slumdog millionaire, hollywood, and the sovereignty of God

February 2, 2009 at 7:13 pm · Filed under worldview

I remember the first time I watched the movie Ben Hur. The entire family had been hit by one of those flu bugs that knocks you off your feet and after you have spent about three days doing nothing but sleep, you still can’t move so you watch television.

We had already watched all four Rocky movies, each one of us already feeling like we had taken a view of Stallone’s punches ourselves, when we decided to continue with Ben Hur. About half way through the film, I began to realize that we were seeing something much more than a movie. We were witnessing the depiction of God’s sovereignty in the lives of mere men and as the story unfolded, I wept at the truth it contained for my own life.

Not since I watched Ben Hur had I had such a strong reaction to a movie and the message it conveyed about our relationship to God. Until this weekend. Clay and I had read reviews about Slumdog Millionaire. The emotional punches I took throughout the film soon gave way to the realization that this was more than a good story; this movie had something to say to my own life.

Slumdog Millionaire is so raw and the cinematography so well done that you are immediately transported into a culture where God seems to not exist. But as the story unfolds, you begin to see the hand of a gracious God at work, His sovereignty and purpose woven through the life of one boy and several times I was reminded of Joseph’s own statement “What others meant for evil, God meant for good.”

While I appreciate the desire, by individual Christians and Christian organizations, to produce films that reflect a Biblical worldview, too often their stories have been sanitized so as not to offend other believers who are the target audience. Their presentations are too neatly wrapped up in tidy Christian cliques, leaving no room for thoughtful questions or even sincere doubt, let alone attracting a non-Christian audience.

Slumdog Millinaire is not one of those films and, in fact, wasn’t even supposed to tell the story of the one true God who is sovereign over all because the main characters are Muslim. But it does, and in a mighty way that will cause you to reflect on God’s workings in your own life story. There is no blood or explicit sexual behavior, though there is non-graphic violence and torture that probably gave it the “R” rating; many critics think it should have gotten a “PG-13.” I would definitely take a mature teen to see this movie and would like to see Christian filmmakers step back and think about how they can present the claims of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the workings of a sovereign God without the cheese factor or nice platitudes. Slumdog is proof that it can be done.

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