In an interview on the film, Forsaken (2015), Kiefer Sutherland
remarks that the film is black and white in terms of the bad and the good guys.
In other words, the film is a classic western. James McCurdy wears the “black”
hat, while Rev. Samuel Clayton, played by Donald Sutherland, wears the “white” one (even though his
clergy-wear is entirely black). However,
Samuel is hardly very nice, or forgiving, to his son at first. On the other
side of the dichotomy, Brian Cox, who played McCurdy, said in an interview that
his character has the virtue of business sense in that the man buys up area farms,
albeit by ruthless means, because he anticipates that the anticipated railroad
would drive up land prices. Nevertheless, that McCurdy is willing to take the
risk does not justify killing farmers who refuse to be bought out. Michael
Wincott, who played Dave Turner—McCurdy’s hired hand, said in an interview that
he didn’t see McCurdy as at all grey; rather, his own character and John Henry
Clayton, the reverend’s son, are grey in that both try to resist killing; they
both know better and attempt to resist the temptation. Even such nuances from
the traditional “black and white” western do not go far enough in describing
the de facto religious complexity in
John Henry. In fact, the screenwriters did not go far enough to capture a truly
Christian response to even one’s enemies. Hence I submit that the film gives a
superficial gloss that belies just how far a Christian much go to follow the
teachings of Jesus.
John Henry Clayton admits to
atheism to his father, who of course is a Christian minister. The latter
explodes at the statement, which is made on the assumption that a benevolent
God could not have allowed for the horrendous suffering in the U.S.A.-C.S.A. “civil”
war in which John Henry fought. Why does God allow the innocent to suffer?
Perhaps because they were fighting? Perhaps the very question is faulty in that it anthropomorphizes God. Soon it
is apparent in the film that John Henry does
believe in God and values Jesus’s advocacy of “turning the other cheek.”
John Henry does indeed resist
the taunts and then physical attack by Frank Tillman, who works under McCurdy and
Turner. John even does as Tillman orders in the midst of the one-sided fight. Viewers
might harken back to the scene in Gandhi
(1982) in which Gandhi continues to throw Indian-identity cards into a fire
even as South African policemen repeatedly beat him for doing so. In both
instances, the resistance is active rather than passive because of the
restraint needed not to hit back. This sort of restraint can be considered a
moral sort of strength. In terms of Jesus’s teaching and example, it doesn’t go
far enough, and in this regard the screenwriters of Forsaken fell short in terms of their knowledge of Christian
teachings.
In Paul:
Apostle of Christ (2018), both Paul and Luke (with Paul’s urging) agree
to help the sick daughter of Mauritius Gallas, head of the prison in which Paul
is being held prior to execution. Gallas has had Paul whipped repeatedly, and
yet when Paul hears of the worsening health of Gallas’ daughter, the apostle
urges Luke, a physician, to heal her. Luke is at first very reluctant (to put
it mildly), but Paul tells him of Jesus’ teaching that God’s love is for
everyone, and a follower of Jesus is called to this even in cases of helping
enemies (or even just one’s detractors and rude people). Whereas self-restraint
from hitting someone back is admirable ethically,
Gallas’ reaction to Paul and Luke having cured the daughter is something else—something
more than mere respect of their morals. Gallas begins to ask them about their
faith. That is to say, going a step further here crosses from morality into the
domain of spirituality. Jesus’ teaching to help even those people who have caused
much suffering and harm is so far from the dictates of the world that something
more than moral force must be involved. Such is the Kingdom of God, according
to Jesus; it turns the world on its head, rather than merely being more moral
strength in the world. Turning the world up-side-down is so radical that it
implies an orientation beyond our realm; that is, a transcendent orientation
that relativizes the world. Herein lies the difference between “merely” turning
the other cheek and proactively helping one’s enemies or detractors. In the
latter, it is not sufficient for one hand not to know what the other hand is
doing, for the full intention must be to help in spite of the hurt felt and the
injury incurred.
Forsaken
aptly depicts the moral strength of resisting to
hit an attacker back, but no hint is given of going a step further that would
evince spiritual strength in line with Jesus’ teaching, which is more difficult
to put into practice. Interesting, Rev. Samuel Clayton makes no mention of this
teaching in preaching at church even though he does advocate resisting the
temptation to kill the bad guys. Hence I look toward the screenwriters as
having fallen short. The problem here is that viewers can come away from the
film with the misunderstanding that Jesus’ teaching is less than what it really
is. Moreover, the teaching and thus the religion could be viewed as moral in its essence. Rather than
transcending our relations with others, the religion is thought to be of conduct between people. Is God the
referent point, or is conduct between people? I submit that having a referent that
transcends the human realm—beyond even the limits of human cognition,
sensibility, and perception—distinguishes a religion from a moral principle.
On transcendent experience applied to human relations, see Spiritual Leadership in Business, available at Amazon.
