There's really not much of a plot to "ruin" by writing this blog, so if you think you might like it and want to see it for yourself, maybe skip this blog in case I do in fact "ruin" it for you, because I'm not going to hold back any of the ending. In fact, the ending is why I'm writing this blog in the first place.
Nicholas Cage (the lead) is an atheist. His father, a Christian pastor.
Nic believes that the world is created randomly without any purpose or explicit meaning to it, until he comes across this old prophesy, written in numeric form, about a bunch of events in history that caused a lot of loss of life. One of these numbers correlates with a fire that Cage's wife was killed in, and he starts to reconstruct his world view from here. Maybe there is a reason to this life? Maybe we're not just put here for no reason? There must be a purpose to life!
Then it gets weird. The numbers are planted in people's heads by aliens. The aliens are portrayed as if they're actually angels in several scenes. In that they are pictured with a religious drawing of God, and in their final scene, they appear in their true form with mystical vapourous wings emanating from their bodies.
I don't think the question of "are we here for a reason?" was actually resolved.
Because the numbers point to the end of the Earth. The world as we know it does end in total destruction, but before it does, the Christians end up saying "this is not the end" and they all accept that it isn't the end. But what I think the "Christians" are referring to is that the aliens have taken some children from the current Earth, to live on another planet. And so- life continues.
It's strange because I'm not sure what mixed religious ideas are being portrayed. It is saying that there is a higher power, and more to creation than what we see on this Earth. But as for the "point" of creation? It's lost.
I think that's because in my worldview I believe that creation was made for Jesus. Without Jesus in this movie, and the real "end of days" as the bible teaches us about, the world does look completely futile and life pointless, even when the filmmakers are trying so hard to say the exact opposite.
The filmmakers show that life continues with this group of 20 or so children, even when everything else is lost. And they portray this as comforting and beautiful. How is that comforting? How is it beautiful? What happens to the rest of the world that have been vapourised? Is it meant to be enough for them to be assured that the "human race" has continued, even when their life has been snuffed out?
I'm still obviously a little confused about this movie and what it's trying to say. All I know is that, even though "Christianity" is in it (probably to not offend that large group of "nominal Christian" Americans), I don't think "Christianity" is in it in any way. It completely skews any resemblance of our beliefs and the "hope" of continued life that is presented in this movie is so marred that I can say, I'm appalled by it's mention. The Christians don't bring up Christ at all. If anything, they could be pigeon-holed into the class of 'random people who are more comfortable with death than regular people but for no apparent reason'. They are comfortable with their own end of life, because they know that "it's not the end". But there's no hint that they mean life with Christ eternally. What's more obvious is that they mean the human race isn't ended, even though their own lives have.
Moreover, the end of the world doesn't even have any reason behind it. It just happens. Which means that they're portraying the creator to be just that. A creator. He doesn't have the power to stop the sun's devastating rays, or he just doesn't care about destroying the large majority of his creation for no reason and starting again. I don't know which option I'd prefer, but they're both awful views of the Christian God. They're either saying we have a God who doesn't care about people individually, but corporately, as a race, he does. Or they're saying that he lacks the power to be in charge of the world he's created and has just done what he could to continue life. Not by recreating it elsewhere, but by just moving it across the universe to a more habitable world.
I should be pitied if I followed a God who was this distant, and/or powerless!
I wish filmmakers would quit trying to incorporate Christianity into movies, when Christ isn't even mentioned. Just do a sci-fi! Just a regular sci-fi! Don't confuse non-believers into thinking that this is related to Christian thinking!
If some Christians were upset about the "hidden" message of the Golden Compass, they should be outraged at this blatantly contorted view of Christianity.
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