Cloverfield

Cloverfield (2008) Mike Vogel and Jessica Lucas         Rated PG-13

    This movie was made in the theory that if you could make a killing at the box office by filming a supernatural hunt and other such horror movies through the lens of a small handheld camera, you could do it with a giant Monster Eats New York movie.   Of course, the film that started it all (The Blair Witch Project) was unscripted, and this one definitely has a script.  That’s the part that directors of the “make it look handheld” era have forgotten.  Cloverfield is a fun thrill ride of random violence with occasional comic relief.   I like to put it on as background noise occasionally, but watching it actually makes me a little carsick. 

    Very quick plot synopsis:   In the middle of a farewell party for Rob, who is heartsick due to how badly he screwed up his chances with Beth, (as documented by Hud who has been handed a camera and has no respect for personal space), a giant alien monster attacks New York.  The partygoers flee, hoping to evacuate the city, and find themselves right in the middle of the hot zone.   Rob (along with several of his friends, including Hud and his camera) decides that he has to rescue Beth from her high rise apartment, because according to a phone call that Rob receives, she is injured and she can’t move.   We follow Rob and his party of desperate rescuers through all of the worst parts of the alien attack, from fighting its spawn in the dark subway tunnels of New York to the middle of the military mobile headquarters where people are dying from the creature’s horrific bites.   Main characters die.  Plans get thwarted.  Hud talks a lot while he’s continuously filming the journey.  Great family fun.

    So where, in this “TNT Movies for Men Who Like Movies” fest is the spiritual message? 

    Here’s what I found.   Even though Rob and Beth exchanged harsh words at the party, from the moment of the alien attack, Rob can think of nothing else but Beth’s safety.  He puts himself at risk over and over (followed closely by his friends, even though he keeps encouraging them to take off and save themselves) in the hope that he can get to her and save her.  His single-mindedness drives him forward, into and then out of danger.  It even saves him from the panic or despair that so many other people in the film are falling victim to. 
   
    Now, obviously, there is very little likelihood that you or I will ever find ourselves in the midst of a giant alien monster attack.  (Let’s hope.)  But monsters come in all shapes and sizes.  There is the giant all-destroying Beast of Finances.  There is Heartbreak and Despair.  Other creatures that seem a lot smaller but that are nonetheless very destructive, like Bitterness and Resentment and Loneliness.  Then there are the scarier, more alien monsters.  Like Illness.   To some people, many many more than we like to think about, the monster destroying the city and tearing down its buildings while we lay there helpless is Cancer.  These beasts fall from the sky and begin attacking our city and we can either lay there helpless and injured, save ourselves and flee, or turn ourselves, heart and mind, to the rescue of someone else. 

    How often in the past few months, days, or even hours has someone asked you to pray for them or keep them in your thoughts?  How often have you agreed wholeheartedly to do it, and then just gave a quick nod to the universe and went on about your day?   The next time someone asks you to pray for them, or think of them, would you be willing to turn all of your energy and thought to that person, even to the point of temporarily ignoring your own battles with your own monsters in order to focus heart and soul on them? 

    Maybe we should give that kind of self-sacrifice a try.  Not only could it possibly save them, but it may be the saving of us, too.