Words that come to mind then thinking about this marathon are thought-provoking, exciting, intense, mysterious, and ultimately eye opening. Each movie takes the theme of religion and challenges it's usage. The first movie of the night is the five time academy award nominated film titled Doubt starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams. This critically acclaimed drama centers around a Catholic school principal played by Meryl Streep questioning a priest's suspicious relationship with a troubled young African American student. Religion comes into question in this film because doubt is casted over whether the priest played by Philip Seymour Hoffman sexually abused the child in question because there is a lack of evidence, only speculation. The faith of Hoffman's character, Meryl Streeps character and Amy Adams is tested with the quest for the truth. Doubt is lifted by powerful performances and a story that keeps you questioning on what is truth and what is not. The second movie of the line up is Ron Howard's controversial film titled The Davinci Code starring Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Jean Reno, Alfred Molina, and Ian Mckellen. Based on the bestselling novel by Dan Brown, the film centers around a murder inside the Louvre with clues inside the Davinci paintings leading to a discovery of a religious mystery that's been protected by a secret society for two thousand years. The secret of Mary Magdeline being the wife of Jesus if proven to be true could shake the foundations of Christianity. The last part led to heavy criticism of the films subject matter and also is what drove it to box office glory grossing 217 million domestically and 758 million worldwide. Although bloated and dull at times, Davinci Code effectively carries out the theme of the marathon by questioning what is truth and what isn't. The third movie of the lineup is The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Starring Laura Linney and Tom Wilkinson, the film centers around a lawyer taking on a negligent homicide case which involves a priest played by Wilkinson who performed an exorcism on a young girl which turned fatal. The conflict of religion arises in this film when the young girl is told to stop taking her medicine by the priest in hopes of her faith in God overcoming the exorcism. Although the film is heavily centered around a courtroom drama, the movie shows the exorcism through flashbacks with the audience seeing the truth behind the case. The fourth film of the marathon is the Nicholas Cage remake of the cult classic The Wicker Man. The remake centers around a sheriff investigating the disappearance of a girl on a small island. While conducting that search, he discovers that the neo-pagan community is more mysterious than what they appear to be. Although The Wicker Man was critically panned upon it's release for being labeled as unintentionally hilarious, the film shows the usage of religion as being cult driven with humans being viewed as sacrificial. The fifth and final movie of the night is Ron Howard's follow up to The Davinci Code titled Angels and Demons. The sequel centers around Hanks reprising his role as Robert Langdon, a Harvard symbologist working to solve a murder, kidnappings of several cardinals, and preventing a terrorist act against the Vatican. The theme of terrorism plays a big role in this films story as the Vatigan is targeted specifically in an effort to hurt the image of religion.
So what are all of these films trying to say once you line them up together in a marathon? The message behind this marathon is that religion can have either a positive or negative influence on society with people's faith's and beliefs being tested. What we presume to be as truth may not be what it seems and sometimes it is good to question things and search for answers.
Our characters for this evening:
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