[PODCAST] Film Analysis of 'Risen': A Conversation about Doubt as a Faith-Builder
/By Marilette Sanchez and Alyssa Plock
tom felton and joseph fiennes in risen (2016)
I recently chatted with my friend Alyssa Plock, who is a passionate storyteller. Seeing God move in a powerful way in the church is one of her greatest desires. Alyssa hopes to one day use her passion for screenwriting, producing and editing to help rejuvenate the Christian Film industry.
In this film analysis (WARNING: contains spoilers!), Alyssa and I discuss doubt building faith in Risen, starring Joseph Fiennes and Tom Felton. As mentioned, this conversation has spoilers, but hopefully you've already seen the movie. If not, it comes out on DVD May 24th. Pre-order here. If you haven't yet, check out my film review here.
If you listen to the podcast, be ready to hear some "cameos" (background noise) from my toddlers Jeremiah (3) and Eliana (2), haha. #momlife
Below are some quote highlights.
Alyssa: I knew that they were going to try to balance biblical accuracy with a compelling storyline and they pulled it off. It was not at all preachy.
Alyssa: It was just a good time at the movies.
Marilette: I like the guard's testimony that the Chief Priests paid him off to have a different testimony.
Marilette: God used Peter despite his big doubting moments.
Marilette: It's powerful because God doesn't write you off if you doubt. In Christian culture, there is a lot of shame and guilt that goes along with doubt. People are afraid to talk about that because you're like, 'Well, I'm a bad Christian, what's wrong with me?' Then they get discouraged. This movie shows that, just like in the Bible, everybody that God used had doubt moments and he used them.
Alyssa: I like that Clavius (Joseph Fiennes's character) is very aware [ through his experience with death as a soldier] of his own mortality and is becoming increasingly aware of it. You can even tell that he is skeptical of his own gods. Even though he doubts a lot, he wants truth. And that's the key.
Marilette: What exactly makes someone a follower of Jesus -- I just have that question.
Alyssa: It was the miracles that initially attracted people to Jesus, which is that idea of, 'This is not something I have seen before, but here it is, so what am I going to with it?' You can see the miracles and still not see God. That's what Clavius is going through: he sees the miracle of miracles, which is Christ's own resurrection, and he's still not completely sold on what is happening…I found it very fascinating. It's not that Jesus came to him with a message of repentance. In fact, Jesus (Yeshua) did not even speak much, and they scripted that on purpose. Yet you can see that by the silence, Clavius is wrestling with everything he knows.
I think why God uses doubt to build your faith is because his power on the other side is real.
Marilette: In the scene where they are fishing, they fish all night and do not catch any fish. Then the stranger on the beach tells them to cast the nets on the other side. Clavius had to cast the nets on the other side. He had to believe that. He had to take a faith step to catch all that fish.
Alyssa: I would say the more that I know about God (which is related to the movie because God proves himself to Clavius by being alive and not dead after Clavius knows he was dead) is that he builds our faith through experience. We don't see Jesus in the flesh, but we see his faithfulness in our lives. And what builds our faith is, "I was in this situation and it seemed hopeless but God came through,” so the next time I face that same situation, my faith is, I remember what God did last time. God's goal is to build your faith so that you do believe him. He does not want to have a "gotchya" moment.
Marilette: Asking questions is what builds your faith, otherwise it's just kind of shallow. That's what frustrates me about the current American Christian culture of "Don't doubt, don't ask questions because that means you are lacking faith and that means you are…disrespecting God." There's no room for doubt, but I feel it's so essential to faith.
Alyssa: The axe I have to grind with a lot of Christian films is that the doubter is the villain; the non-believer is the villain. And that's not my experience, therefore it is not authentic. In this movie, the doubter is the hero.
Marilette: A lot of isolation comes from feeling like there is not room for doubt in the Christian faith; then people feel like they don't belong because they do have doubt. It is dangerous for seekers. They have the hunger for truth, but since they have heard that doubt is wrong, or whatever form of that they've heard it, they have no room to take that leap of faith. It's not something to take lightly. We need to get out of that [as a church].
Alyssa: Through Clavius and Lucius (Tom Felton's character) you see: "Okay - we know Roman protocol, we know through reputation that these disciples are peace-loving; they're not like the zealots that we just fought. There is something going on here that we don't understand."
Alyssa: I think a lot of [ faith journeys ] come from the doubt of, not necessarily God (that's part of it) but the doubt of your own preconceived worldview, the one you grew up with. It's the one you might never have questioned before unless you see something that makes you say, "This kind of blows my world out of the water."
Marilette: I love the scene where Clavius and Jesus talk: it's like Jesus knew exactly what Clavius' doubts were and what his true desires were. That's Jesus. They cast him perfectly. He meets us where we are -- whatever our doubts, whatever our fears, he shows that he satisfies all those longings that we have. We don't know if Clavius converted but that was a life-changing moment for him. 'How did he know that about me?'
Alyssa: In coming to Jesus, you are not buying a product, you are meeting a person. And friendships grow.
Marilette: And they take time to grow.
