V for Vendetta
Priest Movie Review Part 2
17/05/11 20:31 Filed in: Popular Culture
This is the second movie review of the movie Priest directed by Scott Charles Stewart is based on the graphic novel written by Hyung Min-woo. I posted the first one on Monday 16 May 2011. In the first review, I discussed Priest as a critique of the Catholic Church hierarchy over the sex abuse scandal. In this critique, I want to focus on the movie as a dystopia.
A dystopia is the reverse of a utopia: where a utopia is a paradise, a dystopia is hell. Generally speaking, a piece of dystopian literature takes one or two facets of human life and magnifies it to highlight the way it disrupts and destroys human life. (Noticeably: someone's dystopia can often be another's utopia: consider Plato's republic.)
If we view Priest as a dystopian movie, not just for the Catholic Church, but for the wider society, what do we see?
Immediately we recognize a particular view of the role of religion in politics. During the vampire wars, the Church in the movie defended the people, particularly by training priests and sending them out to destroy those who would destroy human life. At the time of the movie, though, religion has become a tool of control: to defy the church is to defy God.
Thus, Priest is a critique of the power of religion as a means of control in life, and, in this case, I imagine of the Christian right and other forms of fundamentalism. This topic is a familiar one with dystopian literature (for instance, V for Vendetta).
Seen through this lens, then, Priest shows us what can happen if we rely to heavily on fundamentalist religion to protect us from terrorists. The vampires would be terrorists and the church an example of some fundamental group. If we cede too much control to the fundamentalist group, not only will we lose any freedom, but we will also be unprotected from those terrorists.
Interestingly enough, the movie never explains why the church decided to put the remaining vampires on reservations rather than eradicating them altogether. Of course, the point might be so that there is always the threat of vampires that can be used to keep the populace in line. This too is a common theme among dystopian literature: one way to ensure control of a populace is to give them a common enemy outside the state to fear: Brave New World. 1984, Brazil, and many other pieces of dystopian literature and movies share this theme. And it is one we should be constantly vigilant for. We've seen repeatedly the attempt to remove freedoms in the name of security.
Seen through this lens, then, it's unclear that Priest adds anything to the dystopian genre. We know about the power of fundamentalism and about the hidden enemy. But, the threat is real enough that, as a reminder of the possibility of this dystopia, the movie serves a useful purpose. While the movie is violent, the gore remains minimal particularly by today's cinema standards. The acting is so-so, except for Karl Urban (Star Trek) who plays a wonderful Black Hat. The movie is filmed well. I saw it in 3-D. Though not as spectacular as Avatar, the cinematography proved rewarding.
Would I recommend that everyone rush out to see the movie? No. I'd recommend checking out the graphic novel first, or reading some other piece of dystopian literature or watching a different dystopian film (Avatar, Bladerunner, Children of Men) first. But for an afternoon or evening's entertainment, the film is worth seeing and enjoyable.
A dystopia is the reverse of a utopia: where a utopia is a paradise, a dystopia is hell. Generally speaking, a piece of dystopian literature takes one or two facets of human life and magnifies it to highlight the way it disrupts and destroys human life. (Noticeably: someone's dystopia can often be another's utopia: consider Plato's republic.)
If we view Priest as a dystopian movie, not just for the Catholic Church, but for the wider society, what do we see?
Immediately we recognize a particular view of the role of religion in politics. During the vampire wars, the Church in the movie defended the people, particularly by training priests and sending them out to destroy those who would destroy human life. At the time of the movie, though, religion has become a tool of control: to defy the church is to defy God.
Thus, Priest is a critique of the power of religion as a means of control in life, and, in this case, I imagine of the Christian right and other forms of fundamentalism. This topic is a familiar one with dystopian literature (for instance, V for Vendetta).
Seen through this lens, then, Priest shows us what can happen if we rely to heavily on fundamentalist religion to protect us from terrorists. The vampires would be terrorists and the church an example of some fundamental group. If we cede too much control to the fundamentalist group, not only will we lose any freedom, but we will also be unprotected from those terrorists.
Interestingly enough, the movie never explains why the church decided to put the remaining vampires on reservations rather than eradicating them altogether. Of course, the point might be so that there is always the threat of vampires that can be used to keep the populace in line. This too is a common theme among dystopian literature: one way to ensure control of a populace is to give them a common enemy outside the state to fear: Brave New World. 1984, Brazil, and many other pieces of dystopian literature and movies share this theme. And it is one we should be constantly vigilant for. We've seen repeatedly the attempt to remove freedoms in the name of security.
Seen through this lens, then, it's unclear that Priest adds anything to the dystopian genre. We know about the power of fundamentalism and about the hidden enemy. But, the threat is real enough that, as a reminder of the possibility of this dystopia, the movie serves a useful purpose. While the movie is violent, the gore remains minimal particularly by today's cinema standards. The acting is so-so, except for Karl Urban (Star Trek) who plays a wonderful Black Hat. The movie is filmed well. I saw it in 3-D. Though not as spectacular as Avatar, the cinematography proved rewarding.
Would I recommend that everyone rush out to see the movie? No. I'd recommend checking out the graphic novel first, or reading some other piece of dystopian literature or watching a different dystopian film (Avatar, Bladerunner, Children of Men) first. But for an afternoon or evening's entertainment, the film is worth seeing and enjoyable.
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