Finding Neverland

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Finding Neverland is a film that satisfies both the taste and the appetite. Beyond a fantastic cast, excellent costumes and set, and an exceptional script, this movie’s thematic development speaks volumes about life, death, hope, imagination and responsibility. I had the distinct privilege of interviewing screenwriter David Magee and learning from him many additional insights into the movie. Thank you, David, for your time!

Growing Up - Much like the story of Peter Pan, screenwriter David Magee explained to me that Finding Neverland focuses on growing up. James Barrie (Johnny Depp), the Peter Pan playwright, must learn to take responsibility for his actions with the Llewelyn Davies family. He first enters their lives innocently, as a child, infectiously spreading his imagination through play. But, soon his involvement with them takes on a life of its own, and the voices of reason and accountability start creeping in. These voices (his wife Mary, Sylvia’s mother, a friend at a game of cricket) tell him that his irresponsibility with the family will ultimately cause larger problems for all involved. And yet, he willingly continues the game. As James buries himself deeper into their lives, playing the false roles of caretaker, playmate, and husband to a family that is not his, he must face his own marital demise and an increasing responsibility to the new family. Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Kate Winslet), the boys’ mother, encourages him because she faces a grave future – one which requires his playful sense of hope and imagination to cope with reality. Herein lies the struggle which gives birth to the play, Peter Pan. James Barrie, much like Peter Pan, is trapped between the man he must become and the child he longs to remain.

Peter the Man, James the Boy –In beautiful form, James Barrie and Peter Llewelyn-Davies (Freddie Highmore) trade places throughout the story, each playing the role of child and adult – a boy, forced to grow up before his time; a man, wishing to play his way through life. Early in the film, when Peter cannot find a suitable pirate name, James suggests “Dastardly Jim� (Dastardly James?). Later, James draws Peter into his world of imagination by giving him a blank journal, in which Peter can write all of the things that he calls “just a bit of silliness.� But when Peter discovers his mother’s illness, he destroys the book in protest of such silliness because in reality, life is not silly at all. James reveals his own struggle with the cruelties of life when he says that Peter likely believes things don’t hurt as badly once a person has grown up. The lines between Peter and James blur. After the performance of the play, someone comments that Peter Llewelyn Davies must be the real Peter Pan, but Peter protests that James is the true Peter Pan. It is quite artistic how these two characters change places, revealing a very clear message in the end: both growing up and staying young are essential to life. Not only must each man accept the responsibilities he takes on in life, but he must also have a sense of hope and playfulness that transcends the everyday grind, the minor struggles, and the major tragedies. This is best illustrated by the final scene in the film where the two sit together on a park bench (Thanks for the tip, David!).

Imagination – The story deals much with imagination and Neverland, which I coincidentally think are the same. James reveals to Sylvia that Neverland is a place he discovered as a boy in an attempt to deal with his brother’s death. Is it heaven? I don’t think so, but I do think it’s a place where the imagination has free reign. When James’ wife, Mary, expresses her frustration with their marriage, she attributes her feelings of isolation to his absence. Although he may have been present in body, his mind has always been elsewhere, in a place where “good ideas float around like leaves in autumn.� He claims there is no such place. She protests, “Yes, there is – Neverland.� Later in the story, he shares Neverland with Sylvia, although he has actually been sharing it with her all along in their daily adventures. Here again, the images of reality and imagination are intermingled. We see finally that the delicate art of imagination creates a sort of buffer for the harshness of life. James knows this. Sylvia knows this. Mary knows this, but cannot accept it. Peter must learn it at all costs. He argues with James about his father’s death, claiming that his mother lied, telling him they would soon go fishing together. James disagrees, “That wasn’t a lie. It was your mother’s hope.� In the end, stories, whether real or imagined, become the hope that carry people beyond the reality of pain. And in that sense, imagination (Neverland) is a place where harsh realities become survivable.

Abiding Hope – The word “hope� gives us a clear understanding of the power of imagination. Imagination is not simply a child’s game. It is the foundation of a passionate dedication to living life to the fullest despite life’s brutal realities. Perhaps it is perceived as play, but it is founded in a desire to rise above tragedy and live every day to its absolute maximum. This is hope. And what is hope but the product of faith fulfilled? “Now, faith is substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.� (Hebrews 11:1). The fact is that God created hope. He created imagination. He created faith and gave us all a measure of it to carry us through the rough times. He created each of these wonderful things to help us deal with this world that is not our home. In a corrupt and sinful world, we have an ally – a God who knows that pain must have a buffer. He has given us much to hope for – miracles that happen every day, answered prayer, tragedies that transform us into more loving creatures, imagination that carries us beyond the pain, and the hope of a splendorous future with Him.

