Movie Night!

Tuesday night was our first installment of "filmové večery," or in English, "move night!" We decided that we wanted to show This is England, directed by Shane Meadows. It is a prophetic film about the absurdity of the skinhead culture with its triumvirate characteristics of hate, violence and blame. Set in England in 1983, the movie follows the semi-autobiographical account of a young boy named Shaun who finds his only solace from bullying and loneliness, in the skinhead movement; he develops a frienship with a group of skinhead teenagers. The movie takes a dramatic turn when an older, more politically involved skinhead, named Combo, returns from a 3 1/2 year prison sentence. Combo preaches a doctrine of nationalism and racism that splits the teenage skinhead group into two. Shaun chooses to stay with Combo and the more violent brand. Eventually, Combo will turn on the group, as violence and hate destroy Shaun's world and nearly kill his friend, Milky.

Quite an undertaking for Czech viewers, huh? Also, to add to the difficulty of the movie, the English accents are very thick, which only exacerbates the language barrier that is already present. Needless to say, Jan and Anna were nervous that this movie might be too complicated for the Czech audience. Yet, I did not want this movie night to be one of simple enjoyment and entertainment; I wanted it to inspire some thought. But, I must admit, that I was nervous too, because we needed the movie night to be good: this was our first one of the year and we wanted to make sure people would come back. Last year, the movie nights were dropping in numbers, as most films only managed to attract a handful of people; thus, my hope was to have 10 people show up. The whole day I was worried about how the showing would go.

At 7:10 we had about 10 people in the church; then, at 7:15, we had 20. I could not believe it, neither could Jan. We had a massive group: there were adults, community members who walked in off the street, teenagers and, my favorite, the local punk rockers. I gave a brief introduction to the movie and then let it "roll." I stopped the movie in the middle and gave a brief synopsis on what happened thus far and what is gearing for the end. The punks who were in the room were getting very tense with what I was saying about the skinhead culture. I believe they came, because they wanted to watch a movie that would edify the culture, and here I was, subverting it. The themes of despair and hate are easy to miss in this movie if one does not speak English, or is not a critical viewer; so, it was important that I tell the truth, even If I knew the punk rockers in the back of the room were going to get defensive. Jan claims that he could feel their hands on the table grip tighter the more I spoke. I was sweating, as I thought about what to say. I didn't want to shut the door to dialogue on our first meeting; I wanted to open the conversation up and I wanted this movie to get the ball rolling. I was very particular about what I said and how I phrased it. I did not want to alienate or attack the punk rockers. I let the movie continue and at the end gave a two minute statement on the futility of building your whole cultural paradigm around hate. I feel that I did an ample job of walking the line between not offending the punks who were in my presence, yet not letting violence get the last word.

The other Czechs who were in attendance loved the movie. I heard nothing but positive feedback. People who couldn't even speak English came up to me and told me that the movie was powerful (mocný). I guess it just goes to show you that human emotion transcends all cultural/language barriers. Even the punk rockers came up and gave me a handshake. I asked them if we could talk more outside of church and they all agreed. Jan was very happy with how the night turned out.

Cultural influences arise in the most unexpected ways. Last night, while showing the movie, I could not comfort myself, as I was tormented by the fact that I was showing a film, in a Church, that had copious amounts of swearing, violence and some sexual content. Even the fact that Jan, the pastor of the Church, was in complete support of showing such a movie was shocking to me. In the United States, there would be no way I would be able to show such a film or have such an honest and open conversation about racism. I would not have been able to get the punks into the Church, that is for sure. However, where is there a better place to speak about violence, injustice and blame: the Courts, with their very human view of what justice and reconciliation are, or the media, with their overly sexualized and entertainment driven news copies? No, it is the Church. I wish American congregations would get past the immature arguments about what is "Christian" or "secular." We need to realize that Christians are called to relevancy defined not by clothing trends and musical genres, but by how we engage our culture and how we, the Christan congregation, is working to subvert and challenge the modern "Rome." It is the way of maturity and it is the audacity to think creatively that can affect the world, not the tired hum-drum of moral judging and "other-worldly" hope that seems to define Christian cultural engagement. So, if showing a movie with some swearing and sexual content opens up a conversation about hate, injustice, racism and violence, then I think it is O.K. to do so.