The Searchers (1956)
Director: John Ford
Arts and Faith top 100: #18
For a number of years, the Alamo Drafthouse theater in Austin has been touring the country during the summer to show movies at unique locations. For example, they screened Close Encounters of the Third Kind at Devil's Tower in Wyoming. This summer, the Drafthouse has been screening movies throughout the state of Texas. The story of The Searchers was inspired by an 1836 event at Fort Parker, and so the Drafthouse screened the film at the eponymous state park, which is located about 50 miles east of Waco. Jennifer and I joined some friends for a weekend that included the movie itself, and some camping. Serendipitously, the film is on the Arts and Faith list, and now I get to review it after having seen it on a big screen, at a location uniquely suited to its history.
At first glance, The Searchers does not appear to be an archetypal film about faith. There is no tale of martyrdom, a la The Passion of Joan of Arc, or any dance with death, a la The Seventh Seal. The only character who is overtly "religious" is the local reverend, who does double duty as a captain of the Texas Rangers. The protagonist of the story is a former Civil War soldier (Ethan Edwards, played by John Wayne) who is driven as much by hate as by love, and seeks revenge more than redemption.
So why is The Searchers on a list that highlights the best of art and faith? One possibility is that the title points to a crucial aspect of faith. From an existential perspective, we are all searchers for something: God, faith, happiness, etc. In this particular story, Ethan Edwards is on a search for his nieces Debbie and Lucy, who has been kidnapped by Comanches. Martin Pawley, an adopted family member, and Brad Jorgensen, Lucy's fiancee, join Ethan on a journey that lasts for years, and spans much of North America.
While the search to recover abducted family members, and by analogy our human search for meaning, is an important theme of The Searchers, I am not convinced that it is the sole reason why the film placed at the #18 position on the top 100 list. The film is as much about race as it is the search itself. The audience is alerted to Ethan's bigotry during a dinner conversation early in the film. We are informed that Martin is 1/8th Indian, which makes him a "half-breed" in Ethan's mind. As their journey draws them nearer to the Comanche's location, Martin discovers in horror that Ethan's motivation is no longer to rescue the girls, but to kill them, since they have been with the tribe so long that they are no longer "white." Ethan, the protagonist of the film, has a darkened heart. He is as motivated to find Debbie by hate as he is by love.
The early Christians noted that the gospel of Jesus Christ was available for all of humanity. The love of God was not limited to Jews OR Gentiles, men OR women...the kingdom of heaven was available to Jews AND Gentiles, men AND women. In the era of classical antiquity, this was a radical message. Romans and Greeks worshiped the gods of their ancestors, without any concept of freedom of religion or conversion. The apostles spoke of the Christian Church as a new race or ethnicity, but one that crossed all ethnic boundaries. When one comes to Christ, racial distinctives are abolished. In the coming kingdom, humanity will be united as one, without prejudice or bias.
The Searchers is one of the classic Westerns of American cinema. It serves not only as a metaphor of the human journey, but also of our existential divisions. In the City of Man we are divided by race and nationality. But in the City of God all humanity will be united in love.
1 comments:
That must have been a very cool venue to see "The Searchers."
Good write-up. I thought it was an interesting addition to a list of movies about faith. I guess the search itself, a drive that keeps you going for years, is one kind of faith.
Post a Comment