Among the many movies that will be coming out this holiday season, there is one that you just have to hear about. From the same studio that brought you the Lord of the Rings, comes The Golden Compass, based on the first in a trilogy of books by Phillip Pullman called His Dark Materials. This movie is definitely becoming one of the most talked about films of the year.

The trilogy of books has been out for several years and is available at most libraries. That is where I found a copy. I saw the trailer for the Golden Compass with one of my friends when we were at the theatre. “Doesn’t this look like a good movie?” she said. “Yeah", I answered, "I can’t wait for it to come out!” After reading the first two books in the trilogy, my opinion could not be more different.

With all movies that are based on books, I like to read the original first. So when I saw The Golden Compass at the library, I just had to read it. I made it through the first book and read the second, entitled the Subtle Knife. This book was absolutely horrible. The central plot of the series came out: the little girl, Lyra, wants to kill God. The "Authority" as God is called, is said to oppress His creations, and should be destroyed. Even the angels turn against Him. The witches in the story, who are actually beautiful creatures, tell Lyra of a prophesy that she is to be the "New Eve". So really, the characters are trying to kill God, and erase everything that happened after the creation of man. The scary thing is that in the end they actually kill Him! I didn’t read the third book; I just skipped to the end to see what happened.

However, the main enemy in the series is not God. I didn’t see any of the characters come into contact with him at all in the first two books. The main enemy is the Catholic Church. The book is based in several parallel universes, and the Church is quite different from what it is in the real world. In Phillip Pullman’s books, the Church is an organized group of oppressive scientists. Theology is no different than any other science, they conduct experiments with "dust" that is said to be somehow the remnants of Original Sin, and are little more than modern day astrologers. However different his church may be, it is still distinguishable in the books as an image of the Catholic Church.

The Golden Compass has been watered down in order to seem less offensive to Christians. This really doesn’t matter. Do you really want to give your money to a group of people whose only goal is to make your family become atheist? The series is being billed as an "anti-Narnia". Just think, all of the allegorical elements of C.S. Lewis inspired thousands to become better Christians, or maybe even to believe in God. If His Dark Materials are allowed to be distributed on the same level, imagine all of the damage these books could do to young minds. Please, don’t see this movie, even just to "check it out". Don’t do anything that will give these people more ammunition against Our Lord.

Hilary A.E. Long

Sources:                                                                  

The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife, by Phillip Pullman

An unnamed article put out by the Michigan Catholic Homeschoolers association

http://catholicleague.org/catalyst.php?year=2007&month=October&read=2322