Film Comment: Quid Pro Quo

     The film, Quid Pro Quo (200), is a really odd horror film.  There are no supernatural monsters, no demented slashers, no gore, no violence, no mad doctors, no evil conspiracies, no ancient secrets, no cannibalism, no curses, no out of control viruses, and no overarching quests for revenge.  More than anything, it's a horror film based on disturbed understandings of personal identity.

     The film is based on the actual mental disorder known as body-integrity identity disorder in which patients insist that "something is wrong" which can only be corrected by the removal of one of their body parts, usually a leg, hand or arm.  Some physicians believe that only the amputation seems to relieve the distress.  Patients refused the treatment have been known to take the "cure" into their own hands.  They say they feel wonderful after the unwanted body part is removed.

     Christians are specifically ordered not to cut or mark themselves as their bodies are owned by God and are His temple.

“Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I [am] the LORD.”  Leviticus 19:28

"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which [temple] ye are.” 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

      I am aware that many psychiatrists consider body-integrity identity disorder to be an affective disorder which can not be helped by merely "trying" to resist it.  This line of thought places the disorder in the same category as transgenderism, cutting, obsessive-compulsive disorder, compulsive gambling, homosexuality, addiction to pornography, sociopathy, alcoholism, illegal drug use, etc.  The medical idea is that eventually an anatomical or physiological explanation will be found for each of these.

     Christians have known for centuries that the Holy Spirit will aid the believer in battling any or all of these personality disorders. 

^13"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.

”I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, [which is] your reasonable service.  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”  Romans 12:1-2.