The Fountain - might spoil it for those who want to see it...
I just got back from watching the Fountain. I need to write this down before I forget it (it'll be useful for my final project for Theology Through the Arts)
Tommy Creo (I think that's the last name) is a scientist who is trying to find a cure for a tumor that his wife is dying from (it may be cancerous, I don't know.) He is experimenting on baboons with different botanical concoctions from trees.
It's a little confusing at first, because the movie starts off with Hugh Jackman (the guy who plays Tommy, who is coincidently called Thomas in these scenes, etc.) as a 16th century conquisidor of Spain, who is searching for the Tree of life. (There were two trees in the Garden of Eden, the tree of life, and the tree of knowledge.) Right at a scene where it appears Sir Thomas will die, he screams no and then ends up in a different scene as a bald man who is meditating. Here he is in a bubble, and trying to find a cure so the tree will not die. (I'm thinking this is probably his own little world, an escape sort of, while he's trying to figure out how to save his wife) Every once in a while, characters from the other two worlds come into his little world with the tree. His wife, at the beginning keeps telling him to "Finish it."
As the scientist, Tommy is so caught up in searching for a cure for his wife, he becomes almost obsessed. He is so obsessed with finding a cure that it almost becomes an obsession with finding a cure for death itself. He claims after she has died "death is a disease, just like any other, and there is a cure for it. I will find that cure."
Key themes, and some theology and ideas I took from this movie are:
There is a scene (back to the 16th century) where a monk is sitting in front of a fire wipping himself. He is later heard giving a speach about how the body is a prison for the soul. (Gnosticism anybody?!)
The human want/disillusion that we can save ourselves, and become immortal. - I think this is an age old thing with humans. We, for some reason, believe we can save ourselves, that our own intelligence, might, etc. will save us. At the end of the movie, after drinking the sap from the tree of life, the Conquisidor ends up returning to the ground and sprouting flowers. (Ie. we return to the dust from which we were made) At the same time, new life is sprung up from the death of the man. Alas, it is his own greed, and want for immortality that drives him back to the dirt where he came from.
The idea of dying to live forever together is interesting. This could allude to dying to self, and taking up the cross of Jesus Christ, therefore gaining eternal life.
The directors of this movie also drew upon Mayan mythology. The idea was that the first father sacrificed himself to make the world. His body became the roots of the tree and the world, and his head was hung in the sky as a nebulus (a dying star that explodes and creates lots of new stars) This is almost a flipside of the Christian idea of sacrifice, where the world is already made, and Christ (who was the Word, and was with God in the very beginning of Creation) comes down as a human, as the ultimate sacrifice (making the sacrifice of animals obsolete).
One thing that really stuck out to me was how often the phrase "Finish it" was mentioned. Tommy's wife, Izzi keeps telling him to "finish it". At first I wasn't sure what "it" was, but later learned she wanted him to finish her book. He realizes that he does know the ending (that he too will die) and finishes the book. This brought to mind where Christ, on the cross says "it is finished" before he breathes his last. But instead of remaining conquered by death, he arises victorious. Christ has "finished it".
on another note. I'm going to Edmonton on Thursday next week! I'm so excited! I'll be in Europe in less than a month too! yikes! time flies!
Tommy Creo (I think that's the last name) is a scientist who is trying to find a cure for a tumor that his wife is dying from (it may be cancerous, I don't know.) He is experimenting on baboons with different botanical concoctions from trees.
It's a little confusing at first, because the movie starts off with Hugh Jackman (the guy who plays Tommy, who is coincidently called Thomas in these scenes, etc.) as a 16th century conquisidor of Spain, who is searching for the Tree of life. (There were two trees in the Garden of Eden, the tree of life, and the tree of knowledge.) Right at a scene where it appears Sir Thomas will die, he screams no and then ends up in a different scene as a bald man who is meditating. Here he is in a bubble, and trying to find a cure so the tree will not die. (I'm thinking this is probably his own little world, an escape sort of, while he's trying to figure out how to save his wife) Every once in a while, characters from the other two worlds come into his little world with the tree. His wife, at the beginning keeps telling him to "Finish it."
As the scientist, Tommy is so caught up in searching for a cure for his wife, he becomes almost obsessed. He is so obsessed with finding a cure that it almost becomes an obsession with finding a cure for death itself. He claims after she has died "death is a disease, just like any other, and there is a cure for it. I will find that cure."
Key themes, and some theology and ideas I took from this movie are:
There is a scene (back to the 16th century) where a monk is sitting in front of a fire wipping himself. He is later heard giving a speach about how the body is a prison for the soul. (Gnosticism anybody?!)
The human want/disillusion that we can save ourselves, and become immortal. - I think this is an age old thing with humans. We, for some reason, believe we can save ourselves, that our own intelligence, might, etc. will save us. At the end of the movie, after drinking the sap from the tree of life, the Conquisidor ends up returning to the ground and sprouting flowers. (Ie. we return to the dust from which we were made) At the same time, new life is sprung up from the death of the man. Alas, it is his own greed, and want for immortality that drives him back to the dirt where he came from.
The idea of dying to live forever together is interesting. This could allude to dying to self, and taking up the cross of Jesus Christ, therefore gaining eternal life.
The directors of this movie also drew upon Mayan mythology. The idea was that the first father sacrificed himself to make the world. His body became the roots of the tree and the world, and his head was hung in the sky as a nebulus (a dying star that explodes and creates lots of new stars) This is almost a flipside of the Christian idea of sacrifice, where the world is already made, and Christ (who was the Word, and was with God in the very beginning of Creation) comes down as a human, as the ultimate sacrifice (making the sacrifice of animals obsolete).
One thing that really stuck out to me was how often the phrase "Finish it" was mentioned. Tommy's wife, Izzi keeps telling him to "finish it". At first I wasn't sure what "it" was, but later learned she wanted him to finish her book. He realizes that he does know the ending (that he too will die) and finishes the book. This brought to mind where Christ, on the cross says "it is finished" before he breathes his last. But instead of remaining conquered by death, he arises victorious. Christ has "finished it".
on another note. I'm going to Edmonton on Thursday next week! I'm so excited! I'll be in Europe in less than a month too! yikes! time flies!