redemption in hollywood

i just finished watching Catch Me If You Can (2002; Dicaprio, Hanks) and I couldn’t help but see the gospel of Christ in it. If you haven’t seen it and want to, stop reading now.

The movie tells the story of con artist Frank Abignale, Jr. as he traveled the country and stole over 4 million dollars through forged. Abignale impersonates airline pilots, poses as a doctor and gets a job in an Atlanta emergency room, and passes the bar to practice law in New Orleans. You can’t help but marvel at the skill with which Abignale manipulates people. The there are two themes I really enjoyed in this movie. The first is that Abignale is largely a product of circumstance. The movie tells the story of Abignale’s mother stepping out on Abignale Sr, and the subsequent divorce proceedings that lead Frank Jr. to run from home and begin his life of crime. The theme of ‘living the lie’ and running from the past are persistent throughout the movie, and while the actions of Abignale are obviously immoral, you can’t help but see the boy (he first began impersonating pilots at the age of 16) in the con man. Inside the person who manipulates and steals is a boy suffering in dealing with reality.

But the circumstances do not excuse the actions. Tom Hanks’ character Carl Hanratty makes very clear that the game is not called off at the offenders word, that there are consequences for actions, and that he will pursue Abignale until he is caught and punished. I see God all over this character. There is a commitment to justice in God and there are consequences to our actions, a debt that must be paid and sins that must be punished. Abignale is eventually caught and sentenced, but Hanratty feels some sort of affection towards the imprisoned boy and visits him often in prison. After Abignale reveals his capacity to identify forged checks and thus aid in the tracking of counterfeiters, Hanratty negotiates a deal to get Abignale released to work in the Bank Fraud department at the FBI. Abignale is to serve out the rest of his sentence through serving the FBI. But our God does not release us from prison only to serve out our sentence in serving the Kingdom. God does release us from our imprisonment, and he invites us to serve the Kingdrom. Christ has paid our debt and released us, and God asks us to work for Him. 

What I enjoy most in this film is the idea that no man is beyond redemption. No matter how sinful we are there is the possibility of redemption. No matter how fast and how far we run, God will pursue us. Because He loves us. That is the Gospel of Christ, that through the unfailing and inexhaustible love of God pursuing us in the Spirit and hung on the cross, a blood sacrifice for our sins, we can be redeemed. God is in the business of redeeming people, of loving them out of the hells of their lives, and recreating the man into a heavenly being. We are reborn, a new creation with a new life to live. Our old lives have passed away and we have been given a new life in Christ.

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