Sin all the way?

That particular holiday, I decided to go for a run. Just as I was completing my 10km, coming around a corner, my eyes locked on two kittens. They huddled together, appearing scared, looking at all the things swiftly passing them. They were not shivering; the sun was warming up the morning. Their eyes reminded me of many cartoons that portray little Tom as a pathetic-looking cat pleading for attention from his masters.

I asked myself what would happen to them and how they landed in a world so hostile. It is no fault of theirs. They, or even we, did not ask to be born on Earth. As I do not remember asking. Just because some cat decided to be horny, again through no fault of daddy cat, the two kittens came to be. Daddy cat was programmed by Nature that it was mating season. Mommy cat was coerced to give in, for it was her oestrus cycle.

If the pitiful state of the kittens' existence was totally unnecessary and could have been prevented by Nature, instead of subjecting them defenceless to the elements, were the forces that created them a mistake? Was copulation and all the forces that paved the way for the sexual act to happen culpable of wrongdoings? The force that made all of us a wrong act, a sin? Our existence as human beings must be a mistake, all products of the Original Sin. We should not exist in the first place.

In Dicken's England, this must have been the scene. Many children must have been left in orphanages or on the streets. For no fault of theirs, they came to be. With the loosening of moral fibre in society, maybe perpetuated by increasing social divide, with the rich able to buy sex and the poor willing to lose anything for a dime, and ignorance about contraception, orphans started roaming the streets of fog-filled Victorian London. Seeing them singing for their supper and being shoved around, in my mind, they must have been no different from the cats I stumbled upon that morning.

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A biblical tale

Sodom & Gomorrah (1962)
Director: Robert Aldrich

My understanding of the Biblical story of Sodom & Gomorrah is that God's was angry with their indulgence in homosexuality, and He brought about their destruction. The word 'Sodomy' arose from the pervasive sexual acts against nature for this exact reason. 

The backstory of this tale is narrated in Genesis, chapter 19. The versions may vary between the Torah, Bible and Quran, but in essence, it goes something like this. Lot, the nephew to Abraham, is the leader of a wondering Hebrew tribe. He and his people were given a place to stay just outside Sodom. Sodom, Gomorrah and three other states were part of prosperous 'cities of the plain'. Sodom was visited by two angels in disguise. They were treated well by Lot but were harassed by citizens of Sodom who were aggressive towards them. There is a mention of the mob wanting to rape the angels. Despite Lot's offering of his two virginal daughters to the crowd, they did not relent. The showdown came to an end when they were blinded by the angels.

Lot's wife petrified!

There was a follow-up conversation between the angels and Lot. He was warned about God wrath on the people of Sodom and Gammora and His impending sending of mega-storms to flatten out both cities. They told Lot to get his followers away from Sodom before the catastrophe and not look back. The cities were destroyed for their decadent lifestyles with excesses, failing to aid the needy and lacking hospitality. 

Scholars are divided on the existence of such a kingdom. Some say similar stories are present in other cultures anyway. Others suggest that a comet could have struck this area. The reason for God's wrath is also debated. Was it their ill-treatment of the angel or their decadent lifestyle that was the issue?

Lot's wife:'pillar of salt'

The film version, maybe working within the confines of the regulations, or to throw in a spanner into the discussion, and with creative licence, and taking versions from many sources gives a slightly complex interpretation to the narrative. It does not provide a preachy presentation of the mighty power of God or suggest homosexuality as a possible cause of the city's devastation. Instead, it portrays Lot as a human trying to balance the duty of a leader and that of a man. As a leader, he needs to provide comfort for his people, but at the same time, not too much comfort as it tends to make man haughty. As a leader, he also must avoid falling into the traps set out by his enemies to derail his good deeds. 

The filmmakers decided to stay away from the hint of homosexuality being the cause of Sodom's apocalyptic end. They also must have thought it would be wiser to end the story before the twisted saga that spun around Lot and his two daughters in their new area of sojourn. 

In a gist, the movie can be summarised as such. Lot and his God-fearing nomadic Hebrew followers reach Jordan River. Lot makes a special arrangement with the Queen of Sodom to settle down there for cultivation. The Hebrews intend to build a dam for irrigation and, in return, promise to help to defend the Sodomites from invading Hamites. In time, the Hebrews prospered as they moved into the city when the dam they built was destroyed in one such war, and it flooded their old settlement. They found salt and started trading salt instead. Lot and his men all prosper as businessmen and slowly start living the same hedonistic lives as the Sodomites. 

Some of the Hebrew tribesmen try to question their change in lifestyles. Once, they had preached that salt should be free for all, but now they had become salt traders. On the other hand, Lot feels that he has done so much for his people. His people are living in peace and comfort. Where did he go wrong? Or did he? In his eyes, he has done all the right things and yet people are complaining that he has deviated so much from God's prescribed path.

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It is all faith!

Risen (2016)


Like what my friend says, it is about love and faith. Faith gives us that tuft of hope when the going gets tough and the end seems hopeless. The fight would go on by offloading some of the pressures to an overseeing Being, while Man can continue doing what he does best. When anxiety builds up and all odds are stacked against him in an unfair distribution, Man starts asking what the meaning of life is all about. What he gets is a muted, deafening, stony impassive silence. When he thinks the Power above would be just and equal in his distribution of comfort and happiness, what he sees are random occurrences and chaos.

Nonbelievers accuse believers who surrender themselves to outlets like self-indulgences and religion as quickly laid out answers to the questions of life as committing philosophical suicide. He accepts the absurdity of our dull and futile lives by actually killing off our ability to inquire and reason. He seems to be taking the easy way out without really giving a fight.

