Dogma

Released 1999
Stars Linda Fiorentino, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Alan Rickman, Chris Rock, Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, George Carlin, Salma Hayek, Jason Lee, Bud Cort, Alanis Morissette
Directed by Kevin Smith
Reviewed November 8, 2003

"Catholicism WOW!"

This is by far my favorite of Kevin Smith's first four movies, and I think it's brilliant. One reason it's my favorite is because it's his first movie where the characters don't speak in soliloquies. I enjoyed his dialogue in "Clerks" and "Chasing Amy," but it never sounded natural because they all took turns giving speeches. Here the characters actually speak to each other, and I found their conversations incredibly interesting. While I couldn't follow the details of the debates about the Catholic rules, I knew enough to follow the big picture, and I loved seeing the Christian mythology ("God hates it when you call it that") come alive in such a modern fashion. It's very irreverent toward organized religion, especially Catholicism, but it's just as reverent about God. It takes all of the mythology seriously and never doubts its truth, and this lays the foundation which makes the movie work. 

The plot involves two angels, Bartleby (Ben Affleck) and Loki (Matt Damon), who attempt to get back into Heaven. They were kicked out after an argument with God, but they found a loophole which will allow them to return. Unfortunately, their return would prove God fallible, and all existence would end. So God's mouthpiece, Metatron (Alan Rickman), charges Bethany (Linda Fiorentino) with a holy crusade to stop them, and she receives help from the prophets, Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith), the last Apostle (Chris Rock), and the Muse (Salma Hayek).

The movie contains many interesting philosophical discussions that I wasn't expecting. Angels discuss their role as servants to God versus humans who were given free will, and humans discuss having faith and losing it. Everyone discusses many facets of religion and God, and one moment that struck me was between Bethany and Rufus:

Bethany: You're saying that having beliefs is a bad thing?
Rufus: I think it's better to have ideas. You can change an idea. Changing a belief is trickier.

People kill for their beliefs, but the idea behind all the religions is the same. They only differ in the details. So why do so many people believe their religion is the true one and the rest are heresy? Everything about religion is so silly, and it's like some comedian (whose name I can't remember) said, "fighting over religion is like fighting over who has the best imaginary friend." Yet, religious wars have raged for as long as we can remember, and they're still going strong. It's ludicrous to believe there's a God who created all of the universe only to pit different factions of people on one little rock against each other in His name. Wouldn't God be appalled to see His creation destroyed in His name?

Serendipity: When are you people going to learn? It's not about who's right or wrong. No denomination's nailed it yet, and they never will because they're all too self-righteous to realize that it doesn't matter what you have faith in, just that you have faith. Your hearts are in the right place, but your brains need to wake up.

There are actually some moving moments in the film involving Bethany. One is when Metatron explains what it was like to tell a 12 year-old boy he was the son of God, and because of this he was going to be persecuted and crucified. Jesus begged him to take it back and make it untrue, and Metatron actually wished he could. Another was when Bethany and Bartleby discuss how they lost their faith, but whenever the movie threatens to get too serious, Jay tries to get in Bethany's pants. His character helps keep things at a lighter level, and he helps remind us we shouldn't take this movie too seriously. Just like we shouldn't take anything about religion too seriously.

Everyone in the movie has an axe to grind about Christianity, whether it's that God's a woman or Jesus was black. While some people may find God's appearance too silly, I thought it was perfect. If I believed in a supreme being, it would be someone who loved his (or her) creation. Someone who liked to frolic in the grass and smell the flowers instead of a solemn being dealing out Old Testament wrath. Bartleby does experience that wrath, but it's dealt out of pity and forgiveness instead of anger.

One of the cleverest things about the movie is the motivation for wanting to destroy all of existence. Who would want to do such a thing? It means the end of everything for everyone, so who would be so selfishly suicidal? One of the strengths of the movie is Azrael (Jason Lee) has a legitimate reason for this, and Bartleby's pain is so great he no longer cares. If there wasn't true motivation for this and the mythology weren't treated as fact, the movie would be a series of funny gags. Instead, Kevin Smith lays a foundation which allowed him to blend a smidgen of pathos, some interesting philosophy and a lot of comedy to create a truly great film.

Reviewed by Bill Alward
November 8, 2003
Home