For The Bible Tells Me So

This week Andrea and I watched an excellent documentary on homophobia titled “For the Bible Tells Me So“. The film shows how little people know about the Bible verses that they use to justify hatred. You hear the tale of many different people and wraps things nicely in the end. While the story centers around homosexuality, the overriding themes can be applied to any bigoted subject. It is very politically correct and liberal, but I was moved.

A number of recent documentaries are made more watchable by tying the vignettes together to tell a story. Combine our love of reality TV with our desire for a plotline, and viola! instant classic.

The Happening

We saw The Happening last night, the movie’s opening night. Given M. Night Shyamalan’s body of work, I had no idea what to expect; I went in with an open mind. The movie was bad; it was ever so thinly veiled trite scare tactics about humanity’s effect on the Earth. The actors did a great job, but the story was lacking. Several objects seemed to be important, but they never panned out. Examples include the mood ring, the child, the hot dogs, the old woman. Any one of the aforementioned items could have led to a more cohesive story. Basically, any other ending would have been an improvement. Here are some options I thought of:

1) Make it a love story – the main characters could have saved humanity with their pure intentions.

2) Make it a horror film – whew! Almost any change in plot would have made The Happening a horror film. I think the old woman controlling the destruction would have been a grand climax.

3) Make it a dream – the ultimate cop-out in endings; however, The Happening could have wiped away at least some of the bad if the entire scene took place in a dream.

I was most disappointed at the fact that the movie was shallow and unfinished. Documentaries are en vogue currently, and the objectives of this movie are better served with a factual production.

Better luck next time M Night Shyamalan!