Evan's A.R.K.

I saw Evan Almighty this weekend, on HBO. I found Bruce Almighty just okay, so I wasn’t too excited about this.

I ended up watching Evan three times wehehe.

Sure, the movie reviews were almost all bad. And I didn’t like Lauren Graham at all (too bad because I’m a Gilmore Girls fan). But I loved it anyway. First of all, Steve Carell is absolutely hilarious. He has a humor that is totally irreverent and yet totally vulnerable. I love him. The fact that I haven’t found a DVD of The Office’s first season is driving me nuts.

Also, I like the movie’s themes, however scattered they may be at times. Congressman Evan Baxter wants to change the world (according to his winning campaign slogan). Who doesn’t? Even for marketing purposes, everyone wants to change the world.

Sometimes (most of the time?) we complain about not being given enough chances to do so. We make excuses for not doing the right things by saying we’re not given enough time, we’re not allowed to, we never had the opportunity. It’s easier that way. Easier to turn our backs and blame the world for not being nice enough.

We have to look further to see that opportunities abound, but not always given to us on a silver platter. God (Morgan Freeman) said, “If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?”

In the movie, Evan, like all of us, is given the opportunity to change the world. And what an opportunity it is. It isn't easy. It’s not like volunteering for Gawad Kalinga. God is making Evan do something crazy and unbelievable and stupid by today’s standards. Crazy and unbelievable because God doesn’t appear to people and send boxes of gopherwood (okay, maple and pine) and ancient tools to make an Ark!? And how the hell could anyone build it by himself? Stupid because granted the above were true, who would anyone even want to? Oh, but God does send the materials – and detailed instructions. And it takes all of Evan’s faith to follow Him, but he does.

That’s something. For me, that’s what movie is about. Faith despite our own doubts, despite fear of ridicule, despite abandonment. As God told Evan, “You fought me every step of the way, but you still did it.”

I found that line very striking. Maybe because I’ve had my own whopping share of doubts – about religion, God, doing things in God’s name, etc. My growing up years were a mishmash of internal tug-of-war and philosophical debates about religion and faith, religion vs. faith, blah blah blah. I feel like I’ve traveled through the ages in search of that truth, and I’m thankful that where I am now is truly a comfortable place, where I am at peace with the things I believe in, and the things that I do because of those beliefs. I still yawn whenever I’m inside our Church (old habits die hard I guess hehe) but I still like being a Catholic, however flawed I or my Church is. I incorporate my Catholicism into my multitude of beliefs about this universe and that higher power, which comes in many different forms and incarnations that are not altogether Catholic. This entry would not be enough to explain how I feel about my faith, which transcends religion, but I can relate to Evan because I also fought, every step of the way. And hey, like Evan, I’m still here.

Since the film is about changing the world, it’s also about, well, the world. Why it needs changing in the first place. The “a-ha” angle was of course, the environment: the impacts of market-oriented, corporation-backed onerous land use laws; encroaching on national parks for the sake of “development”; the simple act of ignorantly choosing endangered Amazonian cherry wood over plain maple. God showed Evan a lush natural landscape, then superimposed the high-end housing enclave he was living in to indicate what had been lost because of humans' ambitions. The Great Flood came, of course, from the poorly built man-made lake and dam above the suburb. Some of those touches of environmental awareness and sustainable development wisdom were a little too obvious, but they nonetheless made the little environmental planner in me do a little Evan dance.

I also like the fact the production itself was “environmentally-minded”, offsetting their carbon emissions by planting more than 2000 trees (one for each cast and crew member) near the site and using bikes instead of cars as transportation around the production site. Every little act counts, yes?

In fact, that’s also one of the film’s lessons. How do we change the world? One single Act of Random Kindness at a time.

No excuses, people. Because opportunities to Act are everywhere, for everyone. Asked why he thought God chose him, Evan answered honestly and correctly: “He chose all of us.”

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Quotes:

Evan Baxter: [Looks into rearview, sees God who just appeared out of nowhere] AAGGGHHHHH! AAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!
God: [smiling] Let it out, son. It's the beginning of wisdom.

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Joan Baxter: Honey, maybe God didn't mean a literal flood. Maybe he meant a flood of knowledge, or emotion, or awareness.
Evan Baxter: If that's true, I am going to be *so pissed*.

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Evan Baxter: [on the ark, addressing a big crowd] People! The flood is imminent!
[everyone looks around, bewildered, and up at the sunny sky. Evan addresses the heavens]
Evan Baxter: Is it too much to ask for a LITTLE PRECIPITATION?

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Ark Reporter: What makes you think God chose you?
Evan Baxter: He chose all of us.

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God: Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?

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God: How do we change the world?
Evan Baxter: One single act of random kindness at a time.
God: [spoken while writing A-R-K on ground with a stick] One Act, of, Random, Kindness.

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[Rita voices her disbelieve in Evan's ark]
Rita: Look, I go to church every Sunday.
[Evan doesn't believe her]
Rita: Every "other" Sunday.
[Evan still doesn't believe her]
Rita: I've been to church!

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Evan Baxter: Do I know you?
God: Not as much as I'd like.

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God: One nation, under Me, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
[looks over at Evan]
God: How long you wanna do this son? I've got all eternity.
Evan Baxter: [faints dead away]

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Rita: The way things are going, if he gets any crazier, we might end up in the White House.

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Ark Reporter: It's September 22nd and we're all still here...awkwarrrd!