Post by Rob W. Case on Dec 11, 2005 3:35:26 GMT -6
Editor’s Note: This is an updated, revised, and expanded edition of my December 11th, 2005 piece chronicling this extraordinary film, as we celebrate the anniversary of its release. This revision was written and posted December 31, 2020.
This year has been a very interesting one, to say the least, for a number of reasons. Yet one of those reasons is that the year 2020 marks the 70th anniversary of the release of the book “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” and the 15th anniversary of the epic film release of it.
How it came to be:
C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, both close personal friends, became very accomplished writers in their own right. J.R.R. Tolkien wrote a number of fictional stories, and they were popular. His most popular story was “The Hobbit.” C.S. Lewis also became an accomplished writer. Lewis wrote fictional stories, yet many of his stories addressed matters of deep substance. Take, for example, “The Screwtape Letters” where a senior demon is teaching an inexperienced demon how to “play” human beings. Today when you read or listen to a dramatic adaptation of that story, it is next to impossible not to see the truths spoken of play predominantly in people and society as a whole, placing yourself in a position to where you can resonate with the points he is referring to, with depth and understanding. Lewis also wrote a string of deeply theological books, taking the very experience of life with God and life without God (as he was once a stubborn willed atheist), and making sense of matters and human nature relating to both from a highly intellectual standpoint. Then, there were his radio broadcasts on the BBC in London during World War II. While Britain was at war, Lewis was on the radio, consoling the people of his nation with deep, thought provoking insights and bringing many to realize the impact God's influence has on a person's life that transcends and helps people through the angst, suffering, distress, misery, sorrow, grief, heartache, and unhappiness that is all too familiar in living the human experience, making people think of each and every one of these things from a spiritual standpoint. Lewis's radio addresses would then be transcribed and compiled in a book, a book titled “Mere Christianity.” He then would write an array of books about things like joy, pain (speaking on the problem of evil), miracles, grief (dealing with loss and suffering), and other deep matters that Christ transformed within him. Lewis would share those perspectives, thoughts, insights, and realities in his books to help people make sense of them, and since Lewis was smart, a deep thinker, and highly intellectual in his communication, it would be difficult for people to not be interested, intrigued, enlightened, and think about the very subjects that he addressed. That’s why they are still so powerful and profound today. Lewis was a voice of reason and meaningful substance that the British people came to trust and listen to when times got tough.
C.S. Lewis and accomplished author J.R.R. Tolkien sat down and had a talk about children’s stories in their day. Douglas Gresham, the stepson of C.S. Lewis’s, elaborated on this conversation between them. He said, “[Lewis and Tolkien] sat down and had a discussion about children’s literature that was being produced in those days. They found that they both agreed that children’s literature of that time was really not good enough for children. It didn’t say the things that children needed to hear. And it didn’t say the things that children would like to hear and enjoy. So, they both decided they would sit down and have a go at writing a children’s story.” The end result of that on J.R.R. Tolkien’s end was “The Lord of the Rings” which took the imaginary race similar to humans called “Hobbits” first introduced in “The Hobbit” and took it a step further, as the generation after Bilbo Baggins dealt with temptation, evil forces, their own shortcomings and fallibilities between the presences of adversity and absolute power, the mind, and their resolve in accomplishing the mission laid out for them. C.S. Lewis went a different route, creating a world that would convey deep and profound spiritual truths in a fantasy setting replete with fauns, minotaurs, dragons, dwarves, and so forth that would have a different “port of entry” in each story.
Conveying the Reality of Something Deeper and more powerful:
Both Tolkien and Lewis’s stories conveyed deep spiritual/theological dynamics that made them incredibly epic in scope, scale, and influence, whether people were looking for them or not. C.S. Lewis once said, “I thought I saw how stories of this kind could steal past a certain inhibition which had paralysed much of my own religion in childhood. Why did one find it so hard to feel as one was told one ought to feel about God or the sufferings of Christ? I thought the chief reason was that one was told one ought to. An obligation to feel can freeze feelings. And reverence itself did harm. The whole subject was associated with lowered voices; almost as if it were something medical. But supposing that by casting all these things into an imaginary world, stripping them of their stained-glass and Sunday School associations, one could make them for the first time appear in their real potency? Could one not thus steal past those watchful dragons? I thought one could.” C.S. Lewis saw the world of Narnia as an entry into a world where one could experience for themselves the reality of theological and spiritual truths in that world so that they can see for themselves, not just hear, the truths and substance of what was unfolding in the story, so that the larger message could be expressed, without the added weight of dogmas, ecclesiastical elements, and rituals to "block" the ability for people to see and experience the profound realities being expressed for themselves, and come to their own conclusions from there. And the books were immensely popular, having a total of 7 published throughout the 1950’s.
