Film Comment: El Evangelista

You say that you want to see a Christian comedy about a professional drug gang enforcer/assassin?  Well, here it is.

Pablo (J. Salome Martinez) always pauses before killing his victims to allow them the chance to make their peace with God.  Whether or not they do, he then fills them with bullets.  Surprisingly, though the film is extremely violent, there is no cursing.

Pablo and his assistant are bumbling hit men who eventually are able to carry out their assignments.  There is a lot of running around and shooting and killing.

The turning point for Pablo comes when he is assigned by his boss to assassinate a Pentecostal pastor who is interfering with the local drug trade.  Pablo becomes a Christian and turns his life around.  This is where the real problem with El Evangelista (2006) lies.

Pablo moves to another area and begins his happy new life.  What about his probably vengeful former associates?  What about his responsibility for numerous murders?  Did he have a responsibility to self-report to the authorities?  Should he have given his knowledge of the drug trade to the police?  Is repentance without confession really repentance?  Can we escape temporal consequences for our actions?

This is a Spanish language film with English subtitles.

Film Comment: The Road to Perdition

"My father's only fear was that his son would follow the same road ...," the road to perdition.  The word "perdition" is of Indo-European origin through Latin.  The main idea of the word is "loss."  In Christian theology, the word is used of loss of the soul, eternal damnation, utter ruin, and destruction.  It can be seen as a synonym for Hell.

The film, The Road to Perdition (1998), is set in Depression era 1931 and tells the story of Michael Sullivan,  a crime mob hit man, a paid assassin, whose son accidentally witnesses one of his murders.  The mob bosses are not pleased and want the boy killed so that he cannot tell anyone.  The killer dearly loves his son and takes steps to protect him.

Based on a black and white graphic novel (comic book), this excellent and suspenseful film stars Oscar winner Tom Hanks as the hit man and is loaded with other top level actors: Stanley Tucci, Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Daniel Craig, and Paul Newman.)  The story is concurrently loving, tender, violent, and depressing.

The film is based on the idea of "the sins of the fathers," a biblical concept.  We teach our children how to act by our example.  Even if we do not wish for our children to follow our example, our actions do not affect only us but can have effects on our families and friends for generations.  Often, once they are set in motion, the consequences of our actions cannot be avoided.

Film Comment: Ashes and Diamonds

Ashes and Diamonds (1958) is a black and white Polish film about a Resistance fighter who is ordered to kill a Communist leader on the last day of World War II.  Maciek, portrayed by Zbigniew Cybulski (the "Polish James Dean") is a casual assassin who makes the mistake of meeting a woman and falling in love.  He has to choose between abandoning his assignment and possibly living a happy life with the woman, or fulfilling his "duty" whatever the cost.  He chooses to kill his target and ends up dying in hail of bullets in a garbage dump.

There are numerous religious images in the film, the most prominent is a damaged statue of Christ hanging upside down in a destroyed chapel.  The film itself is more political than religious.

The entire film seems to point to the fact of Maciek's impending self-destruction, as if he has no choice. Many people think they have no choice, that "this is just the way I am."  They place their lives and their souls on the garbage dump and, yet, they could have made other choices.

Maciek would have been scorned as a traitor had he failed to carry out his mission but he could have chosen no to do it.  Unbelievers who make a choice for Christ may find that their lives are greatly complicated by their decision.  God never promised anyone an uncomplicated life, but He did say that He would provide strength so that the believer could bear it.

"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."  1 Corinthians 10:13