The Narnia 3 Blog

The new movie The Golden Compass, has stirred a lot of emotional response from the Christian community. You can read Dr. Al Mohler's fine review of the movie and it's background here. It has been called "anti-Christian" by many individual and groups (mainly Catholic). However, other reviewers have said there is no such agenda. The usually perceptive Roger Friedman of Fox 411, says it "has as much to do with being anti-Christian or Catholic as 'Flipper.'" Dismissing the whole idea with a back handed, "So much for that." After viewing the movie on opening night, that is much too simplistic a notion of the films' intent. As an aside, I have not read the other two books (but I will shortly, since there are three films planned and I have no desire to wait five years for the ending). In this review I will, therefore, speak only to the issues of this particular film (Dr. Mohler's review is of the movie and the overall story line of the totality of the three books).

The movie is based on the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass). This series is aimed mainly at readers aged 12-19, and at first glance appears to be at the same level as the Harry Potter novels, C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, and J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Ring Trilogy (and The Hobbit, which as an aside, we trust will come to the big screen soon). Also, Pullman's books are hardly new, this series has been in print for over ten years. Additionally, the final three chapters of the book do not make it into the movie apparently being saved for the sequel. Overall, the movie significantly tones down the more overtly anti-Catholic/Christian material in the book. References to "god" (in the book known as "The Authority") are removed entirely. However, Pullman's overall agenda is fairly obvious.

The movie opened in the United States on Friday and I was there to see for myself. The movie was entertaining, fast paced (sometimes in a herky-jerky sort of way); and extremely well cast (Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Eva Green, and Sam Elliot in leads, along with Dakota Blue Richards as the main child character. The special effects were generally excellent (except in a couple of close-up scenes with Kidman where the blue screen technique is obvious and there is visual discontinuity between her image and the background, she should have also been wearing ear rings). The sound track is excellent and supports the visual very effectively. Some of the dialogue is occasionally hard to follow; particularly when it comes from "daemons" (see below) when they are off camera or not readily visible. Since the plan is obviously to a trilogy of films the various characters will be fleshed out a little more we would trust. Although Craig seems perfect as Lord Asriel, it's really hard to say because he has very little screen time.

The storyline is simple and largely unremarkable within the larger domain of the fantasy/science fiction genre. In the world (much like earth) the are various type of beings (people of difference races, witches, and a sapient polar bear race in the north). Except for the bears, all have a "daemon" which is an animal (of various types) who can talk and live in a complex symbiotic relationship with the person. After adolescence a person's daemon settles into a particular form aligning with the individuals overall character; however, prior to coming of age, a daemon changes within a range of animal forms (apparently out of the control of the daemon, although that is not explicitly stated). Daemons have a couple of characteristics; they must stay within a very close proximity to their human counterpart and they can talk. The exceptions to this are the daemons of the witches, who apparently can be separated by significant distances with no ill effect. One thing I noticed in the film is that the Marisa Coulter's (Kidman's character, a leading Magisterium agent and head of the "General Oblation Board") daemon (a golden colored monkey) never speaks and at one point appears to be some distance from Coulter (leading me to believe that ultimately Coulter will be revealed to be a witch or some other oddity, but I'll have to read the next two books to determine that).

Within the story we have the normal introductory material of plot and characters; who will ultimately converge into the typical "quest motif." The story line is essentially that The Magisterium, a thinly veiled substitute for the Catholic Church, is seeking to maintain control of the population in the world. As the movie begins they are threatened by two things: (1) Free thinking and rejection of their dogma; and (2) the advancement of science, which may run countrary to their belief system. The current threat to their power is the work of Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig) who is seeking to make a connection with parallel worlds and the secret of "dust." Dust is portrayed as something of a life-giving and possibly universe sustaining/connecting substance. "Dust" is something that the Magisterium does not want the population to know about or to benefit from.

Asriel's niece (later discovered to be his daughter), Lyra, early in the movie saves his life by preventing him from drinking wine that has been secretly poisoned by a Magisterium leader. When Asriel leaves for an expedition in the North; Marisa Coulter, appears and convinces the school master to allow her to take Lyra away from her school; but before she leaves she is entrusted with the Golden Compass, called an "alethiometer." It is a device whereby the reader (not everyone can read the device) can ask "virtually any question" and see the truth. This device is given to Lyra by the school master (who is clearly aware that the Magisterium wishes to control the school and eliminate the free thought and inquiry allowed there).

Lyra escapes from Coulter (probably not a reference to Ann Coulter the conservative commentator as when the books first came out she was not particularly well known, but still a connection that Pullman would clearly be comfortable with) and is rescued by a group that has been secretly protecting her on the direction of Asriel. They begin a quest to get to Asriel in the north and also rescue children abducted by the Magisterium in an effort to separate them from their "daemons" which apparently renders them without a soul, immune or separated from the beneficial effects of "dust," and able to be more easily controlled by the Magisterium.