From Book to Movie:
After the immense popularity of the books, movie producers had prospects for a film adaptation of “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe”. C.S. Lewis once talked against making a feature film on his book because he felt that the movie industry (at that time) would turn the seriousness and intensity of the story into a mockery. In other words, Lewis feared that the message would be cheapened, so to speak, by showing a bunch of actors in bad costumes, and that the poor production values would distract people from the power of the story being conveyed. If only he were alive today! In the early 2000’s, after the wild success of the film adaptations of “The Lord of the Rings” (2001-2003), and the explosive success of “The Passion of the Christ” (2004), a precedent was set in Hollywood, and so a market was established for C.S. Lewis’s epic world of Narnia. This production would be pursued by Walt Disney Pictures and co-produced by C.S. Lewis’s stepson, Douglas Gresham, who is also the heir/ executor of the C.S. Lewis estate. Gresham, also a Christian, who was impacted and influenced by his stepfather’s nature and literary works, would make sure that the production and its values would faithfully emulate the substance and spirit of the story and its transcedent message. The film was released on December 9th, 2005 and was immensely successful, earning over $735 million dollars worldwide. This was a direct message to Hollywood, that people wanted (and needed) films like these.
The Story:
The film begins in 1940, during the great Blitz of London. That year, Nazi aircraft dropped numerous bombs on London in the night. In the struggle for survival and hard times for a nation, and uncertainty about the future, a mother of four evacuates her four children Peter (William Moseley), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes), and Lucy Pevensie (Georgie Henley) out of London, to a house in the country owned by a Professor by the name of Digory Kirke (Jim Broadbent). In this house, the Pevensie children discover that there are many rooms and many places to play. But there are rules. In a moment of boredom, Lucy asks Peter to play hide and seek, and so all of the kids try to hide. In looking for a place to hide, Lucy enters a predominantly empty room, but sees a large wardrobe against the wall with a big dust covering over it. She takes the covering off, and enters the wardrobe. Upon entering, Lucy walks backwards, and feels the oddity of going much farther than a wardrobe would reasonably allow. Her fingertips touch ice, and she looks behind her to find out that she is in another world. In walking in the snow, in a magical forest that is supposedly within this wardrobe, Lucy sees a burning streetlamp in the middle of the forest, lit up. There, she comes in contact with a stranger, a faun named Tumnas (James McAvory). Once Lucy becomes acquainted with Tumnus, it is not long that the two strike up a conversation and she stops by his house for tea. They talk of things like Christmas, but in Narnia there hasn’t been a Christmas in 100 years. Tumnus tells Lucy that in Narnia, it is “always winter, never Christmas.”
It is not long before Lucy finds out that she is a “daughter of Eve”, and that she and her kind are wanted by the White Witch. Residents of Narnia are told that if there is a “Son of Adam” or a “Daughter of Eve” that they are supposed to turn them over to her. Tumnus tells Lucy that the White Witch is the reason why it’s so cold in Narnia and why it is always winter. When Lucy finds her way back in the natural world, she finds that her siblings are still playing hide and seek. They look at her strange because the clock never stopped for them. She explains where she has been, but nobody believes her. When they check out the wardrobe for themselves, they find that the wardrobe does not go far, and that wood stands naturally in the back of it. Everyone believes that Lucy is imagining it. That night, Lucy wakes up and goes back to the wardrobe to find that the wood is not there, and she is able to once again visit Narnia and Tumnus. Edmund follows her around, and enters the wardrobe to find that there is indeed another world just as Lucy talked about. While he enters Narnia and calls for Lucy, he is almost run over by a sleigh with a woman inside, and her elf assistant. She is the Jadis, the White Witch (Tilda Swinton) though she passes herself off as the “Queen of Narnia”. Jadis asks Edmund how he came to enter “her dominion.” There she finds out that he is a “Son of Adam” and that there are four of them (Edmund and his brothers and sister). The Witch tries to seduce Edmund with kindness, flatteries, sweets and hot chocolate, and as he “bites into the sweets” she realizes that she has him on her side. She tempts him with power and a kingdom of his own if he brings his brother and sisters to her. After he promises to bring them, it is not long before Lucy sees Edmund in Narnia, and the two come back. Lucy is excited and wakes up Peter and Susan, saying that Edmund was there too. Peter asks Edmund about it, and he lies about it, saying that he was just “playing along” with her. On another day, while playing a game of cricket, Peter throws the ball and Edmund hits it, breaking a window at Professor Kirke’s mansion. Mrs. McCready, the professor’s housekeeper (Elizabeth Hawthorne), asks what is going on up there, and the kids try to hide. Edmund tries leading them all to the wardrobe, of which Susan says, “you got to be joking.”
