He is risen in film

More than 20 years ago a man named Doug deLisle asked me to meet him for lunch at Manory’s Diner in downtown Troy to offer me a job.

He liked my writing and wanted me to do a weekly column that would run on Wednesday. I told him; I didn’t know if I had enough ideas bouncing around my head to fill a column 52 weeks a year, but I would try. More than two decades later, I’m still here, but you’ve probably noticed today is not Wednesday.

A couple of months back they moved me to this Sunday slot, which means for the first time in my long writing life, my column is running on Easter Sunday.

If you are a religious reader of my words, you no doubt noticed a “faith” component to much of what I write. I am a Christian, but I don’t jam it down anyone’s throats. That said when the occasion arises, I’ll slip in some Christian themes. I once told a priest, “I’m a sneaky Christian”, because I hide the lessons I learned in Catholic school inside my columns, so people are being exposed to a dab of morality without noticing it.

Nobody likes being preached to and I am far from being a preacher. Just a guy trying to spread some good cheer now and again.

So today is Easter Sunday and I thought it would be fun to point out to you that I’m not the only one in pop culture or the arts, sneaking in the Christ story in my work. Far from it. If you go to the movies or enjoy watching them at home, you’ve been exposed to it many times and probably didn’t notice. It was one of the reasons you loved a movie, even though the writer and director didn’t announce what they were up to over a megaphone.

Let me give you a few examples.

• The Shawshank Redemption — An innocent man enters a world of sin (prison) and tries to give hope to those who have lost it. Surrounded by violence, Andy Dufresne outsmarts the devil and ultimately escapes his grasp. In fact, in the scene where Andy escapes from prison he emerges from a sewer pipe in the pouring rain, raises his arms like Christ on the cross and is “baptized” by the pure water hitting him.

• Gran Torino — An emotionally wounded and angry man named Walt Kowalski is forced into a world with people he doesn’t understand. Despite his miserable disposition, he befriends a young man who is being forced onto a road to perdition and saves him. How does he do that? By putting aside, the tools of violence and outsmarting evil and trading his life for the boys. In fact, in the pivotal scene, Walt is shot repeatedly and falls to the ground with arms extended, much like Jesus on the cross.

• World War Z — I know what you’re thinking that zombie movie? Yes, that zombie movie. Brad Pitt plays an investigator who is asked to save the world by figuring out how to stop zombies from infecting the planet. What does he do? He injects a deadly virus into his own body, taking sin upon himself, while also demonstrating a will to trade his life for others.

• The Matrix — Neo, the Keanu Reeves character, is offered a chance to take a pill and see the evil prison that is all around us. The only way he can defeat the evil is to consume that pill and enter the foreign and dangerous world. He is not only willing to trade his life for others, but in an obvious tip of the cap to Christianity, the writers of the film call Neo’s love interest, “Trinity.”

• Les Miserable — This one may seem more obvious but stay with me. The Jean Valjean character is not a bad man but after getting out of prison he figures, “screw it”, I’m just going to steal things. A kind priest shows mercy when Valjean is caught, and that puts him on the path of righteousness. For me though, the key Christ moment is when he has an opportunity to punish Javert, a prison officer who is brutal to him and has hunted him relentlessly for years. Killing Javert solves all his problems but Valjean shows mercy and forgives him. He also sings the showstopper of a song, “Bring Him Home”, where Valjean prays that God will take his life in exchange for a young boy who is hurt.

Even if you are an atheist and think Easter is only good for getting free chocolate, it is undeniable how the Christ story is weaved into the fabric of our world. And even if you think Jesus Christ was no more than a carpenter’s son with great P.R., you cannot deny the value in his teachings. Love, forgive, charity to those less fortunate.

I wish you a Happy Easter Sunday. I pray this new year brings you peace, good fortune and an opportunity to be with those you love.