'Taken' (spoiler alert)

In one of my flights on the way to Manchester, I had the opportunity to watch a movie from the selection on the database on Northwest's airlines. One of the choices was 'Taken' (starring Liam Neeson), of which I had seen a theological review by a friend of mine (quoted below). The imagery in the movie reminds me of the Christus Victor model of the atonement as the father goes after his daughter who had been taken captive by slave-traders in a foreign land, to rescue her. My friend, Lee, posted a note on facebook about this movie and I want to post here what he said, which is beyond how well I could describe it. It does have a spoiler, so know that in advance if you'd rather see the outcome yourself beforehand. One final random kinda-cool thing I found...the actor who plays the father (and redeemer) in this movie is Liam Neeson, whom as you may already know does the voice of Aslan for the recent productions of The Chronicles of Narnia. With that said, here is what Lee offered...

...I had a similar experience in a movie this last week (a movie which I went back to see again...it really was that good). The movie is called Taken, and is about a dad who is an ex-spy and is really quite the hard-hitting bad-ass. When his daughter is kidnapped by white-slavers, he vows to her "I will come for you", and promises those who might hurt her that he will unmake them in the process. Then follows an hour-long orgy of Liam Neeson unmaking bad-guys left and right, in all of its glorious funness! This parts of bit of a SPOILER, but it's not like you didn't see it coming. Dad finally catches up to the baddies holding onto his daughters and begins picking them off one by one, until he reaches the evil overlord holding her with a knife to her throat - and in Hollywood grandeur the baddie is dropped with a single shot and the fair maiden is rescued (and still a maiden!).

But as I sat there watching it the second time through, something clicked in my mind. I set aside the obvious western imperialism of the film, the undertones of elitism, and the questions about vigilantism and the taking of human life (because, ultimately, those are secondary concerns) and just watch the film for the film, watching the archetypes at play on the screen, and then I saw something that took my breath away. Here was a story about a father who loved his daughter and gave up everything for her. But she wanted to do something that went against his explicit instructions, and then added more deceit on top of it, wandering off the beaten path and breaking all of the rules he had put in place. And because of her behavior, she was taken by evil men/persons, who wish to make her what they want, debasing and corrupting everything they touch. She didn't want this outcome, but it's still the outcome that she chose.

But the father refuses to accept the triumph of these evil persons. And so he pursues his daughter, striking down every barrier they try to place in his way. He unmakes them and undoes their evil at every opportunity until he finally is standing face to face with the men holding his daughter. He places his life on the line, spills his own blood, and destroys these evil men. And then his daughter is left standing before him, both of them weeping and she says "It's really you?". "I told you I'd come for you," is all he can say before she throws herself into his arms.

That image, that line, made all the rest of the film worthwhile. It was enough to remind me that the Father pursued me in the same way, that He destroyed every evil that tried to put itself between us, and that He rescued me, in spite of my own sins and arrogance, He pursued me, rescued me, and is bringing me home. It brought to mind one of my favorite author's books and a quote I'll leave you to mull over:

"There is already a more original outpouring of God that ... always already surpasses every abyss of godforsakenness and pain that sin can impose between the world and God; an outpouring that is in its proper nature indefectible happiness." David B. Hart The Beauty of the Infinite