Movies/Scenes
Representing
Confrontation with Evil
- Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)
- At Harry's final confrontation with Voldemort, the bad guy, Voldemort begins to pretend to be kind to Harry. He tells Harry that he could have eternal life if he kept the stone, and says that if he joined him instead of fought him, he could have the things he desired most. Continuing, Voldemort tells him "There is no Good and Evil, there is only power and those too weak to seek it." Harry seems to be tempted to succumb for a moment, but then in a realization of truth he yells that Voldemort is a liar. At that point Voldemort stops trying to convince him and they enter "hand to hand combat." This is an excellent clip that shows a perfect portrayal of the arguments Satan uses on believers: the lure of material happiness, and the blurring of the line between sin and righteousness. Harry does what we hope any good Christian would: scream in the enemy's face that he is a liar. (Lindsay Braman, Parsons, KS)
- The Shipping
News (2001)
- Quoyle has a literal confrontation with the "demons" of his past. He has seen himself (and steered his life accordingly) through the negative influence of his father and other family "demons" he has not recognized. He faces these forces and is reborn after a storm. (Baptism of the Spirit - Wind and Water - lots of water imagery in this film - drowning and being changed.)
- Lord
of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
- The Lord of the Rings is a movie which in following the book well enough, addresses many issues pertaining to emotions, faith, hope, pity, call, confronting evil, discernment, and many many more themes. This movie is rich to bursting with possibilities, as it follows the book which was written around a mythical and religious basis. (Michael K. Doran)
- The Patriot (2000)
- Col. Tavington is a brutal blood-thirsty commander in a time when officers were suppose to be gentlemen. It is obivious throughout the movie that it is going to come down to Benjamin Martin and Tavington in a face to face battle. Only when Tavington is killed will the evil be ended.
- End of Days
(1999)
- The movie (starring Arnold Schwarzenegger) has an apocalyptic theme that centers around the idea of Satan (Gabriel Byrne) attempting to take full control of the world. Near the end, after a countless barrage of gunfights and explosions, Arnold and the woman he is projecting enter a church, knowing that Satan is hot on their trail. The scene turns very powerful as Arnold, holding a huge gun in his arms, looks around the church and sees various images and statues. He throws his gun on the floor, closes his eyes, and opens his arms (crucifixion?) and prays, "Please help me." Without giving too much away, Satan is defeated -- not by violence -- but by "a more excellent way." (Rev. Duane Partin)
- The Matrix
(1999)
- Neo's final battle scene.
- The Confession (1999)
- Bleakie must continually make decisions about good and evil - must make decisions which move him away from evil and toward good.
- The Phantom Menace
(1999)
- Qui-Gon Jinn sacrifices his life in the fight against Darth Maul. Obi-Wan Kenobi's defeat of Darth Maul.
- Prince of
Egypt (1998)
- Moses confronts Pharoah
- Fallen (1998)
- Amistad (1997)
- Devil's
Advocate (1997)
- The final confrontation between Kevin and John Milton, in which Kevin kills himself in order to defeat Milton (Satan).
- 12 Monkeys
(1995)
- James Cole's inevitably unsuccessful and eternally cyclical attempt to stop the virus (evil).
- Priest (1994)
A father who is sexually abusing his daughter is in the confessional with the young priest, talking about the way he (the father) uses her. His face, to me, is a chilling confrontation with evil. (Meg Queior, Richmond ME) The mother/wife interrupts an episode of her husband's abuse of their daughter and, in her own way, confronts the evil she has discovered with anger and outrage (and a knife in hand) -- all against the backdrop of the young priest's fervent, distressed prayers. (Meg Queior, Richmond ME) - The Stand (1994)
- The final apocalyptic confrontation in Las Vegas between the "good" and those who have followed the Evil One.