The “veil of the natural” world is lifted once again, and all four of the Pevensie children end up in Narnia. Amazed and stunned at this new world, Lucy shows them around. Lucy wants to introduce them to Tumnus, so the children go to his house. Once they reach it, they find that it’s trashed and that he has been arrested for high treason, and accused of fraternizing with a human. After this ordeal, they meet a beaver who can talk. He takes the kids into his home and sees a hope in them that they are not aware of. He fills them in, citing that they are the subjects of a prophecy foretold. They speak of a wise and powerful lion named Aslan (Liam Neeson), the creator of Narnia, and a prophecy. The prophecy is that two “Sons of Adam” and two “Daughters of Eve” will appear to defeat the White Witch, and Beaver thinks that they are the ones that the prophecy is referring to. They do not go for the idea, and want to go home, but Edmund wanders out, following his desires and hopes to the Kingdom of the White Witch. There, Edmund enters and gets “comfortable” sitting on her “throne.” The witch’s true nature is revealed when he stops to visit, but ends up short of bringing his brother and sisters with him. Edmund mentions that his brother and sisters are in the little house in the dam, with the Beavers. Edmund also mentions to the witch that they talked about a lion named Aslan, which causes great fear in her. The Witch summons her pack of wolves to pursue Edmund’s siblings as the prophecy instills a great fear in her. Meanwhile, the Witch keeps Edmund as a prisoner and as “bait” in hopes to capture the rest of them.
As Edmund spends more time in the company of the witch, he witnesses firsthand how she really is - cold, cruel, evil, and will say and do anything, try with an iron fist to control everything, including thought, trample over anyone who is on the opposite side of her, kill, and in all of her pursuits to fulfill her desired ends, reveal how much contempt she has for life, instilling fear in many, which grants her control of what she convinces herself is her dominion. As he is troubled by all of what he sees, feels, and experiences, Edmund tries to intervene to save the life of someone else. Repulsed by his actions, she smacks him across the face and reminds him to remember whose side he’s on. As Peter, Susan, and Lucy try to pursue Aslan to help them free their brother, they finally meet him. Aslan’s presence, teaching, nature, and wisdom changes their perspectives, their outlook on things, and offers them hope, and builds them up from within. Meanwhile in a raid to rescue Edmund, Aslan’s forces successfully accomplish their mission. At the camp, Aslan talks with Edmund alone about what he has done, and releases them to his siblings.
The witch enters Aslan’s camp, demanding a meeting with him. She accuses Edmund of his offenses in the presence of Aslan, and cites the laws upon which Narnia was built, citing that his blood is her property, and that he will need to die on the “stone table” or else all of Narnia will be destroyed. Aslan meets with the White Witch alone, and offers her a deal. He will sacrifice himself in the place of the traitor. And so, Jadis the White Witch, celebrates as she is convinced that she has won the day, and all of Narnia. As Aslan is brought to die, things look bleak, as a war is about to unfold, a war that involves the Pevensie kids, a war that is ultimate and definitive between the forces of Aslan and the forces of the Witch. There, we see how death is not the final end of things, and with the right development, the sovereign power over them governing their destinies, coupled with the power working within them that aides in their maturity and growth, the Pevensie children fall in line and fit into the destiny laid out for them which is the fulfillment of the prophecy that they first wanted no part of.
