Rambo, sigh... MY hero.... HARDLY!

Okay, if you're reading my blog for up-to-the minute news flashes, you're not very good at assessing your sources. I'm usually behind the times, and that doesn't just refer to my fashion sense. However, I've been meaning to blog about this for some time, it just hadn't made my priority list. For some reason, perhaps reading about more killing in Africa, it finally has.

See, Sylvester Stallone is my enemy. I have to pray for him. I really do. I was never a fan of his, but then about a year ago, I read a book entitled A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of A Boy Solider by Ishmeal Beah.

That was the icing on the cake. My status changed from not-fan to enemy.

As I read the sobering story of Ishmael Beah, the tremendous loss of his family and the unbelievable destruction of life in Sierra Leone, Stallone revealed himself to be a real problem. Definitely not Good America. I learned how one makes boy soldiers from reading this book, and I learned how the adults running the war hyped the boys up to kill and slaughter entire villages of innocent people. The adults would get them high, and then have them watch.... Sylvester Stallone movies. In fact, the boys would watch the movies to get ideas of how to kill people, and try to re-enact scenes from the movies when they were attacking villages!

I'm sure Sylvester's very proud of what he's inspired. What a legacy.

Well, now, my enemy (God love him), is offering his services, in the form of Rambo, to some poor Christian missionaries. Really, this was never front page news when the movie came out in January because, well, Rambo is so.... yesterday anyway. But, in search of a plot for yet another Rambo movie, this was the best they could come up with.

Never mind the fact that Christians are supposed to love their persecutors and pray for them, Rambo has to save them! Never mind the fact that God is WAY MORE POWERFUL than their enemies and could easily save them if that was His intent.

What is really disturbing, though, is that people who call themselves Christians have actually watched this movie and given it a positive rating!

Here is a quotes from christiananswers.net:

"I was simply overjoyed by its obviously Christian themes and good portrayal of justice and allegorical display of God's wrath.' -- yourmom, age 25

I wonder what Christian themes she means? Turning the other cheek? Praying for your persecutors? Loving your enemies?


How about this one:

What bothered me about the movie, and this may seem trite, (and it don't mean for it to) is that Stallone is apparently a new Christian. I don't know if he was converted before or after filming. However, Stallone used the f-word several times in the movie, and it stunned me hearing this, if he is a Christian. --Bill Boylston, age 49


First of all, I think if Rambo has truly become a Christian then the public would see a completely repentant Stallone who would openly disavow all Rambo movies and put his wealth into stopping what his movies have inspired in Sierra Leone. He would repent like Zacheus.

Secondly, what in the world is wrong with the world view of a person who can watch hours of bloody violence, anti-christian choices, rape and who-knows-what else and be offended at someone using the F-word!!!!!!

This website listed 11 positive/neutral reviews by people who had watched the movie, and only
2 negative (including a Christian who walked out of the theater while it was still playing).

What is wrong/sick/disturbed with the church in America that people don't see how the theme of this movie is completely anti-Christian? That people don't see that killing people is worse than saying the F-word? That people think that justice and God's vengeance (which, from my understanding belongs to God, not humans) win out over Christ's love, and mercy. That people don't understand that it takes MORE courage to be Christ in those situations that to be dumb stupid violent Rambo?

I guess we can apply the gospel when we want to and then hire Rambo to kill whenever the gospel doesn't fit us. Maybe we can even run a war that way --- and claim it's God's call to bring peace by killing...

We're really really messed up.

One Night with The King -- Gag Me With a Spoon!

Last night my husband and I watched the movie, "One Night with the King", which is supposed to be about the story of Esther. It's based on the Christian romance novel "Hadassah". (Does anyone else find it unnerving that a man is writing romance novels?) If I had known that it had been based on that, I never would have bothered with the movie. But, I unwittingly believed that it was going to be the story of Esther.

Let's start with what was good about the movie.

The costumes and the set.

Okay. Now that we're done with that, we can progress.

First of all, the writer felt the need for Esther to wear this crystal pendant that was passed down from her mother and father. It contained her cultural identity. When light hit it, Stars of David shown all over the room -- but only people who could "get it", not people like Haman, could see the stars.

Oh please!

In fact, that's how she reveals to Xerxes and Haman her true identity. Never mind that the Jews didn't adopt the Star of David as an official sign of Judaism until 1000s of years later. So neither Haman nor Xerxes would know what the stars meant. With Christian fiction, accuracy is just not necessary!

Another hilarious part was King Xerxes. King Xerxes, who banished his first wife Vashti because she refused to parade about in front of his friends, falls in love with Esther. The implication is that he was faithful to her during the year of choosing a bride (not sure what he did with all those other women showing up expecting him to perform his magisterial duties), and after their marriage, scoffs at the idea of using one of his concubines.

Of course, if he's not planning on using them, then why does he have them?

The influence of Mordecai is totally downplayed in this story and they totally fabricate a story line of Esther desiring to go back to Jerusalem because of her intense desire to connect with her heritage. They invent a couple characters, one of which is a boyhood friend that they imply Esther was falling in love with until he is forced to be a eunuch. Perhaps his story would have been more interesting than hers.

This movie was a sad sad joke. Why would you take a great story and then get all Hallmarky about it and change it into something different? Good heavens! This was never a love story! It was a story about a beautiful woman who used her wiles to protect her people! She did what was right, at her own risk, and allowed God to work through her action of approaching the king. At this point in time, the Jews could return to Jerusalem if they so desired. The ones who remained were not the ones who were desiring to "connect with their heritage" or were devoutly dedicated to God, or probably even their own people.

In addition to the inaccuracy in the story, the acting was terrible. Esther came off like a child, and then never seemed very regal. Xerxes had some kind of bizarre accent. Lots of people mumbled (maybe I'm getting old and my hearing is bad). The scenes jumped around and they used lots of weird camera angles. It was confusing for me and I know the story, so I can only assume it would be very confusing for someone who didn't know it.

As my husband said at the end of the movie, "I think we just watched the Amish Romance Novel Version of the book of Esther."

"One Night with the King" -- 2 thumbs and 2 big toes down.