While maturity and responsibility are never overrated, I do believe that this film touches on one of God’s greatest coping mechanisms. Many times as I struggle to deal with the reality of today, I can put my faith and hope into the promise of tomorrow. I can “imagine� what life will be like an hour, a year, ten years from now. I can play. I can read the promises in the Bible and enjoy today because tomorrow doesn’t have to hold an unbearable future. The film doesn’t carry the thought this far, but I do believe it’s worth exploring. You can read about the value of responsibility in every book of the Bible. But, if imagination can have a spiritual application, it is that our minds are capable of seeing far beyond the moment at hand. With imagination and faith, we can set our minds on things above (Colossians 3:2), believe in the power of prayer (James 5:16), transcend the light and momentary troubles (2 Cor. 4:16-18), and set our hope on a future with Christ (Luke 23:39-43).

LINKS
—Overview
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

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—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film
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I’m sure you’ve already read about the unusual filming style, so I’ll spare the repetition. The movie holds up to its praise, and surprisingly, it also delivers an action-packed plot with exceptionally witty dialogue. Let me also say that Jude Law has never let me down in his performances or story selections. Much like Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, or Harrison Ford, I can rest easy that a movie will be good if Jude Law has agreed to play a lead role.

One of the things I liked most about this film was the success of the stock characters. Every writing class will tell you to stay away from them (also called type characters). These are characters driven by stereotype, whose actions are predictable because you have already seen them in hundreds of movies and books. Stock characters are cliché, and writers are told to create unique characters with three-dimensional personalities and unusual ticks. Somehow, Sky Captain serves us stock characters on a silver platter and we eat them up like cocktail shrimp! We love their predictability! It is as if the writer takes us back hundreds of years and introduces us to the archetypes (the original stock characters): the original hero, Joe Sullivan, the original nosy reporter, Polly Perkins, and the original GI Jane, Sgt. Franky Cook. Fully predicting the next move, we laugh out loud as the characters follow our every expectation and surprise us with witty banter. I absolutely loved it!

Perhaps this return to archetypes runs a little deeper. The story itself toys with the notion of destroying humanity because it is beyond repair. If so much hatred exists in the world, then man must ultimately be doomed to destruction. The only way to save mankind is to destroy it, recreate Adam and Eve (of course, saving the animals too!) and start over again in space. A strange notion, yes, but it is hardly new. The archetype of this story is Noah’s Ark, where God looks upon the earth and sees that it is evil. Saving one righteous man and his family (and two of every animal, of course), God wipes out every living thing on earth with a flood. As the waters dry, mankind is given a chance to start over on a new earth, and the rainbow becomes God’s promise to never flood the earth again.

Spoiler Warning!! Proceed to the “End Spoiler� if you don’t wish to hear the ending!!

The only difference is that in Sky Captain, the God character (Totenkopf) asks for forgiveness rather than making a promise for the future. As it turns out, Totenkopf had died some 20 years earlier and his drones had continued his work after his death. Furthermore, Totenkopf had scribbled a note, “Forgive Me,� and died, impotent to stop the drones from completing his work. This is a strange and sad concept of God – or is it a concept of God? To be honest, I cannot confirm the writer’s intent here. In reality, it could go either way. Here’s how:

1. If Totenkopf (literally meaning “dead head� in German) is supposed to represent God, then the writer’s intent is to suggest that there is no God at all. The Wizard of Oz references and the electronic talking face suggest that God’s only power is in the smokescreen and mirrors created by the Bible. Furthermore, the fact that Totenkopf is already dead implies that God is not a living being with eternal life and ultimate power, but rather a man-made creation designed to hide man’s frail thinking (ie. the Forgive Me note).

2. The alternative is that Totenkopf is supposed to represent man’s attempt to play God. In fact, Sky Captain makes the comment at one point in the film, “He was trying to play God.� This comment implies that man can only pretend at such a game and can never hold the eternal wisdom needed to care for the earth – as evidenced by Totenkopf’s death, his inability to stop the machines and his admission to being wrong (again, the Forgive Me note). The implication is that man’s attempt to play God ends only in his own destruction, the potential destruction of mankind, and the ruler’s exposure as a weak, faulty, dead head. (Can anyone say Hitler?)

END SPOILER

Now, unfortunately, this discussion of God, Noah’s Ark, and man’s frailty doesn’t answer the question of whether destroying the earth to let man start over is the right thing to do. But, I can say this: God found it fitting to do so in Noah’s day, and he has promised to do it again after Christ’s return. Clearly, in Sky Captain, the answer was to save mankind instead. Joe Sullivan was willing to die to secure the safety of mankind. I don’t find this answer any different than Jesus’s willingness to die to secure the eternal salvation for all who believe.

Perhaps the moral of the story is that God loves us and hates sin. Perhaps the parallel is that God doesn’t like to see man destroying himself any more than Mr. Dead Head did. But rather than recreating a genetically altered, sinless Adam and Eve, God gave the world a second chance through his promises; the promise of a Messiah who would save man from his sin, the promise of a new heaven and a new earth, and the promises of the Holy Spirit to help guide us through this crazy life. I loved Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. I can’t wait to see it again and pick up all of the tiny references, jokes, and parallels that I missed the first time!

LINKS
—Overview
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections