Robin Hood takes aim at the Church
Ridley Scott's new movie shows that sometimes Christians can be the enemy
Considering Robin Hood is more myth than man, there is almost a blank canvas for painting this famous rebel in any way a filmmaker likes.
Where the majority of previous ‘Robin Hoods’ – from Errol Flynn to Disney’s rascally animated fox – portrayed him as a wily rogue robbing from the rich to give to the poor, Director Ridley Scott and star Russell Crowe focus upon what made him fight the power.
Telling the story of the origins of Robin Hood is an unusual approach – although comic-book films have been taking this approach for years – but unfortunately the team behind sword-and-sandals smash hit Gladiator fail to inject the same epic might into this project.
Too long and often dull as it tracks plain, unrogue-ish Robin from being a British soldier in the Crusades to his involvement with impoverished Nottingham and leading armies against the invading French, Robin Hood also only includes one act of rich robbing/ poor giving.
However, this criminal caper might be the film’s most controversial element. For when Hood and his not-terribly-merry men ambush a convoy of grain so they can distribute it to starving villagers, they are not stealing from royal stores or a wealthy landowner. They are taking it from the Christian Church (which was under the Pope’s authority in the 12th Century) - and they feel justified, and morally superior.
As depicted in Robin Hood, the Christian leadership of England is mean, cold, judgmental, uncharitable, and doesn’t practice what it preaches. When feisty Lady Marion (Cate Blanchett) begs Father Tancred (Simon McBurney) to help the locals by dipping into the Church’s enormous grain supplies, he asserts that the people’s lack of food must be God’s punishment for their unconfessed sins.
It is often said that Christians have been the worst thing about Christianity since Jesus showed them The Way. Human imperfection means Christians will always make mistakes in their following of Christ but, when behaviour and actions don’t match up, or when you see abuse and manipulation, the damage done can be enormous.
From sexual scandals among the leaders of the Church, to The Crusades mentioned in Robin Hood, from false prophets to Christian charities fleecing donors, it is clear that how Christians act really matters.
Too often, non-believers equate God and Jesus with Christians. That is, if a Christian sins, God/Jesus is to blame. Or, even worse, God/Jesus do not exist, or matter, or count, if Christians are carrying on in ways which refute what they profess.
Surprisingly, Robin Hood’s one-dimensional and unfavourable depiction of organised Christian religion acts as a thunderbolt about practicing what we preach. We all need to consider how we are representing Jesus, and as James 1:22 says “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says..”
Read more about
Related Articles
Stay in the loop