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Being John Malkovich (1999)
 | Information at Internet
Movie Database |
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Movie Parables
review. |
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Looking Closer, review by Jeffrey Overstreet, "searching for truth, beauty
and meaning in the movies." |
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"Being John
Malkovich: A Whole New World," Steve Lansingh, TheFilmForum:
Christian Conversation about the Movies. |
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Hollywood Jesus
visual review. |
| Themes
 | Alternate Realities, Connectedness
 | Craig finds a portal that leads into John
Malkovich's brain, where he is able to see/hear/feel what John
Malkovich sees/hears/feels. |
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| Greed/Self-centeredness
| Craig and Maxine decide to sell trips into John
Malkovich's brain. |
| When John Malkovich goes through the portal,
everyone he sees looks like him, and every word they say sounds
like, "Malkovich." Hilarious scene for illustrating
self-centeredness! |
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| Holy Spirit
| In the very strange 1999 surrealist movie "Being John
Malkovich", someone discovers a portal into
Malkovich's mind, enabling visitors to see and
experience things through his body and to influence his actions. He
becomes aware of what's happening and finds the
portal himself. At the climax of the movie,
there is a bizarre but powerful scene when he enters the portal,
being swept down a dark tunnel with a roaring sound to emerge as a
participant/observer in his own world. He discovers that everyone
has his face and his voice, and every word
spoken is his name. Connections with the
Pentecost story: - the paradox of the creator
entering his own creation by an unexplainable
power; - the potential of the portal to connect
people in an unprecedented kind of indwelling;
- the portal is exploited by those who find it - selling access,
allowing it to be used to violate someone's
integrity - reminds me of Simon the Sorcerer
(Acts 8), and all who abuse the gift of the Spirit for their own ends or
to manipulate others.
- seeing the face of Malkovich everywhere reminds me of the Spirit making
Jesus present through us in a new and all-encompassing way. We are
recognisably Christlike though still ourselves, and all we say and
do is 'in his name'. It's a frightening moment
in the movie, because Malkovich has no wish to
become omnipresent as a Christ-figure, the but the image is
powerful. (Marnie Barrell,
Auckland, New Zealand) |
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