I read Phillip Pullman’s Dark Materials trilogy a few years ago and always thought that Hollywood wouldn’t have the nerve to make it into a movie. I was wrong.
The Golden Compass is the movie of the first book and is, in many ways, fantastic. Although they’ve taken the ingredients of the book and rearranged them, they’ve done it in a way that works well enough and sets everything up quite well for the next one.
The trilogy explores the idea of there being many parallel universes and is just about the most creative thing I’ve ever read, with a thumping-good plot and wonderful characters to boot.
As for the religious element, I’m actually quite sympathetic to quite a bit of the sentiment Pullman puts over: that free, creative, inquisitive, seeking thought is often quashed by overly dogmatic religion led by flawed men in an organisation of their own design aimed at maintaining control.
It’s a book that leaves God out, and certainly leaves Christ out, and sees what would be left after that. Many Christians get very worked up about these but I’m not really one of them. My hope is that by putting such issues into the public mind the whole issue would work out well: That people would see the manipulative, controlling impact of the organised church as it goes beyond its biblical mandate; and that people would be free to consider the facts for themselves and come to understand and enter into a relationship with the true God. In short, I hope Pullman succeeds in part but ultimately backfires!
Enjoy the movie (and/or the books), use your brain, and worship God in spirit and in truth.
