beloved fan Knives Out The film series wouldn’t be surprised to see detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) make a dramatic appearance at a key point in the latest installment. Wake up, dead man. But they may be surprised to see him make such an appearance as a direct answer to prayer.
And Bran continues to screw things up, as he quickly declares that he’s a staunch rationalist and has no interest in anything the priest he was just praying for might have to offer other than helping solve the murder. But before the job is done, Bran becomes embroiled in a struggle that reveals a new and surprising side to his faith.
Thoughtful, meandering, and deeply layered, the film presents two clashing versions of Christianity in the characters of two priests who minister uneasily together at Our Lady of the Perpetual, a small Catholic church in wooded upstate New York. Over the decades, Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin) has built a small but ferociously loyal following in the church founded by his grandfather, a widowed priest. Wicks’ new assistant, Father Jud Duprentici, played passionately by Josh O’Connor, is sent to Wicks as punishment after he punches an unpleasant deacon.
Given this background, it may be surprising to learn that Msgr. Wicks is someone with anger issues.
The church and the world alike are full of wolves because every human being has a sinful heart. But Father Judd dares to suggest that even wolves may need help and guidance.
Father Judd knows that his temper is bad, a vice that goes against everything he believes. That vice led him to kill people in the ring when he was a teenage boxer. The young priest knows what it means to feel “hate.” [his] The Heart, and that knowledge, stayed with him and shaped him every day. He works diligently and dutifully to overcome the vice of anger, and while movie audiences can’t really blame him for his failures (because they tend to be hilarious), he sincerely repents of each of them. He explains to his doubtful parishioners: He supports me every day. ”
Unlike Father Judd, Msgr. Wicks is not naturally prone to outbursts of anger. Instead, he uses it as a master manipulator. He carefully cultivates the anger of his fellow parishioners and strengthens their ties with him. He feeds on their fear of the modern world (which he colorfully describes as the “feminist-Marxist whore”) and encourages them to fight back against it at every opportunity.
Father Judd suspects that a “core group” of Wicks supporters don’t actually believe this belligerent rhetoric and are simply “scratching an itch.” This belief is called into question later in the film when the group discovers a blatant act of hypocrisy committed by their beloved priest, who remains smug and unrepentant about the act.
It is a truly heart-breaking scene, and whether or not they are shameless sinners, the woman believes this and becomes more and more attached to her bond with him. Only Wicks can protect them from all the worldly evils he has taught them to fear. (It’s no coincidence that this paradox evokes powerful real-life memories in the average viewer.)
But the anger that Wicks cultivated within the “hardened cysts” of his followers, as Father Judd puts it, will not be forever directed outward. And this brings us back to the central theme of the film. That theme was stated much earlier when a fellow priest was chastising Father Judd for hitting the archbishop. The priest explains that conflicts within the church are especially bad because “priests are shepherds, and the world is the wolf.”
But as Father Judd becomes increasingly aware, and Bran realizes almost from the moment he arrives on the scene, such divisions are artificial at best and dangerous at worst. The church and the world alike are full of wolves because every human being has a sinful heart. But Father Judd dares to suggest that even wolves may need help and guidance. The answer is not more anger or redirection of anger, but love that overcomes anger.
Writer and director Rian Johnson deftly incorporates elements into the film’s setting that show the scars anger has left on the church. On the wall above the altar is the shadow left by a giant cross that Wicks’ mother Grace (Annie Hamilton) destroyed in a desperate rage years earlier. Wicks refuses to erect a new cross, instead wanting everyone in the congregation to be forever reminded of the deeds committed by the “whore’s whore” (his term for his mother).
But who and what kind of anger do those broken crosses and scarred walls represent? Did Grace’s blasphemous act really threaten the church? Or does the real threat come from believers?
Johnson calls us to look deeper, to follow the pattern established by the two priests and developed throughout the film. This isn’t the only pattern to watch out for. Intertwined in this story is a pattern of entrapment and exploitation of women. Many viewers will find it sadly unsurprising that even this pattern, once exposed, is unconcerned by most legislators. Wix’s servant. Why is this so? After all, they are used to women being called “prostitutes” and portrayed as dangerous.
Let’s contrast this again with Father Judd’s actions. In one of the film’s most moving scenes, he halts an entire murder investigation in a moment of crisis, only to take a moment to pray for a woman in distress (Bridget Everett). As for the women harmed by the Church, we will see that justice for them is absolutely essential to solving this problem. wake up dead man And the salvation it brings.
The murder mystery at the heart of the film is complex, but perhaps it has to be. There are so many themes woven into it. Anger and fear, which we have been considering, play an important role. So are the misogyny, greed, and lust for power that have tragically been passed down through generations and fueled that anger and fear. But Father Judd’s faith is pure enough to win the grudging respect of Bran, the “proud heretic,” and quietly but undeniably does its part, bringing healing and hope to a place where all these sins have led to violence.
Perhaps suggesting that wolves also have shepherds is doing something strange and disconcerting with a Biblical metaphor. but wake up dead man The implication is that we all have wolf-like instincts and that we should hope that’s true.
Source: Christ and Pop Culture – christandpopculture.com
