By John Castelein
Some movies arrest our imagination the same way parables do. For instance, when I saw Groundhog Day in the theater, I immediately experienced it as a profound parable of repentance. Other movies that have similar parabolic dimensions for me are Amadeus, Forrest Gump, and The Truman Show.
Almost as many parables are presented in cinemas today as in sanctuaries. If Christians can use these movies as parables of our shared humanity, hopes, and fears, powerful bridges of communication with nonbelievers can be built. Are you able to use such teachable moments?
The movie Crimes and Misdemeanors can be seen as a powerful dramatization of the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23; Mark 4:1-20; Luke 8:1-15).
Even though Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) is rated PG-13 (without nudity, profanity, or visible violence), some Christians may refuse to have anything to do with it since the life of the director, Woody Allen, is rated R. However, I believe Christians can and should critique carefully selected cultural artifacts without endorsing their creators (writers, directors, composers, artists) in order to use them as points of contact with people outside the church.
In the Christianity Today article “Reaching the Pagan Mind,”1 Chuck Colson tells how he once used Crimes and Misdemeanors as a common frame of reference when trying to witness to a resistant media personality.2
HARDENED SOIL
In the “Parable of the Different Soils” (as I prefer to call it), Jesus compares some people to impenetrable hardened soil that the gospel seed cannot penetrate. There are two such hardened characters in the movie. Jack (Jerry Orbach) is the gangster brother of the main character, Judah Rosenthal (Martin Landau). Judah is a very successful Jewish ophthalmologist and philanthropist. Unfortunately, his mistress of the last two years, Dolores Paley (Anjelica Huston), is threatening to reveal their affair, as well as some of his financial indiscretions, if Judah does not leave his wife, Miriam. Not long after importuning Jack for help, Judah finds Dolores dead in her apartment. While Judah agonizes over the guilt, Jack shrugs off any remorse because removing people who won”t listen to reason is simply part of living in the real world.
Also representing this impenetrable soil is May, Judah”s aunt. Judah relives a Seder celebration where his rabbi father lectured Judah and Jack about “the eyes of God” and how they see everything humans do. But this aunt reproached her brother, in light of the Holocaust, for filling the boys” minds with fairy tales about a providential God. Judah”s father described her as a nihilist who sadly had given up on the meaning of life.
SHALLOW SOIL
Jesus tells of a second human soil, the shallow rocky soil. The movie presents two such shallow characters also. First there is Lester (Alan Alda), brother-in-law to the other leading character, Cliff Stern (Woody Allen). Lester is a wealthy TV producer, as successful as Cliff is a failure. However, beneath the top layer of Lester”s superficial charms lies a hard shelf of arrogance. Having been commissioned to make a vanity documentary of Lester”s career, Cliff exposes Lester for the obsessive womanizer and pompous jerk he is beneath all the smiles and wit.
But Cliff himself also represents this shallow soil. On the one hand, he works hard to make a sensitive documentary of the life and thought of Louis Levy, a Jewish professor of philosophy who survived the Holocaust. But, on the other hand, he tries to start an affair with a production assistant, Halley Reed (Mia Farrow). Cliff dreams of what loving human relationships can be, but he is willing to settle for tawdry trysts.
THORNY SOIL
Jesus pictures a third kind of person as weedy thorny soil. Again, there are two representatives. First there is Judah Rosenthal, a sophisticated and complex man. Judah is not hardened like his mob-related brother, Jack. He is deeply moved as he hears his father lecturing that the eyes of God are on us always, judging all wicked humans. He almost turns himself in to the police after seeing Dolores”s sightless corpse””dead because of him (seeing is the main symbol of this movie).
However, time passes and the thorns of life choke out any remorse and repentance. His wealth and success overcome truth and justice. As Judah explains to Rabbi Ben, “God is a luxury I can”t afford.”
The other character overcome by the world is Louis Levy, the life-affirming philosopher. Among his brilliant insights is an observation with which the movie closes: “We are, in fact, the sum total of our choices.” However, when life overwhelms him, Louis “goes out the window.”
GOOD SOIL
The fourth human soil is good productive soil that nurtures God”s implanted word. This type of human is represented first and foremost by the beautiful character of Ben (Sam Waterston), another brother-in-law of Cliff, and brother to Wendy and Lester. Ben is a wise rabbi who seeks out Dr. Rosenthal because he is losing his eyesight. When Judah initially confesses his infidelity to Ben, Ben gently encourages Judah to seek Miriam”s forgiveness. Ironically, in the end, Ben has become blind but sees life as an invitation to joy and love, whereas Judah, the eye doctor, has lost sight of his crime and guilt.
Another representative of the good soil is Sol, the father of Judah and Jack, the rabbi celebrating the Seder in Judah”s memory. Clearly his life is bearing fruit that is moral and holy. In spite of the Holocaust and many other challenges, he nurtures his faith in God. When the nihilist aunt confronts him with refusing to face the truths of Jewish history, the rabbi defiantly says: “If necessary, I will always choose God over truth.” Now there”s a discussion starter!
Woody Allen has given a telling interview to Time magazine in which he defends his self-centered lifestyle.3 He has also been quoted on the Internet as explaining: “Crimes and Misdemeanors is about people who don”t see. They don”t see themselves as others see them. They don”t see the right and wrong situations. And that was a strong metaphor in the movie.” Though Woody Allen, the director, explores moral dilemmas with artistic brilliance, how clearly does Woody Allen, the man, see his own life”s choices?
OUR RESPONSE
Christians will want to respond by saying the solution to guilt and shame today is still that offered by the apostle Paul in Acts 17. Paul explained on Mars Hill that it is not enough to try to prevent guilt (as the Epicureans advised) or to ignore guilt (as the Stoics advised), but one must repent of guilt so God can forgive and restore.
The most revealing moment in the movie takes place at the final wedding scene when Judah, who by now has beaten the rap, tells Cliff what has happened to him in the form of a parable (actually as a story line for a possible murder movie). Woody Allen raises a profound question even a modern secular person cannot avoid. The movie asks: Is it better to live in a moral universe, under an all-seeing, all-powerful, and just God, who will certainly punish all those who are wicked and do evil, or to live in an empty and indifferent universe, where there is no God, no hope for justice, and no lasting meaning to human actions?
Hardened humans refuse to deal with a question of this depth. Shallow humans hope for the best and then wither away when life destroys their idealistic clichés. Conflicted humans succumb to their desires and problems when these sap their spiritual resources. Surrendered humans nurture the implanted Word and produce beautiful crops.
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1“Reaching the Pagan Mind,” Christianity Today, 9 November 1992, 112.
2Chuck Colson”s anecdote about using Crimes and Misdemeanors is also mentioned by Gene Veith in Postmodern Times (Wheaton: Crossway, 1994), 15.
3“The Heart Wants What It Wants,” Time, 31 August 1992, 59-61.
John Castelein is seminary professor of contemporary theology at Lincoln (Illinois) Christian University.
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