Last week our family finally watched Voyage of the Dawn Treader, a movie adaptation of C.S. Lewis's book by the same name. It wasn't bad as a fantasy adventure type of movie.
On the other hand, for those of us who are fanatics for textual faithfulness and as those who affirm the solid and intentionally Christian message of Lewis's Narnia books - the movie left a lot to be desired.
One thing my wife put her finger on right away was how the movie's script shifted the main plot line from the perils encountered while seeking Aslan's country to a journey filled with perils due to an external evil.
In the movie the perils are mostly the effect of an evil force emanating from a dark and evil island.
It was scene the golden pool that really brought out this difference and thus the movie script writer's world view (immediately skewered by my wife's critique). The travellers stop on an island on which is a pool. At the bottom they see what appears to be a golden statue. While attempting to test the depth of the water Edmund dips a stick which is immediately turned to gold. They realize the effect of the water and also the grim truth that this statue was actually one of the seven lords of Narnia whom they were seeking. He was turned to gold as he plunged into the water.
As the financial implications of the pool sink in - both to Edmund and King Caspian - a quarrel erupts. In the book it is the obvious result of greed flowing from the heart of each. In the movie it is portrayed as a bewitching spell from the evil island upon otherwise morally pure people.
So where does evil reside? Is it in the hearts of men? Or is it "out there" - outside of us somewhere? The Bible tells us it is the former. In debate with the Pharisees over this very subject Jesus says, "But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.' " Matthew 15:18-20 NIV.
But for modern man that rejects the teaching of scripture - that we are sinners and all we desire and do is in the direction of sin and evil - another source and origin for evil must be found "out there." Is it poverty? Ignorance? Political ideology? While these may be expressions of evil, they are not its source. That is the human heart which "is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked," Jeremiah 17:9 KJV.
Once again the movie industry turns a masterwork of Christian fiction into a morally confusing, spiritually empty film. The tragic effect of this is that young people - Lewis's primary audience - will not read the book now because they've seen the movie.
