Damnation vs. Salvation, Hollywood Style

The one thing I've noticed is that Hollywood loves to cling onto the damnation aspects of Christianity, especially Catholicism, as story devices, but never link the path to salvation as defined by Catholicism and other Christian faiths.

The movie Constatine is a film about a man who can see demons and the struggle between God and Satan over the souls of mankind. These visions, which nobody believes are true, eventually leads him to attempt suicide. Under Catholicism, he is now damned to hell, as suicide is a complete loss of faith. He spends the bulk of the movie expelling demons back to hell in an attempt to "buy" his way back into heaven.

In Angel Heart, Robert Deniro plays Lucifer (Louis Cypher) in disguise and Mickey Rourke plays a 1950s New Orleans private detective hired by Deniro to find a man... this man, we come to find out, has sold his soul to Satan and has used black magic to temporarily escape damnation. The film takes place in the heavily Catholic New Orleans area and has strong Catholic symbolism as well, along with a touch of Voo Doo.

So, to great effect, Hollywood has used the dogmatic fire and brimstone images of the battle of souls to create wonderfully symbolic and cinematic stories of the ultimate struggle for our immortal souls. However, that's where Hollywood's use of Christianity ends. In neither film is it explained to Constantine or the missing man in Angel Heart that, under these same Catholic Christian rules for which they are damned, that there is an opportunity for salvation... Jesus Christ.

I have always found this frustrating because if the Catholic rules of the universe apply for damnation, do not the same rules apply for salvation? Yet, salvation through the Son of God is never mentioned. It could be because it is cinematically anti-climatic... accepting Jesus and following him is not a very visual experience. However, I feel that they don't use it because they don't understand it... or don't want to acknowledge it.

When God is shown in films he's shown like George Burns in Oh God or Morgan Freeman in Bruce Almighty... loving, yet vague symbols of the Creator, where our salvation is not through the acceptance of Christ but by our own self discovery of our humanity.

Strong followers of Christ are also misrepresented in film. Priests used to be portrayed by A-Level talent, such as Montgomery Clift in I Confess or Bing Crosby in The Bells of St. Mary’s. Now they are B/C-Level talent, often played by character actors with twisted or distorted features. Many of the most dangerous killers are portrayed as overzealous Christians, such as Deniro's character in Scorcese’s version of Cape Fear. And average people with strong Christian beliefs are also often portrayed as hypocrites, such as in Saved or Footloose.

Hollywood has a long way to go. On occasion, Hollywood gets half of the immortal battle correct... its how to win the battle that they've yet to comprehend.

Growing up, my parents used to pray for the conversion of Russia every week at mass. We should reinstitute that global diligence, but instead pray for the conversion of Hollywood so that one day they can turn their half truths into The Truth when it comes to salvation and damnation.