- At the River I Stand
(1993)
- "Memphis's 1300 sanitation workers formed the lowest caste of a deeply racist society, earning so little they qualified for welfare. In the film, retired workers recall the fear as they took on the entire white power structure when they struck for higher wages and union recognition...At the River I Stand succeeds in showing that the causes (and possibly the solutions) to our present racial quandary may well be found in what happened in Memphis. Its riveting portrait of the grit and determination of ordinary people will inspire viewers to rededicate themselves to racial and economic justice." (California Newsreel Official Site)
- A
Few Good Men (1992)
- The colonel feels that he should allow and even encourage whatever abuse or mistreatment is needed among the soldiers he commands to ensure that they are obedient and ready to fight and win at any cost. He believes that The Truth in this case is what allows ordinary women and men and children to enjoy their freedom in the US. He views the attorney (played by Cruise) and actually all of us as naive and innocent as we in the US are kept safe from what he sees as a savage and brutal world waiting to pounce at any time. (Fred Kane)
- The Fisher King (1991)
- As Jack enters the "castle," he meets the spectre of Edwin who climbs up the stairs and shoots at Jack.
- The Milagro Beanfield
War (1988)
- The clash between individuals and small cultures and big developers/institutions, symbolized by the fight over the beanfield.
- Blue Velvet (1986)
- Through his confrontation with evil outside himself, Jeffrey recognizes the evil within himself. He is Frank in many ways.
- Places
in the Heart (1984)
- Edna insists on fairness and justice when she brings the cotton crop into town.
- Return
of the Jedi (1983)
- Luke Skywalker fights against the Emperor of Darkness
- Time Bandits (1981)
- I am using Time Bandits this week for Lenten discussion on the Fall and Redemption, the power of good over evil, the human propensity for trying to be God rather than acting fully as human. The theology is excellent (I think, anyway) and the film is SO much more than its cover blurb says. It helps to watch it more than once, since the dialog is British, and the dialog and action both move very fast. The elements of the film are very tightly constructed, with scenes inter-related one to another; i.e., the game show that Kevin's mother and father watch at the beginning of the film becomes Satan's enticement and trap later on. The Supreme Being is so perfectly a low-church Anglican cleric, that we Episcopalians feel right at home. (Mary Goshert)
- Norma Rae
(1979)
- Norma Rae standing on the table with the sign, "Union"
- Reuben Warshawsky (Ron Leibman) speaks to a meeting of poor, unorganized mill wporkers in the deep South: "On October 4, 1970, my grandfather, Isaac Abraham Warshowsky, aged eighty-seven, died in his sleep in New York City. On the following Friday morning, his funeral was held. My mother and father attended, my two uncles from Brooklyn attended, my Aunt Minnie came up from Florida. Also present were eight hundred and sixty-two members of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers and Cloth, Hat and Cap Makers' Union. Also members of his family. In death as in life, they stood at his side. They had fought battles with him, bound the wounds of battle with him, had earned bread together and had broken it together. When they spoke, they spoke in one voice, and they were heard. They were black, they were white, they were Irish, they were Polish, they were Catholic, they were Jews, they were one. That's what a union is: one ... Ladies and gentlemen, the textile industry, in which you are spending your lives and your substance, and in which your children and their children will spend their lives and their substance, is the only industry in the whole length and breadth of the United States of America that is not unionized. Therefore, they are free to exploit you, to cheat you, to lie to you, and to take away what is rightfully yours -- your health, a decent wage, a fit place to work. I would urge you to stop them by coming down to room 207 at the Golden Cherry Motel, to pick up a union card and to sign it .. It comes from the Bible -- according to the tribes of your fathers, ye shall inherit. It comes from Reuben Warshowsky -- not unless you make it happen." (Quotation is from Numbers 33:54. Jeff Massie)
- Apocalypse Now (1979)
- Willard's confrontation with Kurtz is a confrontation with the evil and ambiguity within himself: Willard: "I was going to the worst place in the world and I didn't even know it yet. Weeks away and hundreds of miles up a river that snaked through the war like a main circuit cable - plugged straight into Kurtz. It was no accident that I got to be the caretaker of Colonel Walter E. Kurtz's memory - anymore than being back in Saigon was an accident. There is no way to tell his story without telling my own. And if his story really is a confession, then so is mine."
- Kurtz: "It's impossible for words to describe what is necessary to those who do not know what horror means. Horror. Horror has a face, and you must make a friend of horror. Horror and moral terror are your friends. If they are not, then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies."
- The
Exorcist (1973)
- Father Merrin and Father Karras confront the evil in Regan and the "demons" within themselves.
- To Kill a Mockingbird
(1962)
- Atticus' conversation with his children after the trial about WHY you confront evil evenif you can't win!
- 12 Angry Men (1957)
- Henry Fonda stands up to the prejudices of the other 11 men in the jury, eventually winning them over.
