Silent Analysis

(Sorry for the length of this one. I kept it as short as possible without completely loosing the point.)
Anyone know about silent hill? It was a game once, back when I was in school. My friends and I spent hours in the middle of the night playing it. We did a lot of things, some quite scary, in those nights when I scurried out un-announced into the night, but not many things truly scared me like playing that game. "A game scared you?" Yea, it sounds dumb I know, but if you played it at 3am you might understand. It was an impressive work in it's construction and execution. No game since has given me the heeby-jeebies and now it has been made (true to it's origins) into a creepy and suspenseful movie, but I'm not here to recommend it and I'm not here to write a review. I'm here to talk about it's points and counter-points as it is well charged with the fight of good and evil, but even more so (as is common anymore) it blurs the lines of good and evil. In the movie...

-This town called silent hill enveloped in an evil presence has few "survivors", but the ones that existed to shelter in the church. One place where the darkness was unable to tread. When the evil of the town came for them a siren went off and each person ran for the doors of the church. Once in side they prayed to God for help resisting the darkness and their safety. Doing so not in a freeform sense, but in a way that made me think of a prayer herd in catholic mass. Though I doubt it was intended I found these things to represent two vivid (though distasteful) metaphors to be an incite to many churches of today. The first metaphor that comes to mind is that of the church, the very bride of Christ whose life and death was as a servant to mankind, running at the sight and thought of darkness coming. Fearful and unwilling to stand in the grace of God and oppose the evil of the world which is their charge. Instead taking refuge inside their buildings, leaving all would be souls outside to fend for themselves. (That does not apply to all Christians of course, but it is undeniable that many fit the bill.) The second visual that sparked an incite was the act of prayer in the wake of the darkness's onslaught. Instead of praying before hand and moving against it or standing in the hope and light of salvation against the shadows they instead waited for the darkness to come for them before they pray. To add insult to injury their prayers, though effective in the movie, seemed no tot have a spirit or life in it. It was a hollow and empty prayer almost as if a chant that they had been regurgitating each night for years. (I have heard these prayers in various places and seen how little they effect the mood and outlook of those saying it. It saddens me to think of the countless who do not connect with God in prayer. Instead falling to tradition and habit and showmanship.)

-The faith of these "survivors" is seemingly enough to keep them safe from the dangers which I found interesting because it gave a very small, but visible view that good (particularly God) actually had existence and power against the darkness that hunted them. Generally God in a film such as this plays little to no roll and consequently the viewer is given no enforcement that good is an option and a reality. This thing that got no real air-time in the movie aside from the secondhand blame brought on by the faulty followers was still the only real light in the film. Basically, I just was surprised to see, even with the believers being as damaged as they were, good held an actual presence with them and the church they took refuge in. So, for a brief 30 seconds, I was happy at what I saw from the Christian perspective in that scene.

-It bothered me (to no surprise) to here the use of the word faith from a group who would have been hard pressed to represent it any worse than they already did. For instance, in the movie they were hateful and quick to judge. Their judgments were harsh and poorly thought out. Upon judging they welcomed the opportunity to play the part of executioner. After said execution they moved seamlessly back into an assumed state of cleanliness and salvation. Now, I am always appalled to witness such a callous representation of the Christian faith and life. It happens all too often in these days of easy information and entertainment that we live in and so I often feel the need to correct some miss representations that are common today even though I don't have anyone lined up to listen.

(^_^) Maybe I'll post some in the near future just top get it off my chest.