‘Dogma’ stirs controversy with intriguing look at angels, God and belief
By KERRY OSLUND
Staff Writer
Put together two renegade angels -- a reluctant woman who is the world’s last hope to prevent the Apocalypse from happening, and a mouthy apostle, and what do you have? The formula for the captivating movie “Dogma”, which was recently released amidst criticism about its content from the Catholic Church and other religious factions.
From the beginning of the movie, the viewer is told that this is meant to be a satire, and that nothing is to be taken seriously. This is obvious by the spin that “Dogma” takes on many contemporary issues surrounding God with many examples, two of which are race and gender. These issues are addressed during the movie, which involves two angels, Bartleby and Loki, who fall from heaven and try desperately to get back in, at all costs. Their main idea of how they can get back into heaven is to kill people who they think are sinners. They do this by becoming human and finding a loophole in Catholic dogma, a loophole that says that on a certain day, all who pass through a church’s arches can get redemption for their sins and gain entry into heaven.
Linda Fiorentino stars as Bethany, the reluctant woman who is picked to save the world from the Apocalypse because she is a distant relative of Jesus Christ. The twist is that Bethany is a middle-aged, bitter woman who works in an abortion clinic. The irony in this is that she is Catholic and the Catholic stance regarding abortion is that it is wrong. However, one develops a kind of deranged understanding of what she does after finding out that she had a hysterectomy at a young age due to infection.
Along the way, she is told by the “voice of god,” an angel named Metatron, played by Alan Rickman, that she will meet with two prophets, Jay and Silent Bob, who are played excellently by Jason Mewes and Scott Mosier. Their roles in the movie give rise to the idea that even stoners can have a great idea and faith in God.
Bethany, Jay, Bob, and Rufus start off to Red Bank, New Jersey to prevent Bartleby (Ben Affleck) and Loki (Matt Damon) from entering a church in Red Bank to be cleansed of their sins and therefore begin the Apocalypse. Along the way, they meet up with Chris Rock, who drops in front of them in a very noticeable way.
Rock plays the opinionated apostle Rufus, who claims he is the 13th apostle and was kept out of the Bible because he is black. Rock’s role in the movie demonstrates the idea which many African Americans believe, that Jesus was black. This illustrates excellently that the idea of faith is more important than what God actually is because every different person has a different idea of what God looks like. The point is, no one knows!
About this time, the demon Azrael appears, played by Jason Lee, to help Bartleby and Loki in their efforts to cause the Apocalypse so that he can end his own pitiful existence. Azrael was sent to Hell after refusing to fight for God. He escaped Hell, and would rather not exist than go back. His unwillingness to fight upsets the belief that creating a holy war in the name of God is a good idea.
Azrael seizes his opportunity by sending triplets to kill Bethany so that Loki and Bartleby can finish their task, thus giving him exactly what he wants. Fortunately, the triplets are foiled, and Bethany lives. Selma Hayek has a small part as Serendipity, the Muse.
The group finally makes it to New Jersey, and is almost foiled by Azrael and the Cardinal, played by George Carlin. They see Loki and Bartleby attempting to incur God’s wrath on television, and fear they are too late. They get to the church in time to see that Loki has chopped off his wings and become human (a key for them being able to get back into heaven). Loki argues with Serendipity and reveals that he thinks Bartleby has gone off the deep end. This is obvious because Bartleby has now developed an obsession on getting into heaven at all costs, something that many people strive for. Loki is then disposed of in a very nasty way.
At this point, it would seem that the movie is over, and the group has nothing left they can do to stop the Apocalypse from happening. Then Bethany has an epiphany, and goes on to save the day. The best part of this scene is the surprise actress that plays God, Alanis Morisette. It is a shock because it tears down the stereotype that God is a man. This is definite food for thought, being that until we die, we do not know what God actually is.
The movie is a deep foray into the dogmas of each different religion’s ideal. This is a task the producers of the movie handle very well. Probably the most offending idea to Catholics in “Dogma” would be the idea that angels want to have sexual relations with people, and that the Virgin Mary and Jesus have sex with apostles. This is but 30 seconds of the entire movie, and not even close to being the point the movie is trying to make. Those who are quick to criticize the movie are exactly the people who miss the entire point of it. The point of the movie is in the fact that faith in God, in whatever omnipotent form he or she may be, is more important than what God actually is. The movie’s criticism of different dogmas is that people are too quick to form their own particular faith regarding their “God”, and not quick enough to realize that the idea of God and his glory is more important than what God actually is.
Overall, this movie is good food for thought, and is recommended viewing for someone with an open mind.
Dogma Scores: Pretty Good Movie
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Wednesday, November 17, 1999
2:25 PM