Boy oh boy...

So, hubby and I watched the highly acclaimed movie ‘boy’ tonight. Peters assessment: Its like one of those movies you studied in English at high school. Thats why I don’t like it. Its funny though- thats why I watch it.

My sentiments are similar. Boy is story of a young Maori boy and the relationship he has with his absent father. His father returns to the family home and ‘Boy’ (yes, that is also his name) learns through a series of disappointments that his father is not the wonderful dad he has spent years idolising in his head. 

So whats good about it? Boy has a fantastic nostalgic sense about it. Set in rural New Zealand in the 1980s, the music, costume and activities of the kids all induce flashbacks of my own childhood, and the childhoods of those I went to school with. We also made up games in the dirt, and thought Michael Jackson was awesome! Also, there is an extremely humorous accent  that seems to carry the dark issues of this film. Note though the humor is geographical- that is, if you don’t live in New Zealand, the funniest parts would possibly go over your head.  James Rolleston acts as the main character Boy. His palpable disappointment in this film was so believable that at one point I was actually brought to tears. James’ presentation of the character Boy is what really made this film for me.

And whats not so good? Peter is right... it does seem like one of those movies you studied in English class at highschool. (I would not be surprised if Boy makes its way into the curriculum in the next few years). Now, I don’t mind a good English class film, but the reason Boy is put in this category is because of the glaringly obvious symbolism in the movie... for example- for most of the movie Boy's dad is filmed with a grand pair of deers antlers behind his head, symbolising power and authority, but also shaped strangely like devil horns. When Boy realises that his Dad isn’t all he was cracked up to be, the antlers are fallen. Like I said, obvious! Especially when all the symbolism is often made redundant by the fantastic acting!

As a Christian I found myself analysing the film through two words: Justification and Sanctification. Justification can be remembered by the saying ‘just as if I had never sinned’ meaning that because Jesus died on the cross for us, God no longer sees the terrible things we have done. ‘How does this work?’ you might be asking. Put simply: Imagine you have a book in which was written every wrong thing you had ever done, every one of Gods laws you had ever broken. (I’m thinking this might be a very heavy book!) God can read this book and know instantly that you deserve punishment for the many wrong things that you have done. However, Jesus swapped books with you. Jesus was sinless, so His book of wrongs has only blank pages. When he took the punishment that you deserve, he took your heavy book of sins as if it was His own, and gave you His book, a light book, only a few blank pages. When God looks at your book now, he only sees the blank pages. Justification also takes this one step further. Jesus doesn’t just give us his book of no sins, he gives us second book, a book of all the great things he has done, so when we present our books to God, we aren’t just sinless in His sight, but Jesus’ good works are also credited to us.

Sanctification is the process by which God helps us to be motivated by and respond to the good news that through Jesus’ death on the cross, we are justified.  God works in us to help us to be more and more like Christ.

So how do these huge concepts relate to the movie Boy? Firstly, we are shown that everyone is a sinner, even those who we idolise and put up on a pedestal. Your Mum is a sinner. Your Dad is a sinner. Your teacher, best friend, the man who owns the corner store- all sinners. And so are you.  The film also gives an answer to how we should overcome our sinfulness.  All we need to do is choose to try harder, do better, make less mistakes. That within each of us lies a good person with the potential to change ourselves and our worlds, one good decision at a time. This is unfortunately a common tune sung in our modern world, but not a biblical one.  The bible tells us, that the solution to the problem of our sinfulness is to turn to Christ, trust that what He did on the cross makes us justified in Gods sight, and in response to this good news, we will be motivated to live better lives . God helps us with this through the process of Sanctification, helping us to live more godly lives. It is important to note that we are only made better through Christ, and cannot possibly overcome our own sinful nature in our own strength- we simply cannot try harder, do better, make less mistakes by willpower alone. And so, at the closing of this film I was left despairing. When Boy gets older, he will inevitably fail at being better than his father was. And what will he have then? A deep faith in the knowledge that despite his failings, unmerited favour has been shown to him by God above? Nope- just a deep sense of failure and moral and social condemnation.

Boy is all law, and no grace. The film tells us we have a better standard to achieve, a higher bar to reach, but lacks any picture of mercy that lets us know that even though we know we can never reach it, there is grace to see us through.

My assessment: Rent it (or borrow it from your sister in law), watch it once. Have a laugh for the first half, cry for the second, but don’t buy into the social commentary.