Film Club Extra - Bruce Almighty

Here are Alan Emery's closing thoughts from last week:

Bruce Almighty is a humorous take on God and human life. The film is full of sideways glances at that relationship. Many are obvious but I am still trying to figure out why rain and water featured so much and what the training of an incontinent dog might have to say to us. There were though a couple of serious things that did stand out for me.

It is common in our world for us to blame others for their predicaments. Indeed it is inherent in human nature. It begins very early, almost at the onset of being able to speak – 'she started it', a comment of the nursery, playgroup and school playground. Of course it could have equally been he.

And it does not stop as we grow up. In the kidnap of Shannon Matthews, Karen Matthews, her mother, told custody officers that her partner Craig Meehan had arranged Shannon's abduction; 'I've done as I was told. It was decided to be me because I don't have a criminal record. I feel I have a pile of bricks on me.' And her co-conspirator Michael Donovan blamed Karen.

In the case of the Damian Green Affair, The Speaker of the House of Commons, Michael Martin, was at pains to absolve himself of any responsibility by blaming Jill Pay, the Sergeant at Arms. As distinct an abrogation of leadership and a failure to recognise that the ‘buck stops here’ as you will ever see.

And of course in the film, Bruce lives up to this pattern of behaviour. He can’t attain his desired status in life and it’s everybody’s fault but his own, even the dog’s I suspect.

It’s hardly new though. In the early record of humanity’s journey two people walk in a garden and sample an apple that they were expressly told to leave alone. When caught the man blames the woman and the woman blames the snake. I just wonder what the human story might have been if the man, or indeed the woman, had held his or her hand up and said – 'no, my fault, I’m sorry'. And indeed could it be changed now if each of us took that often difficult step of being fully and solely accountable for who we are and what we do? In the film, Bruce does in the end do just that and the world begins to be a different place. Even the dog can be house trained. Everything, that is, except in love. And that leads to the second point, freewill.

'You can’t mess with Freewill' says God. 'Anything else is yours to do but that.' As Bruce implores Grace to come back to him he comes right up close to that constraint. He can neither coerce, threaten, nor implore, this woman to change her view. 'How do you make someone love you without affecting Freewill' asks Bruce? 'Welcome to my world,' says God. Things only become different when, in the penultimate scene, instead of considering himself, Bruce begins to look at Grace in a different light and considers the sort of things she might want. Then and only then is there the possibility of Grace changing her mind – mind you having a major traffic accident would not be a recommended way to achieve such an end.

Unlike Bruce, God has always considered what would be best for us human beings. He did not have to change his way of working. The very fact that we can turn our backs on that in an exercise of freewill is a demonstration of just how great his love is. What Christians believe, however, is that in Jesus, his life, death and resurrection, God demonstrated in an astonishing way what he truly desired for us. As we begin to appreciate the full significance of that perhaps we too can be persuaded to return that love. With Christmas and this year’s celebration of the birth of Jesus fast approaching I hope we can find time amidst the festivities, and the giving and receiving of presents to reflect on this truth.