By Gene Ogorodov
When I
watched the movie Heaven is for Real my
expectations were low. The overtly predatory nature of American
religion, especially Evangelical Protestantism, suggested that this
film existed for the sole purpose of manipulation and extortion. Yet,
even with already jaded perspective Heaven is for Real
stooped below my lowest expectations.
Silly,
sappy, and dishonest are adjectives which come far to readily to mind
when describing this film. The genre of Evangelical testimonial which
forms the basic structure of the plot discredits the validity of the
story out of hand. Cherry picking past events to construct a
plausible support for supernatural intervention is the complete
opposite of an unbiased and objective history. Also, using the biased
overly spiritualized formulations of the average Testimony a less
than creative writer could make Joseph Stalin appear to be one of the
most pious Evangelicals of the Twentieth Century. What could possibly
be a more radial spiritual transformation than going from a gangster
to founding a State Church?
However,
to pass Heaven is for Real off as an insipid piece of rubbish belies
reality. The subject is unworthy of a rational audience, but beyond
that this movie exemplifies the skill and artistry of a major
Hollywood production. The cinematography, the script, and the acting
were exceptional, and likewise the message appealed to more than a
lunatic fringe that enjoys brand new miraculous revelations.
Like
the most clever Nazi propaganda it presented a caricature of the most
cogent objections to the child's vision of Heaven and ground them to
pieces under the weight of apparently overwhelming popular acceptance
and the transient pleasure of happy delusions. The subtext of the
entire movie is something along these lines-- No matter what anyone
else says they really believe; furthermore, you know you want to
believe, so, go ahead, believe.
But
why does the movie want us, the audience, to believe? Does it want to
expand the aforementioned lunatic fringe? Not likely. They make lots
money for charlatans like Todd Burpo (the author of the book and
inspiration for the movie), but preparing victims for that kind of
vampirism is hardly worthy of a major work of the American propaganda
machine which is used to extracting fortunes far larger than any
two-bit religious con-artists could ever imagine.
The
real vampirism of this film is to suck the validity out of the
natural human emotion grief. Grief and anger make people
uncontrollable, but popular control is the business of Hollywood thus
the power of grief must be destroyed. Heaven is for Real
takes the sting out of death,
ultimately, by presenting the dead as a group to be envied. However,
it is human to mourn the dead and to hate the vicissitudes of this
world that throw away life for no purpose, and, conversely, it is
unnatural to live a life that envies the dead. At first glance this
world view give absolute courage, but it carries with it a nihilism
that invalidates human experience and, in the end, negates personal
responsibility.
The
most despicable example of this is shown in the discrediting of
mother's grief over a dead son who had died in the Global War on
Terror. Why should she be sad? Her son is in heaven. There is no more
pain or suffering, just eternal pleasure. Wouldn't it be more
reasonable for her to be happy for him since he has attained eternal
bliss?
After
a more than a decade of constant war with no end in sight and a world
that is more in fear of terrorist attacks than ever before, the
stated purpose for the Global War on Terror ring hollow. In World War
II families of dead service men and women had the comfort of knowing
that their loved ones died in a necessary cause. Likewise the
incompatibility the Eastern and Western Blocs gave meaning to the
families of the dead. But in the current wars have no meaning, and
thus it is hard to come to any reasonable conclusion other than their
dead died in vain. But this movie gives meaning to their deaths in
presenting a death as the ultimate achievement of life.
Hollywood
has lowered the bar on its already reptilian themes. No longer is it
just the fault of the poor that they were born into a society that
disenfranchised them. It is not enough that we live in a meritocracy
where the greatest merit is having good luck. Greed is not just good;
it is a moral imperative, and now the lives of those who are abused
and murdered by our criminal society have no meaning in this life.
The only life that has meaning for most people is the afterlife. In
short the poor are human cattle, and they should be thankful that the
masters of mankind for leading them to the slaughterhouse.
Sorry
Todd Burpo and TriStar Pictures I think your world view is a load of
crap. I may be strange, but I prefer religion that explains the world
I live in and answers the paradoxes that I live with day to day;
rather than a type that overlays an implausible and delusional
fantasies on top of untreated miseries. It is somewhat incredulous
when people claim that they have learned in a moment more about the
meaning of life than 200,000 of human existence has failed to reveal.
Socrates had the humility to accept that some of the most fundamental
mysteries in life cannot be answered. I don't believe that a four
year old child was wiser than Socrates.
