A 1.25.01 report on National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition” highlighted the religious overtones in several recent Hollywood films.

While Hollywood has been criticized in the past for its overuse of violence and sex, recent movies such as Chocalat, The Legend of Bagger Vance, The Green Mile, The Matrix, Stigmata and others are filled with spiritual and religious themes.

The NPR piece was interesting, especially one critic’s treatment of the movie Stigmata. The critic (who shall remain unnamed because I can’t remember his name) said that most of the spiritual-laced movies that deal with religious issues miss the mark when it comes to orthodoxy. He’s probably right on that account. But he went on to give Stigmata as an example because it inaccurately depicts the blessing of the stigmata.

The movie Stigmata is the story of a twenty-something female hairdresser who becomes possessed by the spirit of a dead priest. The priest had been secretly working to translate “The Gospel of Jesus,” which is supposedly written by Jesus and contains teachings that contradict much of what the Roman Catholic Church stands for. The tattooed, pierced and promiscuous hairdresser is not at all religious. In fact, she says that she really doesn’t believe much of anything about God and considers herself an atheist. In spite of her lack of religiosity, she begins to receive the marks of the stigmata as the priest’s message concerning the secret gospel is told through her during times of possession.

The critic in the NPR piece says that Stigmata misses the meaning of the stigmata by portraying it as sort of demon possession and putting it in a horror movie. Blockbuster has Stigmata in their horror category as well. He’s wrong and so are the good folks at Blockbuster. The movie is not about something evil taking hold of an innocent person. Rather, the movie is about something holy taking hold of an unworthy person. We Christians used to call that grace. I think we still should.

The NPR critic doesn’t like the movie for the same reason the Vatican cronies in the movie don’t like the woman: namely the marks of Jesus should be given to an extremely devout and holy person, not a carefree atheist. But that’s the whole point of the movie! As Director David Wainwright says, “I was fascinated with the idea that it was a deeply religious story about someone who wasn’t religious, an unbeliever who is touched by religion in a most powerful and disturbing way.”

The movie is about God wanting to communicate. In this film the Roman Catholic Church hides this truth, so God communicates through an atheist! Yes, God communicates through a female hairdresser! Those who think such a concept is unorthodox need to read the Bible. Jesus once said: "I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out." -Luke 19:40 KJV

The NPR critic may think he knows what “orthodoxy” is, but true orthodoxy is this: God wants people to know about Him and how to be a part of the Kingdom. The movie Stigmata depicts this truth in two ways. First, the plot of the movie is all about God speaking truth through those who are least likely to do so (and redeeming the unworthy spokesperson in the process). Second, the movie itself is an instance of God speaking to the world. Maybe we are uncomfortable with the idea that God would use the unbelieving writer/director/actors of an R rated movie to communicate His truths. Maybe we’re ashamed that God has to speak through movies and we are frightened about what God has to say. Maybe God is condemning us for “holding our peace.”

I’m not saying that all movies are the mouthpiece of God or that everything in Stigmata is holy. I am saying that we Christians miss the writing on the wall when we dismiss the religiosity of movies like Stigmata because they fail to meet our standards of what is acceptable spirituality. Perhaps our standards are not God’s and He is trying to get our attention through modern-day Balaam’s asses. The main gist of Stigmata does not contradict Scripture, but is an extremely accurate and moving depiction of Jesus’ message of grace.

If it’s hard for us to imagine God pouring Himself into a hapless sinner in order to spread His message and redeem the messenger, then we need to spend more time with God and His word. Unless I’m mistaken, that’s exactly how God works. Thanks be to God for being that way.