It’s London, during the Blitz. Frightened by the bombing, mothers (the fathers have gone for soldiers) are putting their children on trains to visit any relative who might live out in the countryside. And so Lucy, Edmund, Susan, and Peter, who look to be about six, ten, fourteen, and sixteen, find themselves in a ramshackle old home out in the country with an overbearing housekeeper, an absent relative, and a lot of spare time on their hands. During a rainy-afternoon game of hide-and-seek, Lucy stumbles into an old wardrobe, and when she tries to hide in the back of it, she finds herself in another land!
Narnia is covered in snow. That’s because the wicked witch (Tilda Swinton), who calls herself a queen, has tightened her evil control. She rules by intimidation, and effectively isolates and immobilizes anyone who stands in her way. She tries to sweet-talk Edmund into helping her find the others. It seems there’s a prophecy where humans are going to come free them, so the queen is a bit like Herod, carefully inquiring of the wise men where the new king was to be found, but of course he had no intention of bowing down with them. He merely wanted to eliminate a possible rival (Matthew 2). So it is with this Ice Queen, the wicked witch.
But there’s hope in Narnia. A couple of eager beavers (all animals in Narnia speak the King’s English) take the three siblings (Edmund’s been imprisoned by the Queen) to Aslan (the voice of Liam Neeson), the stately lion who will help lead the revolt of the centaurs against their cruel oppressor. What the evil Ice Queen doesn’t understand is that even if she defeats the lion, she still loses. His sacrificial death serves as such an inspiration to his followers that he remains alive to them (a thinly-veiled Christological reference). Aslan, in fact, literally places himself on the wicked witch’s sacrificial altar (in exchange for Edmund), playing Isaac to her Abraham, except for her to actually lower the knife in anger would be to unleash the pure power of self-sacrifice.
C.S. Lewis, while he was alive, was on record as not wanting a movie made of his novel, but that was before the great improvements in moviemaking technology. This film is a charmer, because it’s both cute and intelligent. All the children who play the leads are worth watching, and the cosmic conflict in which they find themselves engaged is the stuff fairy tales are made of. Along the way they learn how much they really care for each other, they learn self-reliance (after all, Dad’s still off at war and Mum’s back home in London), and they learn that to be present in an intense moment is to participate in the very suspension of time.
When they finally crawl back through the wardrobe, they find that time has stood still on the “real” side, but they are very different now. And while they may not ever have the same kind of magical experience again, they need to watch, and keep their eyes open. They never know when the transporting and transforming opportunity will present itself.
“The Chronicles of Narnia” succeeds in being mystical and whimsical as well as highly symbolic, and even humorous. Aside from the strange appearance of Santa Claus to hand out weapons to the children (for which they have instantaneous skill), the story holds together remarkably. Though the young heroes may age in their fantasy place, it’s the real world that’s actually the Never, Never Land, because they can stay away as long as they like and still have everything the same, including themselves, when they return.
Except now they know just how far their imagination can take them.
Questions For Discussion:
1) When have you stood by your siblings, and when have you failed to do so?
2) When have you had to learn self-reliance quickly, and “on the run”?
3) Has your ambition ever tempted you to abandon those around you?
4) Have you ever been deceived by someone pretending to show an interest in you, but was actually seeking your harm?
5) Do you think that a children’s story containing much violence in a pitched battle ought to be kept from small children?
Ron Salfen is pastor of First Church, Terrell, Texas.
