Movie Reviews
Bless the Child
14 Oct 2000
These are not the theological pages, and as a mere film reviewer,
this writer is not qualified to tell sincere spiritual work
apart from mumbo-jumbo. But he'll try anyway. After all, Hollywood
has churned out plenty of pseudo-spiritual nonsense, in which
the servants of God battle the servants of the devil, often
using obscure monastic techniques. Unlike biblical stories,
however, nobody (however devout) could ever take them seriously.
"Bless the Child", directed by Chuck Russell with
all the old tricks, suggests that the forces of good can easily
prevail over the forces of darkness, just because darkness
is so damn stupid. In the goofy script (based on Cathy Cash
Spellman's novel), a young girl, Cody, is born, destined to
save the world with her Messianic powers. For some reason,
God doesn't choose a saintly young woman like the Virgin Mary
as her mother, but Jenna (Angela Bettis), a hopeless New York
drug addict, who deserts her daughter, leaving the baby in
the care of her far less pathetic sister, Maggie (Kim Basinger).
Six years later, Cody (Holliston Coleman), is sought-after
by a Satanic cult leader, Eric Stark, who wants to lure her
to the path of evil. Rufus Sewell plays Eric as so obviously
sinister, such a painfully objectionable twerp, that it's
doubtful he could possibly convince any child to go anywhere
near him, let alone join him in his mission. Rather than tempt
Cody with candy and Pokemon videos, he tries to scare her
into turning evil. He even presides over several brutal murders,
for no good reason apart from good ol' Hollywood shock value.
What a loser.
He has no chance against Maggie and her ally John (Jimmy Smits),
a hard-boiled FBI agent and would-be priest. These two are
on the side of the angels. Truly. Except that here in New
York, the angels take the form of inspirational janitors,
and mysterious strangers who save their lives on bridges and
in subways.
Let's not be cynical. We know that the righteous can triumph.
Look at Robin Hood versus the Sheriff of Nottingham, Luke
Skywalker versus Darth Vader, Ian Thorpe versus Gary Hall,
Jr.
But the silliness, the forced symbolism of "Bless the
Child", reveals it for what it is: just another dumb
horror film.
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