist; depending upon how well you follow the TV show’s time displacement theories and conspiracies.
If you look at Lost: Via Domus as a series of interactive Lost episodes it becomes a lot more fun. If you just can’t get enough Lost in your life, I’d recommend it.
6/10. For the non-lost fan boys, 3/10.
Thoughts about travel.
Now as an adult, I have often known the peculiar legacy time brings to the traveler: the longing to seek out a place a second time, to find deliberately what was once stumbled upon accidentally. To recapture the feeling of discovery. Sometimes I’ll search again for a place that was not remarkable in itself - I will look for it simply because I remember it. If I do find it, of course, everything is different. The rough-hewn door is still there, but it’s much smaller; the day is cloudy instead of brilliant; it’s spring instead of autumn; I’m alone instead of there with friends. Or worse, I’m there with friends instead of alone.
The tunnel of love.
Yup… I’m getting there.