Christians in Cinema

Unless you’ve been hiding in the jungles of Borneo for the last two weeks, you’ve heard of, seen on YouTube or read articles about Christian Bale’s highly publicized outburst on the set of Terminator Salvation. Never mind that it’s technically “old news” because filming wrapped a few months ago, it’s new news to the world because it hadn’t yet hit the Internet.

Somehow the video leaked when it was sent to the production’s insurance company just in case Bale bailed on the production. (I’ve always wondered about the necessity of  insurance – I must say this has decidedly reinforced my doubts!) This is not an unusual practice. I asked a producer about this, and he said it’s common practice when working with actors. Otherwise, you have no proof if a dispute arises, and funds can be held in arbitration for a long time.

What’s missing from most of the reports I’ve read is that the person prompting the outburst has stepped into shots before, and been asked to be more careful. That doesn’t excuse the incident, but does give a little perspective.

As I’ve read stories and heard coverage about all of this, I must confess that I’ve seen this happen. Maybe not on a movie set, but I’ve seen it happen in shopping malls, in places of business, and even at a KOA campground in Utah. Christian Bale is not the only person to ever explode in rage over a seemingly inconsequential action.

We live in a broken world, and all of us are broken people. For those who trust in Christ for our salvation, we’re in the process of being restored to wholeness, but we even have our issues. Even on the set of Fireproof,  the biggest and brightest film on the Christian movie horizon right now, there were probably people struggling daily with brokenness. I’m guessing it didn’t flare up like Bale’s, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t exist.

I was reading a writing from Oswald Chambers called “The Very Essence of Sin,” and he nailed it with these words: “Jesus Christ did not get into a moral panic over the things that rouse us. We are staggered at immorality, but Jesus faced those things in the most amazingly calm way.When He was roused to a state of passionate indignation it was by people who were never guilty of such things.”

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. That’s definitely not me.