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LIFE
Through a Screen Darkly: Looking Closer at Beauty, Truth and Evil in the Movies
By Jeffrey Overstreet; Regal Books;
351 pages; softcover; $17.99
Jeffrey Overstreet has watched thousands of movies during his lifetime and career as film critic at Christianity Today's movies Web site, and he would love to suggest some of the most challenging, enlightening and all around best that he has seen. Overstreet covers more than 200 films in Through a Screen Darkly: Looking Closer at Truth, Beauty and Evil in the Movies, and lists these titles for readers as a means to inspire provocative conversation and debate for film discussion groups.
With a list that long, Overstreet must go far beyond the obvious and the traditional to show how spiritual issues are raised or that God can be seen in some of Hollywood's most unlikely films. And he contends that we can learn from the good in movies as well as the bad.
Quoting Hebrews 5:14—"But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil" (NIV)—the author argues that the evil portrayed onscreen can help people recognize worldly sin and prepare them to make right decisions when faced with choices of conscience themselves. Though some readers will find Overstreet's views controversial, others will find it rich fodder for discussion of relevant topics faced in the world today.
-Jeremy Cope
