Friday, March 20, 2009

Collision

Tonight at the Chrisitan Book Expo I attended a screening tonight of the film Collision, featuring the debates and conversations of Douglas Wilson and Christopher Hitchens.

Mad props--as the kids say (or used to say--haven't checked)--to director Darren Doane of level4.tv for his excellent work.

A few quick thoughts/observations:
  • Hitchens believes that "vicarious atonement" (one man taking the sins of another) is deeply immoral. It powerfully reinforced to me the truth of 1 Cor. 1:23-25: the gospel of Jesus Christ cruficied and risen is simply foolish to the world; in reality Jesus Christ is "the power of God" and he is "the wisdom of God"; and God's "foolishness" is wiser than men, and God's "weakness" is stronger than men.
  • I really liked that there was no "voice of God" narration. Which means that virtually the entire film consists of Hitchens and Wilson talking--making arguments, asking questions, responding, trading favorite P.G. Wodehouse lines, etc. The result is that you get to hear a lot of arguments--something very rare.
  • The editing is evenhanded. It seemed to me that both mean essentially got "equal time."
  • It was good to see the friendship between Wilson and Hitchens that has developed through their time traveling together and debating each other. One senses that Wilson is one of the few Christians that Hitchens actually respects.
  • The music throughout is simply great.
I don't really know the plans for the film (distributor, going to DVD, etc.). But if you get a chance to check it out, Id recommend it.

Also check out the book form of their debate, Is Christianity Good for the World? I'd also recommend Wilson's little book, Persuasions: A Dream of Reason Meeting Unbelief --it's kind of like Pilgrim's Progess written by Van Til (except that it can be understand by most people!).

Here are a couple of trailers for the film: