Sympathy for the devil: thoughts on 'The Golden Compass' [movie review]

When the first Harry Potter movie arrived in theaters several years ago, many Catholic families had divided views about the film. Some enjoyed it as an innocent and intriguing fantasy. Others avoided it because of its emphasis on magic. But the screen adaptation of Philip Pullman’s book, “The Golden Compass,” which opened in Denver on Dec. 7, will likely produce far more agreement. No matter how one looks at it, “The Golden Compass” is a bad film. There’s just no nicer way to say it.

I saw it at an 8:30 evening showing on Dec. 8 [a Saturday evening]. The theater was largely deserted. That may be a trend. While “The Golden Compass,” released by New Line Cinema, ranked No. 1 in box office revenues on its opening weekend, it took in only a modest $26.1 million. The three “Ring Trilogy” movies grossed between $47 and $72 million on their respective opening weekends, and “The Chronicles of Narnia” had opening revenues of more than $65 million. In fact, secular critics have been less than kind to the movie, and for good reason. It’s long, complicated, and despite a very gifted supporting cast and wonderful special effects, the story is finally lifeless. Much of the movie takes place in the polar north, and the iciness of the setting is a perfect metaphor for the chilly, sterile spirit at the heart of the story. Anyone expecting a playful children’s fantasy would do well to look elsewhere. There is nothing remotely “playful” about this movie.

As many readers will already know, Philip Pullman is an atheist, and “The Golden Compass” — the first book in his trilogy “His Dark Materials” — is a calculated counter-story to Christian-based fantasies like “The Lord of the Rings” and “Narnia.” “The Golden Compass” takes place in a parallel world similar to earth, but dominated by a sinister quasi-religious authority known as the Magisterium. This powerful elite seeks to “protect” people — for their own good — by shielding them from scientific knowledge, represented by the movie’s mysterious cosmic dust and a truth-telling piece of technology called an “alethiometer” (or golden compass). More specifically, the Magisterium abducts young children and literally kills their souls, thereby extinguishing the spirit of free thought and inquiry.

The aggressively anti-religious, anti-Christian undercurrent in “The Golden Compass” is unmistakable and at times undisguised. The wicked Mrs. Coulter alludes approvingly to a fictional version of the doctrine of Original Sin. When a warrior Ice Bear — one of the heroes of the story — breaks into the local Magisterium headquarters to take back the armor stolen from him, the exterior walls of the evil building are covered with Eastern Christian icons. And for Catholics in our own world, of course, “Magisterium” refers to the teaching authority of the Church — hardly a literary coincidence. The idea that any Christian film critics could overlook or downplay these negative elements, as some have seemed to do, is simply baffling.

Strangest of all — and in striking contrast to the Harry Potter and Narnia stories — is the absence of joy or any real laughter in the movie. The talented child actress who plays the film’s leading role is hobbled by a character that is uniformly unpleasant, rebellious, belligerent and humorless; the kind of young person described by one of my parent friends as needing a “long time-out.”

Obviously, parents are the primary teachers of their children. They need to use their own best judgment about whether a film is suitable for their families. But I’ll certainly be encouraging my own friends to put their Christmas cash to better use. In fact, maybe the most cynical and insulting thing about “The Golden Compass” is that its makers would offer this cold, angry, anti-religious fable as “holiday fare” in the midst of a season built around the birth of Jesus Christ. That’s certainly worth a letter to the people at New Line Cinema. With two more books in the Pullman trilogy as possible sequels, it might be helpful if they heard from all of us.

Note that the reviewer saw this film on a Saturday night of opening weekend -- in a largely empty theatre.

Is this a blockbuster movie or a movie to target what W.C.Fields said: "Never give a sucker an even break". And also the phrase: "A sucker is born every minute."

I guess to recoup the $200 million investment in the movie, the producers must rely on the sucker syndrome -- sort of like the China Syndrome -- since you need lots and lots of people...

I had received an email from the Archbishop's office about this because of an earlier inquiry.

The USCCB NCCB has pulled the review of Golden Compass.

Several Bishops and Archbishops have condemned the film at this point (of the Roman Catholic Church).

cold, angry, anti-religious fable

Must have seen a different movie of the same name. The Golden Compass I saw was kind of fun. The byplay between humans and their "demons" was often amusing. Mostly the "anti-religious" stuff was easily ignored and I'm sure it was lost on children who were in the theater when I saw it.

The movie will never be a classic. There was precious little development of the characters, except the heroine. And parts of the story were simply incoherent. (What the hell is "dust" and why should anyone care?) But I've gotten worse times for $6. (I saw a matinee)

The upshot is that this review is the only angry thing about the movie. That doesn't mean I recommend it - I don't. I'm just saying it's not a fair review.

There was a joke told at a Roman Catholic Church Mass as part of the homily.

The joke fits Philip Pullman, an avowed atheist, and a bear (a key character in the film Golden Compass).

The joke is as follows:

An avowed atheist loved nature, and went hiking one day. As he looked around, he saw how beautiful things were, and exclaimed: "What beauty there is here on earth, and I know that God did not create it."
Later there was a brief shower, and a rainbow appeared, to which the avowed atheist exclaimed: "What a beautiful rainbow that I know that God did not create this rainbow".
The atheist hiked further. Suddenly a ten foot black bear appeared, and the atheist started running for his life. He suddenly found himself trapped by the huge black bear.
Out of desperation, he prayed feverishly to God to help him.
God FROZE the bear just before the bear was about to start eating the atheist. At the same time God appeared to the avowed atheist.
The avowed atheist, seeing how the situation had changed, said to God:

"I know I have thought all my life that you do not exist and taught others that. For me now to acknowledge your existence would be hypocrisy on my part. I bid you, however, in the interest of mercy, to make this bear a CHRISTIAN bear."

God responded: "Your request is granted."
At that God disappeared and the bear was unfrozen.
The bear knelled down on his knees and prayed: "We thank thee, O Lord, for these gifts we are about to receive from thy bounty, and the meal that is before us."
After praying, the bear had his dinner -- the avowed atheist...

You can flush this movie down the toilet as a big loser.

For a movie that costs about $200 million to make money, it needs to gross more than its cost.

At this point, Golden Compass only has about $142 million, so even if 100% of the gross on the movie went to offset production costs, then it still loses about $40 million.

Movie theaters get a chunk of the gross, as well as other pieces of the pie probably goes to others.

Considering a movie of comparable budget, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe made about $750 million at the box office, this one is a big time flop -- with estimates from Christmas weekend and Christmas day in.

They need to sell millions of DVD's to try to re-coup some of their investment. Oh well, at least it was a British bank that was dumb enough to back this movie. I guess they can afford a $100 million loss -- all in a day's work...

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