I know showing a spiritual allegory of Christ rescuing His people was not the intent of director Pierre Morel and company. But God has a way of using the unsuspecting for His purpose. I honestly don't think a Christian director could have done as good a job because he would have been too weighed down with religion and would have tried too hard to make everything mean something. It took a non-believing director, or at least a director whose goal was not to make a Christian movie, to accomplish such a sublimely spiritual result. This is only Morel's second film as a director, his primary occupation being cinematographer.

Liam Neeson, as Bryan Mills, is a less-than-perfect husband and father; but he is, nonetheless, a perfect rescuer. He's a retired CIA man that still has what it takes. When his estranged teenage daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace), wants to go to Europe with a friend, but needs his permission, he wisely says no. But his selfish ex-wife, Lenore (Famke Janssen), joins daughter in putting pressure on him, so that he finally relents, against his better judgement. Of course, something happens to Kim: she's kidnapped in Paris by an Albanian slave-prostitution ring. Mills determines to rescue her, even though a former associate tells him he has only 96 hours before she disappears into the scenery.

The filmmaking and action in Taken are outstanding; but it is the story itself that is riveting. Plus Neeson: this is one of his best roles, even though he has already had quite a heady career - Henri Ducard in Batman Begins, Vallon in Gangs Of New York, Valjean in Les Miserables, the title role in Michael Collins, title role in Rob Roy, Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List - it goes on and on. He still has his edge and can still handle a very physical part. It's true that his character is almost superhuman, but he never steps over the line of the impossible, in my opinion, which is very rare in action films these days. It's true he does what probably no other human could have done; but that, in part, is what makes him so Christ-like. His love for his daughter drove him to do things that, under normal circumstances, probably even he couldn't have done. But that is the nature of love.

Morel does a great job setting up the story. The opening scenes show Mills' estrangement from wife and daughter and the out-of-touch, luxurious world in which they now live; his retirement from the CIA and the band-of-brothers associates that are still his friends; his unique skills in saving a female recording artist (Holly Valance) from assassination; and her promise afterwards to help Mills' daughter break into the field. All these scenes prepare us for what's coming, which, as Mills tells Lenore, "You have no idea what the world is like anymore." He isn't kidding - it's one scary place.

Besides the allegory with Christ, the other thing that most impressed me from this film is just how screwed up France is, especially since Muslims have overrun the country. Now the French want them out, but it's too late. One of the most immoral nations in history is stuck with some of the most corrupt people on the face of the earth. They deserve each other. The reason the corrupt government official (Olivier Rabourdin) - who is supposedly an old friend of Mills - won't lift one finger to help find his daughter, and even tries to prevent him, is because he's mixed up in the crime himself. People like that - who are only interested in money - care nothing for human life or a father's grief, even though they have children themselves. They are heartless.

That's why I love it when Mills blows away the bad guys. It is a picture of righteous anger, righteous judgement. The whole film is a picture of righteousness, because it shows a man doing what's right, regardless of the danger, regardless of the odds, and regardless of what anyone else thinks about it. And he's motivated by love. As I wrote in my article on "Righteousness," this is something we need to see everywhere - people doing what's right. I wonder if we don't need a network of vigilantes like Mills out there, traveling the globe, doing what's right as he does in this film - since governments don't seem to care, and often are the very perpetrators, and since the United Nations obviously doesn't care. We at least need a network of vigilante prayer warriors who are fighting the good fight in the spirit, trusting God and His angels either to destroy or to convert the bad guys.

There really are things as bad as this - child slavery, genocide, prostitution rings, forced drug addiction - going on all over the world, and our wonderful government agencies aren't doing one thing to stop them. Corruption in the world is rampant, and the only people who seem to be doing anything about it are Christian individuals and organizations. But even those are few and far between. We need spiritual versions of Bryan Mills who will ban together to help people they don't even know. When you think of all the daughters that were being held by this gang of slimeballs, and only Mills' daughter got out, it makes you want to go back for the others - at least it does me. It also makes me want to break all relations with countries like France, until they've done something to clean up their societies.

When I watch a movie, I always look for a Christ figure, or at least the hand of God, in the story. To me, that's just natural. But in Taken, the allegory seems overwhelming; because Christ did for us exactly what Mills did for his daughter. We were kidnapped by Satan and his minions, and were slated to be used for their evil purposes; but Christ came into their camp, rescued us, and returned us to the Father. That is our story - so, why wouldn't we recognize it when it's put up on the big screen?

In the book of Revelation, it says there was war in Heaven while Jesus was being tried, beaten and crucified. (Revelation 12:7ff) Lucifer, with one third of the angels, was waging war against Michael and the other two thirds. During that war, we were being held prisoner in the camp of Lucifer. While Christ was hanging on the cross and when He got up from the dead, He came in and single-handedly rescued us. As with Helen of Troy, our rescue ended the conflict. Lucifer and his angels were cast out of heaven, fell to earth, and became Satan and his minions. Now that we're back in Daddy's arms, they can no longer kidnap us or hurt us in any way, even though they continue to make empty threats. Like the bad guys in Taken, they have been wiped out.

If you didn't see Christ rescuing us the first time you watched Taken, I hope you'll go back and give it a second look. It really is an almost perfect depiction of our redemption. It shows, in a different way than movies like The Passion, just what it cost Christ. It was the resurrection that gave Christ the victory. While He was in the grave, the entire Universe held its breath. If He hadn't gotten back up, all would have been lost and Lucifer - Satan - would have won. But Christ did get back up.

There is one point in Taken where the entire audience holds their breath, because it looks like the hero has lost. It reminds me of one of my favorite songs by David Wilcox - "Show the Way:"

You say you see no hope, you say you see no reason we should dream
That the world would ever change. You're saying love is just too foolish to believe,
'Cause there'll always be some crazy with an Army or a Knife
To wake you from your day dream, put the fear back in your life...

Look, if someone wrote a play just to glorify what's stronger than hate,
Would they not arrange the stage to make it look as if the hero came too late?
He's almost in defeat, it's looking like the Evil side will win,
So on the Edge of every seat, from the moment that the whole thing begins.
It is...

Love who mixed the mortar and it's love who stacked these stones,
And it's love who made the stage here, although it looks like we're alone.
In this scene set in shadows like the night is here to stay
There is evil cast around us, but it's love that wrote the play...
For in this darkness love can show the way.

So now the stage is set. Feel your own heart beating in your chest.
This life's not over yet, so we get up on our feet and do our best.
We play against the Fear. We play against the reasons not to try.
We're playing for the tears burning in the happy angels’ eyes.
For it's

Love who mixed the mortar and it's love who stacked these stones,
And it's love who made the stage here, although it looks like we're alone.
In this scene set in shadows like the night is here to stay
There is evil cast around us, but it's love that wrote the play...
For in this darkness love will show the way.

God planned the whole thing: our being taken captive, Lucifer's war against Michael, our being rescued - because love wrote the play. Even though it looked like Christ could lose, He couldn't. Even though it looks like we're in defeat now, we aren't. Even though it looks like there's no hope in the world, there is... because love (God) wrote the play, and He knows how to give a story a perfectly happy ending.



Waitsel Smith, August 3, 2009

Text © 2009 Waitsel Smith. Images © 2008 Twentieth Century Fox. All Rights Reserved. "Show the Way," David Wilcox © 1993 Irving Music, Inc./Midnight Ocean Bonfire Music (BMI).