Now I thought The Grey was just a survival film with Liam Neeson. Whatever. And even as I began to watch it, I thought that maybe the wolves were one of many hurdles the survivalists had to face.
How I wrong I was. Not only is The Grey an awesome and thrilling and surprising adventure/survival film, not only is it beautiful and well acted, not only is it the most awesome Man vs Wolf showdown since The Neverending Story (“COME FOR ME G’MORK: I AM ATREYU!”), but it is so much more. It works on multiple layers of meaning:
- Religious - not just that there is a scene where the main character shouts out to an unresponsive sky ‘I’m callin on ye!’. But the whole film paints the journey from a hell, through a purgatory to a heaven.
- Political - a beleaguered group of men lost deep behind enemy lines, being knocked off one by one by a more primitive foe end up desecrating the corpse of one of their enemies.
- Psychological/moral - examining various fears, hopes, excuses, virtues and vices.
- Gender study - note how the men never really bond with each other, but all their identity is grounded in the (absent) women in their lives: daughters and wives.
- Exploration of the problematic relationship between humanity and nature.
Check out Thomas Caldwell’s review.
via Blog - Christian Reflections http://thegenevapush.com/blogs/xian_reflections/the-grey-is-an-exciting-film-that-works-on-many-levels (NB: to comment go to thegenevapush.com/xian_reflections)
