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Catholic movie review: 'The Invention of Lying' deceptively promotes atheism |
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By John Mulderig - Catholic News Service
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Thursday, 01 October 2009 |
The fashionable "new atheism" -- popularized in book form by such authors as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens -- unexpectedly slithers its way into the neighborhood cineplex with the arrival of "The Invention of Lying" (Warner Bros.).
Fionnula Flanagan, Ricky Gervais and Jason Bateman star in a scene from the movie "The Invention of Lying." - CNS photo/Warner Bros.
Though its trailer gives no clue as to its true agenda, this venomous supposed comedy is set in a world where lying is unknown and every word spoken is accepted as truth and where -- not accidentally, the screenplay implies -- God does not exist. Until, that is, failed documentary screenwriter and all-around loser Mark Bellison (Ricky Gervais) spontaneously discovers the ability to deceive.
After playing on the absolute trust of everyone around him to inflate
his bank account and in an abortive attempt to compel an attractive
stranger to have sex with him on the grounds that, should she refuse,
the world will come to an end, Mark graduates to white lies,
encouraging his suicidal neighbor Frank (Jonah Hill), for instance, to
remain alive by promising that he has a bright future ahead.
In a similar vein, Mark tries to comfort his dying mother, Martha
(Fionnula Flanagan), who is tormented by the prospect of eternal
nothingness, by inventing the fable of an afterlife in which she will
be reunited with everyone she has ever loved and live in a mansion,
experiencing perpetual joy.
The hospital attendants who overhear Mark's reassuring fabrication are
thrilled, and word soon spreads that he has some kind of secret
knowledge. As crowds besiege his house, Mark works out a ludicrously
simple-minded creed which he proclaims at his doorstep, a latter-day
suburban Moses with a pair of pizza boxes taking the place of the
tablets of the Law.
The main tenets of Mark's freshly minted religion concern a "man in the
sky" who controls and directly causes everything that happens --
including both disease in individuals and large-scale natural disasters
-- and who rewards good deeds and punishes evil, though three serious
sins per lifetime are forgivable. His credulous listeners accept his
teachings with pathetic eagerness, but obsess about the smallest
details.
Though he goes on to worldwide fame and great wealth, Mark pines in
vain for his elusive friend Anna (Jennifer Garner), who rejects him as
a spouse on the grounds that his genes are far inferior to hers.
In a particularly disgraceful scene, Mark, who has become a reclusive
heavy drinker, answers the doorbell one day to find Anna on his
threshold. She stares at him, and tells him he looks terrible. The next
shot reveals that -- with long hair and a new beard and wrapped in
white bed sheets -- Mark in fact looks like a seedy version of Jesus.
Gervais, who co-wrote and co-directed with Matthew Robinson, launches
an all-out, sneering assault on the foundations of religious faith such
as has seldom if ever been seen in a mainstream film, despicably
belittling core Judeo-Christian beliefs. Not only Catholics but
believers of every stripe and, indeed, people of good will generally
will be well-advised to shun this calculated cinematic insult.
The film contains pervasive blasphemy, some sexual humor and
references, and a few rough and crude terms. The USCCB Office for Film
& Broadcasting classification is O -- morally offensive. The Motion
Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly
cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
Mulderig is on the staff of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of
the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. More reviews are available
online at www.usccb.org/movies.
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