The movie Million Dollar Baby walked away with far too many Oscars this year, what with it bein’ a pro-euthanasia flick an’ all.
The Passion of the Christ deserved best pic, not this flick.
(EARTH TO HOLLYWOOD!!! HELLOOOOOOO!!!)
Some try to defend Million Dollar Baby on the grounds that, despite its problematic euthanasia message, "It’s just a movie."
Not Ed Peters.
GET THE STORY.
Author: Jimmy Akin
Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."
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I do not understand how people can call this definitively a pro-euthanasia movie. Because it dealt with the topic? It is not entirely clear that Eastwood’s character made the correct decision. His priest tells him, in so many words, that it is wrong and that it will tear him up inside if he chooses to kill her. And he’s pretty much right. I am anti-euthanasia and I cannot see how this movie is the ringing endorsement for it. The friend I saw it with is in favor of euthanasia and we had a great debate afterwords using the movie and its characters as a starting point.
Saying this movie is pro-euthanasia is like saying that the Passion of the Christ is pro-crucifixion.
If I hear one more person dismiss anti-Christian propaganda with “It’s just a novel!” or “It’s just a movie!” I’m going to explode. Were Muslims impressed by the argument “It’s just a novel!” when The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie was released? Why, therefore, does the secular public expect Christians to be impressed by that argument?
Million Dollar Baby is quite definitely not anti-Christian drivel, though. This film is a highly-nuanced meditation, not propoganda for either side. It shows that the issue is indeed muddy. There is no glorification of Frank’s (the main character) action at the end of the film. I think it’s pretty clear that he suffers the spiritual death his priest warned of. This isn’t Kinsey or A Beautiful Mind where the muddy issues are just glossed over for the glorification of the figure being profiled. Art is not always propaganda or evangelization, nor need it be. I actually thought Million Dollar Baby was a better film (and more deserving of the Best Picture nod) than The Passion of the Christ because the latter largely failed unless you were given some knowledge of Christianity, while the former added subtlety to a discussion that sorely needs it. But that is my opinion, and I certainly respect “all y’all’s” (I’m a northerner living in Texas, so I should adopt the dialect) opinions.