I’m not much for romantic comedies, but every so often I indulge. The scene that struck me from A Good Year involves the Hugh Jackman character choosing to impress his love interest at her overcrowded restaurant by donning an apron and helping out as a waiter. What mattered was a memory it brought back, a precious memory I might have otherwise lost.

The Important Memory

On a Sunday after church while visiting my wife’s family and friends in southeast Texas, we all went to the local pizza place. There were about 20 of us. Only one employee was working—everyone else had called in sick—and it was his job to stock the buffet and serve everyone in the restaurant. Our group was the first to arrive in what was sure to be a post-church lunch rush.

Once she realized there was a problem, my wonderful wife took over. She got us all drinks, went back to wrap silverware in napkins and place them at our tables, and then told the lone pizza guy we were going to help out. Within minutes most of us had been recruited to set out silverware for the entire restaurant, seat patrons as they came walking in for lunch, and serve drinks. We even helped bus tables and do dishes. Because one person decided to act out of love rather than complain, others followed and patrons and personnel alike witnessed the love of Christ. When movies remind us of something good that’s happened in our lives, they do a godly thing. I remembered to be proud of my wife for her leadership and love.

The Christ Figure

If you saw Bridge to Terabithia you may have been disappointed by the misleading trailers. It was more than a fantasy movie and far from something small children would delight in. But it was a good movie with strong messages about the importance of courage, imagination, and faith. My 14-year-old daughter and I took a group of college students to see the movie and discuss it over dinner. Before we ever got to dinner, though, my Alli expressed her dislike for the movie.

“What do you mean?” I asked. “What didn’t you like about it?”

She was upset, even angry at the fact that the main character, the one truly good person in the entire movie, died. That sort of thing isn’t supposed to happen. What a wonderful opportunity I suddenly had, thanks to this movie.

I explained, “She’s a Christ figure, Al, a wonderful person who dies to save others. The reason you’re upset is because she was good and innocent and yet died. But that’s exactly what Christ did for us. You’re feeling the kind of outrage you ought to be feeling.”

When she understood why it happened in the story the way it did, she was pleased, deciding the movie’s message was worth the pain it caused. In a single moment, my daughter learned a gospel lesson and improved her ability to think about movies more deeply. That was a good experience.

The Great Commission

In the film Déjà vu a man travels into the past to change the present and save human lives. The key line that’s about to follow will not have the power for you that it did for me if you haven’t seen the movie, but let me try to paint the picture. You are desperate to save a person’s life. You have come back in time to do so. But that person doesn’t know who you are and furthermore thinks you might be the person who has kidnapped and beaten her. If she doesn’t listen to you and do what you say, she’ll die, but you can only explain the truth to her by including the fact that you’ve traveled back in time to save her. So you say to her something like, “If you had to tell someone the most important thing they could ever hear but were sure they wouldn’t believe you, what would you do?” And she answers, “I’d still try.”

At that point I was overwhelmed by the importance of the gospel of Christ. You and I have a story to tell others that is the most important thing they could ever hear, but often we are afraid to tell it because we are sure they won’t believe us. The message of the movie is nothing less than the message of the Great Commission: we’ve still got to try. If we tell them and they don’t believe us, they’ll die—we’ve got to do whatever we can to save them. But if we don’t bother to tell them, they’ll never have a chance. None at all.

God speaks to us in strange ways and in unusual places. Have you been listening? |L

Dr. Charlie Starr teaches English, Humanities, and Film at Kentucky Christian University in Grayson, Kentucky.

OTHER COLUMNS:
November 8, 2009 - Why I believe in God
October 25, 2009 - Commuting in days of evil
October 11, 2009 - Poets and don’t know it
September 27, 2009 - How Hollywood proves abortion is wrong
September 13, 2009 - Significance
August 30, 2009 - Dance alternatives
August 16, 2009 - Gluttons for gossip
August 2, 2009 - Truth from Twilight
July 19, 2009 - Visitor-friendly churches
July 5, 2009 - The Shack
June 21, 2009 - When forgiveness fails
June 7, 2009 - Re-imagining Education (Part Six)
May 24, 2009 - We are not alone
May 3, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part five)
April 26, 2009 - Conviction
April 12, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part four)
March 29, 2009 - An evangelistic proposal
March 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part three)
March 1, 2009 - He makes me sick
February 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (Part Two)
February 1, 2009 - Spiritual insecurity
January 18, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part one)
January 4, 2009 - Church and politics
December 21, 2008 - Heaven’s music
December 7, 2008 - The church and marriage
November 23, 2008 - God and the president
November 9, 2008 - A time for courage
October 26, 2008 - Likes and dislikes: the Prince Caspian movie
October 12, 2008 - What’s that noise?
September 28, 2008 - Modesty matters (part two)
September 14, 2008 - All it takes is some TLC
August 31, 2008 - Modesty matters (part one)
August 17, 2008 - What would you fight for?
August 3, 2008 - Staying through the credits
July 20, 2008 - Honor to whom honor
July 6, 2008 - Tyler Perry and the movies you’re missing
June 22, 2008 - The peaceable kingdom
May 25, 2008 - Another generation grew up
May 25, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part two)
May 11, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part one)
April 27, 2008 - What is truth?
April 13, 2008 - And the geek shall inherit the earth
March 30, 2008 - A charactered God
March 16, 2008 - The college choice (part two)
March 2, 2008 - Good news can be hard to hear
February 17, 2008 - The college choice (part one)
February 5, 2008 - Ten suggestions for a godly standard of living
January 20, 2008 - Expelled: that “Bueller” guy’s pro-God movie
January 6, 2008 - Choosing a lifestyle
December 23, 2007 - Teachable TV?
December 9, 2007 - Owners or stewards?
November 25, 2007 - Christians teaching Christians to change TV and film
November 11, 2007 - My money is God’s business
October 28, 2007 - Navigating under the radar
October 14, 2007 - The things God values
September 16, 2007 - God’s economics
September 2, 2007 - The best books to read
August 19, 2007 - There’s a rat in ‘separate’
August 5, 2007 - The art of reading
July 22, 2007 - Atheist chic
July 8, 2007 - Why books matter: the sequel
June 10, 2007 - Books: why they matter
June 3, 2007 - The non-impact of “The Lost Tomb of Jesus”
May 27, 2007 - The universal gospel
May 13, 2007 - Loving Muslims through culture
April 29, 2007 - Hope
April 15, 2007 - God in the dark
April 1, 2007 - The gospel goes to the movies
March 18, 2007 - What the Bible movies can teach us
March 4, 2007 - What will you hurt for?
February 18, 2007 - Why Heroes . . .
February 4, 2007 - Give peace a chance
January 21, 2007 - When fairy tales are true
January 7, 2007 - WYSIWYG lives
December 31, 2006 - What’s coming next?
December 17, 2006 - Mercy, mercy
December 3, 2006 - Proof of evolution!
November 19, 2006 - Hungering for God
November 5, 2006 - Violence and government, war and peace
October 22, 2006 - The mighty meek
October 8, 2006 - The Battlestar and the Bible
September 24, 2006 - Soap for the soul
September 10, 2006 - Right vs. cool
August 27, 2006 - The painful truth
August 13, 2006 - More Lies Hollywood Tells
July 30, 2006 - Christian counter culture
July 16, 2006 - The lies Hollywood tells