Dogma
***
Cinema
Releases - December 26, 1999
Rated on a 4-star
scale. USA. Written and directed by Kevin Smith. Starring Matt Damon, Ben
Affleck, Linda Fiorentino, Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Alan Rickman, Salma
Hayek, Chris Rock, George Carlin, Alanis Morisette.
From the fact that my primary and secondary schools
were run by the Christian Brothers, I think you can quickly guess how much
Catholicism I've been subjected to. In identical school assemblies I've listened
to the same Bible stories with the same nice little conclusions from the
same wise old teachers. Not to mention that my mother was raised in a small
town in Ireland, and so took me to mass on so many mornings that I could
probably conduct the ritual myself.
Comedians have done little to help Catholics gain
perspective on our situation. If there was ever any real wit in gags about
drunken priests and profane nuns, it was exhausted by generations past. That's
why it's so refreshing to see a film like "Dogma", a shrewd
satire on the seriousness with which church laws are taken, which keeps us
on our toes by taking them seriously itself.
The writer and director, Kevin Smith, made his
debut five years ago with "Clerks", a low-budget masterpiece about two cashiers'
sarcastic dissections of every piece of American culture that came their
way. In "Dogma", the two main characters are fallen angels but they dress
in the same slacker clothes as the guys in "Clerks", have similar attitudes
and -- wow, man! -- think they've found a way to get back into
heaven.
Their names are Loki (Matt Damon) and Bartleby
(Ben Affleck). We first meet them in an airport, a place Bartleby loves because
of the joy of seeing people being reunited, but which Loki uses to find
jet-lagged members of the clergy. He amuses himself by talking them into
atheism.
Bartleby has been informed of a cathedral in New
Jersey where the bishop is offering complete absolution of sins for anyone
who passes through the entrance arches. He plans for himself and Loki to
tear off their wings (to become human), then pass through the arches, find
some way to die and return to paradise as sin-free earthlings.
As they set off to find the cathedral, Metatron
(Alan Rickman), the high-ranking angel who acts as the voice of God, panics.
If Loki and Bartleby succeed, you see, it will mean that God has made a mistake,
either in banishing the duo from heaven or giving popes the power to make
earthly laws on behalf of God. Since existence is based on the principle
that God is infallible, this would cause all existence to
cease.
God is in a coma after a Ski Ball-playing accident,
so Metatron is required to enlist the human help of Bethany (Linda Fiorentino),
an abortion-clinic worker who happens to be the only living descendant of
Jesus. She's aided by Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith himself), the
two amusing pot-heads who appear in all Smith's films; and Rufus (Chris Rock),
the thirteenth apostle, who didn't make it into the Bible because he was
black.
This all sounds bizarre and complex, but the
easy-going pace allows us to take it all in. For every plot point that seems
to be weird, there is a smart-ass reflection on exactly how and why. Therefore
we get a lot of talking, and dialogue is Kevin Smith's strong suit -- he
has impressive enough knowledge of theology and pop culture to reference
fire extinguishers, the ranking of the choirs of angels and Charlton Heston
in a single speech, while punctuating it with the f-word for added
rhythm.
Actors like Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Linda Fiorentino
and Chris Rock are well suited to this material. All have naturally raised
eyebrows, like they're questioning whatever comes their way and thinking
up some sly response, and each of them can speak at a fast pace or with an
incredulous tone. "Dogma" ends in an unnecessarily ugly bloodbath, but I
recommend it anyway, for the way it kids around with the finer points of
a religion while embracing its high ideas. Those who have criticised the
movie as blasphemous are revealing more about themselves than the work --
they're exactly the sort of people who miss the bigger picture of faith,
and get caught up in... yeah, you know what: Dogma.
COPYRIGHT© 1999 Ian
Waldron-Mantgani
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