Lyra demonstrates both significant courage and learns that she can read the Golden Compass (which is how she discovers where the children are being kept). The rest of the movie is taken with meeting key characters: One of the Polar Bears (voiced by Ian McKellen of Lord of the Rings, X-Men, and The DaVinci Code fame), Iorek Byrnison is enlisted to help after Lyra assists him in reclaiming his rightful place as the king of the bears. Also enlisted is the Sam Elloit character, Lee Scoresby, something of a renegade operator of flying machine (who, at the end of the movie we are told will have a significant role in the future struggle). This initial quest is successful, the children are rescued and Lyra is reunited with her friend Roger Parslow (who was seen early in the movie before he was kidnapped and taken to the Magisterium's "school"). The movie end with Lyra and Will along with Iorek, Scoresby, and one of the Witches, flying to find Asriel and bring him the Golden Compass.

During the escape sequence, Lyra is briefly captured in the institution and place into a device that the Magisterium has created to separate a human from their daemon. At the critical moment, Coulter reappears and saves Lyra and her daemon. Shortly thereafter we discover that Coulter is Lyra's mother and that Asriel is her father. However, Coulter saves Lyra, not because of maternal love, but to acquire the Compass and to subvert Lyra.

Probably one of the things that most impressed me in a negative sense was that there is so little original in the movie. Almost every key thematic motif is borrowed from some other source or story. The idea of a daemon is altered slightly from a human taking an animal shape that is in keeping with their character (a widely used device in fantasy/science fiction; perhaps best by David Eddings and The Belgariad series) to separate beings. Interestingly enough, the "school" or institute where the children are rescued from is unmistakeably copied from C. S. Lewis' "public" schools in the Narnia story The Silver Chair and the last of his science fiction trilogy, That Hideous Strength. It is interesting, because of Pullman's documented antipathy for Lewis and his loathing for the Chronicles of Narnia. One additional bit of irony you discover by staying for all the credits at the end of the film is that the Magadalen College (of Oxford) Choir, provided some of the singing in the movie. This college, of course, is where Lewis spent most of his teaching career.

The central feature in the story is the concept of "dust," which seems clearly borrowed from the Star Wars concept of the "force." The concept added by Pullman in his work is that Dust can be manipulated directly for information or truth by use of the Golden Compass. The parentage motif of Lyra and Coulter parallels the Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader Star Wars storyline as well.

The quest motif, where a small group of divergent people (all with their own secrets) join for a common cause, is too popular to be considered borrowed; but it was clearly carried off most notably by J. R. R. Tolkein in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Pullman's overall theme of the "church as the enemy of man" is reminiscent of Victor Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame.

All in all, there is really little original in the movie in terms of plot or character that hasn't been done (and often much better) by other authors. However, the screen play is enjoyable and entertaining. It is an engaging story and leaves the audience waiting for the sequels.

In terms of being "anti-Christian," the movie it is clearly anti-Catholic, and from other reviews I've read that theme is greatly expanded in the subsequent books (and probably in the subsequent movies). Here again, the movie portrays the Roman Catholic church much in the same manner as Dan Brown in The DaVinci Code. The church represses truth for the sake of its own power, it seeks to repress free sexual expression (although this doesn't come out in this movie), and the church is ruthless and abusive (even to children) in it's quest to maintain power and control over the population. While the Catholic Church is made into the "evil empire" (another Star Wars motif), the distinction between Catholicism and Biblical Christianity will certainly be over looked by the majority of the movie going public. There is no doubt Biblical, Evangelical Christianity will be viewed in the same negative light as this series of movies progresses.

Very few stories are written simply to entertain people (and they are usually poorly done). The best works of fiction almost always have a purpose or agenda apart from the literary value. Whether it is Hugo's already mentioned Hunchback of Notre Dame, or his Toilers of the Sea, or Les Miserables; Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, or Cervantes', Don Quixote de la Mancha. All have used the vehicle of the novel to advance their personal views, beliefs, perspectives, and solutions (and often Christianity is viewed as the problem that must be overcome). You can also add Ernest Hemingway, Kurt Vonnegut, F. Scott Fitzgerald, or any other significant author and their works to the list. And there is nothing wrong or evil about using the vehicle of the novel in such a manner. Lewis, Tolkien, Chesterton, George MacDonald and a host of others have done the same thing with the idea of advancing a Christian world-view or to teach a Biblical or theological truth.

The problem is that people are reluctant to actually think in these terms. Too many assume that there is no agenda or at least a benign one and absorb the story hook line and sinker and unknowingly allow it to alter their world view and perceptions in a way they otherwise would not. As the Professor in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe exclaims, "Logic, don't they teach logic in these schools anymore?" The problem is that they don't and those who have seen or will see The Golden Compass need to realize this and clearly think through what they are seeing and what belief set is being fed to them. As pure entertainment the movie is subtly engaging, with an agenda clearly being fed incrementally. Pullman's target audience of young people is simply the manifestation of his own story device (where children are separated from their daemons). Pullman wants to separate children from Christianity, but uses something much more palatable than the "institution" of the story, the totality of the story instead becoming Pullman's "insitution."

Parent and viewer beware; don't avoid the movie necessarily, but engage it with a critical and thinking mind.