In his Times column today, Peter Steinfels reflects on the relevance of filmmakers Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni -- both atheists -- to religious believers. Excerpt:
The godless world portrayed by both directors was bleak, to put it mildly. Along with much of modern culture, they judged sensual life and human love to be the alternative and successor to religion as the repository of human hopes for fulfillment; but in their films those hopes regularly prove fleeting, illusory or betrayed by human (usually male) weakness.So were believers, and again Christians foremost, drawn to these directors as powerful witnesses to what happened when God was declared dead? No doubt some religious defenders wanted to employ these bleak visions in a smug apologetic for faith, a greater temptation perhaps in the case of Antonioni, a post-Christian Italian, than of Bergman, an ex-Christian Swede. But for the most part, religious admirers of these directors treated them and their films not as object lessons for nonbelievers about the consequences of nonbelief but rather as revelations for believers about the true challenges of faith.
(Meanwhile, film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum argues that Bergman was overrated -- that his films are more admired than watched.)
I confess to knowing nothing about Antonioni, but in Bergman's case, it's hard to deny that in his intellectualized torment over the death of God, he articulated the religious Zeitgeist of his era. But where are the film directors who do that today? Bergman was a master artist of the "God is dead" era, but where are the filmmakers exploring, with the same seriousness, the mysterious and unexpected survival of God? We are living, globally, in a time of tremendous religious ferment, both for good and for evil. Are we capable of producing great artists who are in touch with that reality, and who can interpret it constructively (i.e., not in a propagandistic "Religion is good/religion is bad" way, but in a complex and emotionally truthful way)?
If yes, where are they? If not, why can't we, or why aren't we? Some good people are doing their very best to make it happen.
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I haven't seen "Mosquito Coast," but the themes of G-d and man, and the intersection of the religious and the secular, are constant in the work of Peter Weir -- perhaps more than any other current Hollywood director.
My favorite Weir film is "The Truman Show" (which makes some sense, I guess, given my view of a distant, perhaps benevolent but also mischievous G-d). "Witness" and "Dead Poets Society" are obviously the stereotypical examples (albeit very good ones), and "Fearless" is chilling in light of the events this week in Minnesota (or, for that matter, events six years ago next month in New York and Arlington, Virginia ...).
And though I haven't seen it, most film critics will tell you his Australian film "Picnic at Hanging Rock" is both his greatest film and his greatest contemplation on these matters.
Bergman's films were often visually beautiful, but on the whole, pretentious, slow, and boring. This view almost got me ostracized by a whole coterie of young academics, back in the day, but I didn't change my mind.
>The godless world portrayed by both directors was bleak, to put it mildly.
There seems to be this idea that a godless world has to be literal minded. 'Nature red in tooth and claw'. Evolution doesn't care, as long as it helps reproduce. Not just 'might makes right', but charm, flattery, lies, religion, nobility, etc..., it's all grist for evolution's mill.
I thought "21 Grams" by Alejandro González Iñárritu might fit the bill for this kind of film. No sentimental "cheap grace" here. It is difficult to watch, both due to the confusing non-linear editing and the compellingly harsh portrayals given by Sean Penn, Naomi Watts and Benicio Del Toro. The film has flaws a-plenty, if you want to nitpick. But it's not easy to approach these questions in a compressed narrative space without some questionable plot contrivances.
Lars von Trier's Dogville (2003) is very tough to watch, but extremely interesting as an exploration of depravity, purity, forgiveness and the nature of grace. (Some anti-American ax grinding is present but easily ignored, given the fine acting and fascinating dialogue.)
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