The End of the Spear

"Ladies and gentlemen, tonight's winner in the category 'Well, what did you expect?' goes to...The End of the Spear....."

I've made a nearly full reversal in my taste of motion pictures in the past several years. Once an avid fan of action-packed, blow-em-up thrillers, bazaar dark comedies, and over the top science fiction films, my tastes have mellowed, matured even, into a preference for more slow-moving, deeply meaningful human dramas of all types. My tolerance for violence in movies is almost at an end, perhaps largely because I have seen the impact of a lifetime of unbridled violence pumped into the eyes and ears of my teenage sons. It's like a switch was thrown in my head that said "enough!".

So I have found myself feeling abandoned, really, by the American film industry. In my way of thinking, the movies I really care to see are few and far between. I want a movie to speak something new and fresh; I don't necessarily need to agree with the movie in theme or subject, but I don't enjoy it unless it resonates with some truth about life that I have never thought about before. These are the movies that I will wait for.

I was happy when the lights dimmed in our church service this past Sunday and a preview for the new film "The End of the Spear" was presented. Being a church in the pietistic / holiness tradition (that is, historically opposed to cinema and other forms of secular entertainment), promotion of film is rare, particularly during worship time. The only other occasion I can recall is when Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" was being promoted. At any rate, Spear looked intriguing because it appeared to have the qualities that would catch my attention. From what I can tell, the film is the story of a missionary to the Amazon who is killed by tribal natives along with four colleagues. Years later, the missionary’s son returns to the forests and encounters his father’s killer, learning about forgiveness, grace, and acceptance of people who he found to be very different than himself. It is said that the producer of the film is himself a Christian, and that he produced this film with the intent of marketing a mainstream film with a message that would appeal largely to evangelicals. And he would have been right about that last part, were it not for one, small, incorrect assumption.

The Christian workplace where I currently serve was abuzz with excitement about this film. The email bulletin boards were full of messages from people looking for tickets to opening night. Everyone was excited, and I heard many positive reports about the film, it’s strong positive message, and how it was a great contribution to the mainstream entertainment industry. Then the bomb dropped. It seems that someone remembered that the lead actor, Chad Allen, came out in Advocate magazine in 2001 and is openly gay. What was really startling was the uproar this created among evangelicals. It would seem that "gay" is rock while "grace" is mere scissors.

Now lest I begin receiving “love mail” from Christians accusing me of siding with the “gay agenda”, I will first say that I have no intention of arguing here whether an openly gay actor should or should not be “allowed” to work on a film with a overtly Christian theme. The question I really want to ask is, what did the evangelical community expect? Evangelicalism and the entertainment industry have always made strange bedfellows (consider, for example, the 700 Club and the Left Behind series of novels), so it should come as no surprise that not everyone working to produce the film shares in the values portrayed in the film. Why is homosexuality the litmus test for measuring the actor’s worth? I would venture to guess that if Mr. Allen were in fact a straight, albeit promiscuous unmarried man, there would not have been the first whisper about his morality or suitability to play the lead role. Since when does the church hold actors to a higher standard than presidents and priests?

I have vowed never to use the “H” word in my essays, so I will attribute the Christian community’s reaction about Chad Allen to a sort of collective insanity. I once heard it said that a sign of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, while expecting a different result each time. It’s disheartening, and none too ironic, to consider that people who have personally experienced God’s grace and forgiveness in their lives would so quickly turn on a filmmaker for including a “sinner” in his cast. American evangelicals recognize as much as anyone how the film industry can be uplifting and glorious while at the same time ugly and decadent. This is the nature of the industry. To boycott or disparage this film because of Chad Allen’s involvement is disingenuous and sends the wrong message to so many people who are looking to the Christian faith for acceptance and encouragement. Christians have gotten into bed with the film industry fully cognizant of how such things work, and then balk at the result as if surprised.

In protest to the Christian community’s bickering over this film, I’m taking my family to see Brokeback Mountain this weekend. At least both of the lead actors in that film are straight.