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TechnoratiWASHINGTON – The production company behind "The Road" is reaching out to the faith-based community, asking them to consider the much-anticipated film as something that could possibly be of value for ministry.
(Photo: A. Larry Ross Communications / Macall Polay, 2929/Dimension Films)Viggo Mortensen plays The Man in "The Road," a film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. "The Road" opens in theaters Nov. 25.
An adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, "The Road" is rated R for some violence, disturbing images and language.
Though the rating alone may be reason enough for some Christians to skip the film, some are giving it a chance and even calling it a more powerful tool than Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" because of its wider appeal.
"We need to look at it as a cultural key to build bridges and start spiritual conversations ... about the truth," Phil Hotsenpiller, teaching pastor at Friends Church in Yorba Linda, Calif., told The Christian Post. "People will see it. You'll miss the opportunity to have a spiritual conversation ... and give a biblical interpretation."
The movie, which opens in theaters nationwide Nov. 25, follows a father and his young son in a post-apocalyptic world. As they move south toward the coast to escape the cold, endless winter, they eat what little scraps they find, find shelter in abandoned cars and the woods, and encounter cannibals as well as other refugees. The journey is a struggle to survive in a world that is dying.
"It's more than your average zombie flick," screenwriter Joe Penhall said at a recent media roundtable in Los Angeles.
One of the major themes drawn out in the film is humanity/inhumanity, Penhall noted.
"What's in every single scene of that film is coping with the disappearance [of] humanity," he said. Religiousness, spirituality, music, and love all constitute humanity and the film depicts the horror of its gradual disappearance.
"How do we continue to generate humanity when humanity as a concept is fading into history?" Penhall posed.
While struggling to survive and protect his son, the father (played by Viggo Mortensen) finds himself losing his own humanity. But director John Hillcoat believes the boy saves his father because he gives humanity back to the man through his innate goodness.
At the heart of the film is the love story between the father and son. Even in the midst of their overwhelming struggles in a world where nothing is left, it's their love that keeps them going. But with that love, the father has a constant fear of being unable to protect his son and even worse leaving his son in a world where he can't protect himself.
Though such familial love is admirable, Dr. Reg Grant, professor of Pastoral Ministries at Dallas Theological Seminary, hopes Christians will use that story to "redirect those who fear that the best we have to hope for is the strength of human love."
"'The Road' provides Christian an opportunity to offer a better way to those seeking real hope," he said.
"The Road" is not a religious film, let alone a Christian one. But the deep questions raised and the spiritual themes embedded present "a unique entry point for those in the faith community to share the hope of the Gospel in a hopeless world," said A. Larry Ross, president of A. Larry Ross Communications, the Christian media company that was asked to take the film to the faith-based community.
While Christians typically work with films that either "edify" believers or can be used for general outreach, "The Road" presents a different opportunity, said Ross. Continue »
