Reviews, Interviews , News, Commentaries, My Top 5 Movies, Best-Of Lists, Filmmakers of Faith, Film ForumOz the Great and Powerful
It would be easier to overlook Oscar's aborted conversion or relegate it to a clumsy, rote, aside were it not for a prolonged and problematic plot thread that has the people of Oz mistaking (or are they?) him for the fulfillment of the prophecy that states that a savior will fall from the sky and save them all. As Oz take-offs go, Gregory Maguire's Wicked contained some anthropological indictments of religion—it divided people and made them more easy to conquer—but it was more palatable than Oz the Great and Powerful's tired take, that the phoniness of carnival magician is at the core of all faith. "When we do believe," Glinda insists, "anything is possible." Sorry, but no, that's not true, and faith in faith is a poor substitute for faith in something real. Otherwise the film wouldn't need Oscar to pretend in order to bring the people together.
Oscar's transformation is not the only one the film fumbles. Theodora's transformation into the Wicked Witch is portrayed as half Oscar's fault, half Evanora's, her sister (Rachel Weisz). Kunis is a tremendous and underutilized talent, but even she can't gloss a script that can't quite figure out how to get from point A (sincere, good witch) to point B (villain of the next movie) while making Oscar somehow both the catalyst for her change but not responsible for it in any way that really smarts. (Surely I am not the only viewer who thinks Theodora's name—"lover of God"—is itself a backhanded dig at religious belief? It is the sincere believer who is most easily fooled, most easily offended, most easily hurt, and most readily turns to rebellion to justify her own hurt.)
Some viewers will be grateful to have anything PG to take their kids to, and others will embrace the film's attempts to sidestep the endorsement of redemptive violence. But the film's anti-religiousness is a bit of a poison pill to swallow along with the good stuff.
And there is something mildly smug and a little misogynistic about Oscar's public offer of amnesty (a pale shadow of the deeper virtue of forgiveness) to Theodora as she flies away, defeated. Boys will be boys, and men will be boys on occasion, but woman no redemption knows: isn't Oscar going to lie to Dorothy Gale and try to trick her into murdering Theodora in The Wizard of Oz? Having found himself in the path of all "good hearted souls" after repeated coaxing and wooing, his (and the film's) lackadaisical attempts at reconciliation seem strangely pro-forma and obviously half-hearted. Mistakes were made, but it's time for the movie to end, so no more nonsense about mixed parts, goats to the left, sheep to the right and no questioning that adjudication allowed.
A Fractured and Beautiful Faith
Streaming This Weekend, May 24, 2013
(on articles open to the public, you must at least register for a free account).
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
Newsletters
Google
Comments
Melissa Sheets
I completely disagree with your take on Oz. The choice that Oscar made to stay and fight instead of running away as everyone expected him to do, completes his transformation and redemption. As to what happened with Theodora, I think the movie handled the concept of good and evil quite well. Several times throughout the movie we saw glimpses of her "sinful nature" as it were. Then she made a choice, much like Eve did in the Garden of Evil, to turn her back on good and take a bite from the apple. She might not have been prepared for the consequences, but we rarely are when we choose to sin. The witch that she became was not because of Oscar or her sister, it was a choice that she made.
Hillary Burgardt
There are some valid points about Oz the Great and Powerful here, but by nit-picking at what you perceive as religious slights you completely overlooked addressing the moral of the movie. Seeking "greatness" only breeds insecurity and pain, but seeking "goodness" can help repair lives and brings happiness too. You might argue that Oz did not achieve a Biblical standard of "goodness," but he definitely follows a redemptive path. I'd also like to point out that they are surely setting this up to be a new franchise, so I highly doubt that there will be no other story line between Oz the Great and Powerful and the Wizard of Oz.