The believers would argue that life is too complicated to be understood by our feeble mind. That life is how it is and it is all a question of faith and conviction.

This film, viewed from the point of a Roman soldier, Clavius, who is summoned by the Judean prefect, Pontius Pilate, to investigate the rumour which was rising in Jerusalem. After Jesus was crucified (referred to as Yeshua of Nazarene), his followers talk of his resurrection and a possible rebellion. This would give a bad image to Pilate since the Roman Emperor Tiberius Caesar is due for a visit. Clavius, the faithful and reliable soldier, has to investigate the disappearance of Yeshua's body. The movie narrates his subsequent discovery and later amazement of Yeshua's healing powers and ascension to the Heavens.

Unlike 'Passion of Christ' which relied on the gore factor as their selling point, this down-to-earth flick concentrates on character building and the telling the political manoeuvring that occurred during the last few days of the Son of God on Earth.

Decisions, decisions...

Noah (2014)
The forbidden fruit always taste sweeter, they say. This film is banned in many Muslim countries as it is not acceptable for a human being to portray a prophet.
From a production viewpoint, I think the film is of high quality with complex computerised graphic imaging. The main character, i.e. Noah, is made to appear very human and complexed. Even prophets do not know why they were sent to Earth for and which is the best path that they should take to be the correct path. There is no direct guide but decisions have to be made on hunches and signs which they would like to think as a nod from the Creator.
I remember hearing about Noah during my days in Sunday School. Of course it was very simplistic and was not layered or convoluted. Noah had a dream, God told him to build an Ark through a dream, get all the animals, people around him laughed at him, it rained 40 days and 40 nights and the bad people perished. Then we would all break into a song... "The wise built his house upon the rock...."
In this one, it is complicated. After being banished from the Garden of Eden, man leads a brutal life on Earth. It starts with the mauling of sons of Adam, Cain and Abel. Cain's lineage squandered God's creations, raped Earth of its beauty and wealth and changed it a place not fit for living. The other son of Adam, Seth, and his descendants were more God fearing and the countering force of Man's evil. Noah was of Seth's descendant.
He was living in a time of turmoil. Resources were scarce, all plundered by Man. Land was barren and food was so limited that they had to resort to cannibalism. Noah and his people were vegetarian.
Noah, after witnessing the murder of his father by Tubal-Cain, the bloodline of Cain, grows up to have a family of his own with 3 sons and an adopted daughter.
A recurring dream of him submerged in water and a springing of flower suggests to Noah (Russell Crowe) that it was a sign of God that he had to do something. A visit to his grandfather (Methuselah acted by Anthony Hopkins) in the caves, who gives him a seed from Eden, which springs water from Earth and sprouts a forest in a seemingly barren land.
The Watches, who are fallen angels, were cursed together with Man after their original sin, appear as mobile stone structures with multiple appendages. The Watches are basically frustrated with Man for destroying God's creations and were considered as not trustworthy. Seeing, the qualities of Adam in Noah, the Watches decide to help Noah to build the Ark.
Like clock work, all animals saunter in, beast, creepy crawlies and bugs, all in pairs.
The dilemma on board is the middle son, Ham. Since, the elder brother, Shem has paired up with Ila, (Ema Watson), Ham feels that he will be left without a partner after the floods recedes. The youngest son, Jaspeth is too young to worry about these things. Ham goes out to pick out a girl from the village but she had to be left behind as the rains started pouring in. Ham cannot forgive his father for that.
Ila had been diagnosed to be barren due to her injuries in childhood. Hence, Noah thinks that that is God's plan - after his family is dead and gone, the Earth is to be inhabited by no man. He thought God's decision to make Man in his image was a mistake and the floods was to give fresh new start.
Unknown to Noah, his wife, Naameh, approaches Methusalleh, the mystic grandfather, to use his powers to cure Ila of her infertility and it worked. Unknown to Noah too was the fact that an injured Tubal-Cain managed to make it on board the Ark. The disgruntled Ham nurses Tubal-Cain to health and plots with him to kill Noah.
Meanwhile, Ila gets pregnant to a furious Noah. He feels that his wife is interfering with God's plan and vows to kill the offspring if it turns out to a female child. Tension on the Ark is all time high. The animals on board are all in slumber land thanks to incense filled hypnotic fumes.
At the climax, a duel occurs between Noah and Tubal-Cain but Ham decides to stab Tubal-Cain at the right moment. Ila deliver a pair of twins - both girls. In a dramatic attempt to kill his granddaughters, Noah succumbs to love. Rain stops and sun comes out.
In the next scene, Noah is living as a recluse drinking himself crazy. He is unwanted by his family for his wish to kill his grandchildren. He himself is disappointed for what he thinks as failing to carry out God's duty. He is also puzzled by the silence of God. After Ila made peace with him, saying maybe God actually wanted him to do all the things that he did because that is the plan after all. The family reunites except for Ham who moves away.
It seems that the story of Noah is patchy in the scriptures and the screenwriters decide to use their artistic licence to fill in the gap and paint a very humanistic Noah who underwent a stressful time deciding on the things he had to do. The scriptures do mention that Noah was indeed in an intoxicated condition and naked and his sons had to cover him up. There is hearsay of what actually happened here and how Ham was sent off with a curse. His descendants became slaves and coloured people.
Now, even that is disputed. The fact that only white actors appear in this film is a bone of contention for some.
Overall, an intense movie with the message that life decisions are difficult to make. One does not really knows whether he is making the right. Only time will tell.