E-mail
Print
RSS
G-bookmarks
Live
TechnoratiSuddenly, as Henry has resigned himself to the winding down of his chronological life, he is invaded by kairos, and he finds himself more alive than ever. His yard has become a shrine, where Esperanza’s friends leave devotional candles. His amused and pretty neighbor Dawn, single parent to Millie, a girl so traumatized by her father’s abandonment that she does not speak, breaks into his life like the new morning her name represents. In Father Salazar, Henry encounters a patient and caring listener. And then the miracles start.
To give away much more would be doing a disservice to the viewer. Suffice it to say that as the supernatural element works its way on Henry, it works its way on the audience as well. We live in a world which has been purposefully purged of much of its wonder. It is a world that takes the word of science as gospel, and chalks up miracles to superstition. But there is no escaping the growing sense of excitement that a viewer feels as Henry’s objections are slowly stripped away, leaving him – in a sense – to go head to head with God. In his refusal to ascribe the miracles (so obvious to everyone else) to their rightful source, Henry cuts himself off from others, and from the very things that could help to bring purpose back to his life. Yet even here, God is at work, through Hope, with Patience, in His good time, helping Henry toward a proper end.
A Common Uncommon Life
Henry Poole is Here is precisely the kind of spiritually challenging film that stands in stark contrast to the fearsome nihilism of summer’s biggest blockbuster, The Dark Knight. Both films represent the battle for hope in the midst of a hopeless world. But The Dark Knight argues that the only things standing between us and chaos are the uneven choices of flawed human beings. Henry Poole is Here says that hope is ultimately grounded in the character of God, who, despite apparent circumstances, ultimately desires what is best for His creatures. And if you are willing to really look, you too can see it.
Making a theologically evocative film that is not preachy or off-putting to non-believers is a tremendous challenge. Those who try fail more often than they succeed. Henry Poole is Here is one of those rare summer films that succeeds. It stays with you long after you leave the theater. It provides audiences with opportunities to talk about death, doubt, and divine intervention in the form of the miraculous, and the mundane. It allows us a moment to reconsider whether a mechanistic view of life really makes the most sense. For a moment of time, a kairos moment, it asks us to think about what it means to be here.
Marc T. Newman, PhD., is the president of movieministry.com, an organization that provides sermon and teaching illustrations, Bible studies and discussion cards, drawn from popular film, and helps the Church use movies to reach out to others and connect with people. Dr. Newman is an associate professor in the School of Communication and the Arts at Regent University. Requests for media interviews, or reprints of this article, can be made to marc@movieministry.com
