Arlington Road
The opening sequence of this film is the most intense and disturbing I have ever seen. If you are of a sensitive disposition, do not go to see it. It is a brilliant device, because the pain it portrays, devoid of context, meaning and explanation, functions both to engage the audience and provide a paradigm for the whole narrative. This film aims to challenge your response to violence at the deepest level.
Jeff Bridges is the good guy, and Tim Robbins is the bad guy: and make no mistake about it, he really is a bad guy. The men are neighbours, and the story begins with an injured child bringing the two men together for the first time. The scene is comfortable urban America; the action is two families building a relationship. We are some way into the film before the real plot starts to shows itself. I have a problem here, because if I tell you any more of the story, I run the risk of ruining the whole thing for those who go to see it. Suffice it to say that one neighbour begins to suspect the other of planning acts of urban terrorism as per the Oklahoma bomb.
It is a thriller with traces of action movie, and it captures the best of both. The direction is thoughtful, the acting is good, the subject is captivating, and there is no gratuitous sex or mindless, explicit violence. There certainly is violence, but only with good cause, and never the gory close-up or the glorified macho fist-fighting that Hollywood serves up so monotonously. This film is thoughtful, and thought-provoking.
Nature of evil
It explores and touches on many matters that cinema usually doesn't go near. It looks at the nature of evil, and how we recognise it. It looks at mistrust and suspicion, and how they can be dangerous - and why we need them anyway. It explores the naivete of our response to violence, and our readiness to dismiss those who confront it.
The message is loud and clear: we are undoing ourselves, and we are doing it by asking for simple answers. The ending is frightening, as we see the media selling a plausible account that is the precise opposite of the truth. It is plausible because society wants to believe it. When we see something appalling happen, we seek someone to blame, and when we find someone, we do all in our power to convince ourselves that we can explain why, because not knowing is the most frightening and disturbing thing of all. Convenient explanations may not be the right ones.
Of course for the Christian, evil always has a context, and ultimately, an explanation. One of the most striking things in this film is that, as the credits roll, we are left with the impression that the evil it shows us wields the kind of power that is exclusive to God; every action of the good guy is an unwitting link in the chain of events that culminates in the horror that destroys him. It is almost a mirror image of God's sovereignty, and thereby illustrates powerfully what that sovereignty looks like from the other side. See the film; if it doesn't make you think, nothing will.
