Movies I Like: The Day the Earth Stood Still

Over the weekend I got to see “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” The movie is a loose remake of the 1951 classic movie and I’d give it a 4 out of 5 stars. The story is interesting because it flips the script on human beings by treating them as helpless before the alien invaders. This is exactly the kind of movie I would have never seen as a kid. No movies with aliens, monsters or dinosaurs allowed. It’s too bad because this movie is a great study on the person and nature of Jesus Christ.

I have to say one reason the comparisons stood out so clearly to me was because I had just finished listening to Francis Chan’s Easter sermon on podcast earlier that day. If you hang around me very long you’re bound to hear about Chan, the Pastor at Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley. Chan has a raw, honest way of calling people to follow hard after Christ.

On Easter Sunday, Chan went chapter by chapter through the gospel of John demonstrating how Jesus was a radical leader bent toward challenging the prevailing culture. Chan made it clear the Jesus we know - the one sitting on a rock and petting sheep - was nothing like the real man who came to earth with a plan to invade and crush Satan’s kingdom.

In the movie, the aliens send one of their own, Keanu, played by Klaatu Reeves - wait reverse that – to carry out the alien’s verdict to kill all humans and wipe evidence of our presence from the planet in order to save it. It seems we have made such a hash of things that the alien observers have decided we need to go. These aliens are not all powerful but compared to us they might as well be. The humans never have a chance.

And that’s where the interesting emotional twist set in for me. For some reason, I rarely feel utterly powerless. Maybe it’s because I’m a rich American. Maybe it’s because I’m inexperienced. Maybe it’s just bad theology that taught me that I get to make a choice as to whether I want to be saved or not. Even in the areas where I have faced almost constant failure I still feel like if I just try harder I could succeed.

When Jesus came He confronted a world packed with agendas. But they meant nothing to him. The Romans weren’t even relevant to his plans. The religious, church-going crowds were so confused most of them didn’t even see who he was. He blew right by them. The outcast, unloved and screwed up knew they could do nothing to make Him care about them. Those were the ones who mattered to Him.

But He came to say what he said. He taught anyone who would follow Him. Then He gave up His life. No one took it from Him. They didn’t affect his plan in the least bit. He was like Klaatu.

This is why all art is so useful to us humans. You could teach me that Jesus came to judge and redeem the world but a story lets me enter into the experience in a whole new way. I know people who are trying to follow the Lord Creator by removing things from their lives. I think that’s a dangerous path to follow. Yes, we need discernment but we need to recognize that all creative expression can tell us something of the story of God and our place in it. I don’t want to miss that experience.