Zombies are hot. They are the new “in” storytelling device.
World War Z, loosely based on Max Brooks’s novel of the same name, is the latest to make use of the walking dead as a metaphor.
The story focuses on the outbreak of a virus that causes the living to become extremely athletic corpses. These are not the classic “walker” zombies. They are “runner” zombies on steroids. The virus spreads fast and before long all the major cities are turned into “black holes.”
Michael Parnell
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Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) is a family man, with a wife and two girls. Lane is drawn into the story because he once worked for the United Nations as a troubleshooter in hot spots. He resists the call to go and find “patient zero” but gets pulled in because of his family. They survived the first outbreak in the city. Now they are safe on board an aircraft carrier. If he does not go, they will be placed back on land, where the zombies are blanketing the countryside.
Lane first takes off with a group of Navy SEALs to South Korea, where the first reports emerged. He also has a health expert (Elyes Gabel). This expert makes a clear statement of the philosophy of the movie when he talks to Gerry en route. He says: “Mother Nature is a serial killer. She wants to get caught, she leaves bread crumbs, she leaves clues …. Mother Nature knows how to disguise her weakness as strength.”
This line is telling.
After going to South Korea, losing his expert and learning that Israel had stemmed the tide of zombies, Lane moves on to Jerusalem. There he sees how the Israeli government has kept out the zombies. The government built higher walls around the already walled city. This puts the healthy inside and the infected outside.
This virus is not airborne, but spread by bites. The zombie bites a healthy person and that person becomes a zombie in a matter of seconds.
Lane is shown how the city is faring. He sees both Jews and Muslims together, in harmony.
The joy of having found sanctuary causes the members of both faiths to begin praising their God. The voices of singing and praise rise up.
One of the cues to make the zombies aggressive is noise. When the noise of prayer and praise go over the wall, the zombies get hyper and they begin to use their bodies to build a means of crossing the wall.
The zombies look like ants rising on each other and they cross over the top. When on the other side they begin to infect the populace.
Lane sees the attack and notices something important. He may have found a way to combat the zombie hordes. The zombies show a unique behavior with certain types of people.
I have a huge problem with this movie. It is the fact that God gets consciously left out of the story. And when God appears or the idea of God appears, it becomes the cause of destruction of a city.
The statement that Mother Nature is a serial killer began the thought process I had that God is not here and is not wanted. God, if he exists in the story, creates the system to destroy humanity. And those poor souls that attempt to reach out to God are given over to the serial killer — that is, creation.
In Kevin Smith’s Dogma, the character Serendipity is a muse who is responsible for inspiring people to create. She is a part of God’s work in the world.
In conversation she tells of what she has done over the years. She tells of all the movies she has inspired. Serendipity declares she is responsible for 19 of the top 20 highest grossing films of all time. She is asked about the one she had not inspired. It is Home Alone that she says the makers had to make a deal with the devil to get the grosses up.
I am not saying that the filmmakers here sold their souls for the movie, but one thing is for sure: God is not wanted here. There is no Serendipity or muse wanted here.
The human race is left alone when the virus attacks. They have to figure it out on their own. There is no inspiration to be had. It plays out and when God is invited in it becomes the undoing of those inviting. That is what bothered me here.
Michael Parnell (drparnell@embarqmail.com) is pastor of Beth Car Baptist Church in Halifax, Va.
World War Z
Rated PG-13 for intense frightening zombie sequences, violence and disturbing images
Directed by Marc Forester; written by Matthew Michael Carnahan, Drew Goddard and Damon Lindelof
WITH: Brad Pitt (Gerry Lane), Mireille Enos (Karin Lane), Elyes Gabel (Andrew Fassbach), Daniella Kertsez (Segen), David Morse (Ex-CIA agent), Fana Mokoena (Thierry Umutoni)