My Take:
When this movie was released in theaters in 2005, I was enthralled by how meaningful and substantial it is. I saw it a number of times in the movie theater, and took friends with me to see it each time, talking about it afterwards. It has a tendency in its composition to open the door to deep, intriguing, and thought-provoking concepts, ideas, and dynamics that are meaningful, valuable, and constructive. That said, Narnia mirrors the Spiritual world, which we cannot always see or hear in the natural, but sense. Aslan the Lion represents Jesus Christ, as Christ is characterized in the Bible as the Lion of Judah (Revelation 5:5). The Witch represents Satan as the adversarial force trying to dominate creation and overthrow God's Kingdom on earth, and prevent prophecy from being fulfilled. Satan also disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14) to control them and follow his agenda, but it always leads to entrapment in some way, shape, or form. The wardrobe itself illustrates faith and the elimination of blindness. In one scene, the Pevensies are pursued by “Father Christmas” who supplies them with weapons and tools, but it requires training, maturity, discretion, and discipline to properly use them. The idea very idea was a reminder of Ephesians 6:10-16. The children themselves also carry within their characters distinct characteristics and thoughts/perspectives that accompany them, causing you the viewer/reader to best relate to at least one of them.
The thing about this film that I find fascinating is that every time I see it, simply by the power of observation, it opens doors to a new insights and dynamics, and places deep theological truths in perspective. In other words, it makes you think. The film also does a fascinating and excellent job conveying the true nature and forces of good and evil and their distinct characteristics to the point where you can easily relate to them from not only a Christian standpoint, but from a personal one as well. And to people who may not see this aspect, it is an action, adventure story that is powerful, deep, and uplifting. And finally, the movie is very well done, deep, interesting, and brilliantly captures the essence of the spirit that C.S. Lewis was trying to convey in the book. It is personally one of my favorite movies, one that easily deserves 4 stars, and one I am more than happy to recommend and discuss.
The Chonicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe is rated PG and runs 2 hours and 23 minutes.
To view a trailer, please click on the “Play” button below.
Trailer 1:
Trailer 2:
“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” is available on DVD, Blu-Ray and on various streaming services.
This year has been a very interesting one, to say the least, for a number of reasons. Yet one of those reasons is that the year 2020 marks the 70th anniversary of the release of the book “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” and the 15th anniversary of the epic film release of it.
How it came to be:
C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, both close personal friends, became very accomplished writers in their own right. J.R.R. Tolkien wrote a number of fictional stories, and they were popular. His most popular story was “The Hobbit.” C.S. Lewis also became an accomplished writer. Lewis wrote fictional stories, yet many of his stories addressed matters of deep substance. Take, for example, “The Screwtape Letters” where a senior demon is teaching an inexperienced demon how to “play” human beings. Today when you read or listen to a dramatic adaptation of that story, it is next to impossible not to see the truths spoken of play predominantly in people and society as a whole, placing yourself in a position to where you can resonate with the points he is referring to, with depth and understanding. Lewis also wrote a string of deeply theological books, taking the very experience of life with God and life without God (as he was once a stubborn willed atheist), and making sense of matters and human nature relating to both from a highly intellectual standpoint. Then, there were his radio broadcasts on the BBC in London during World War II. While Britain was at war, Lewis was on the radio, consoling the people of his nation with deep, thought provoking insights and bringing many to realize the impact God's influence has on a person's life that transcends and helps people through the angst, suffering, distress, misery, sorrow, grief, heartache, and unhappiness that is all too familiar in living the human experience, making people think of each and every one of these things from a spiritual standpoint. Lewis's radio addresses would then be transcribed and compiled in a book, a book titled “Mere Christianity.” He then would write an array of books about things like joy, pain (speaking on the problem of evil), miracles, grief (dealing with loss and suffering), and other deep matters that Christ transformed within him. Lewis would share those perspectives, thoughts, insights, and realities in his books to help people make sense of them, and since Lewis was smart, a deep thinker, and highly intellectual in his communication, it would be difficult for people to not be interested, intrigued, enlightened, and think about the very subjects that he addressed. That’s why they are still so powerful and profound today. Lewis was a voice of reason and meaningful substance that the British people came to trust and listen to when times got tough.
C.S. Lewis and accomplished author J.R.R. Tolkien sat down and had a talk about children’s stories in their day. Douglas Gresham, the stepson of C.S. Lewis’s, elaborated on this conversation between them. He said, “[Lewis and Tolkien] sat down and had a discussion about children’s literature that was being produced in those days. They found that they both agreed that children’s literature of that time was really not good enough for children. It didn’t say the things that children needed to hear. And it didn’t say the things that children would like to hear and enjoy. So, they both decided they would sit down and have a go at writing a children’s story.” The end result of that on J.R.R. Tolkien’s end was “The Lord of the Rings” which took the imaginary race similar to humans called “Hobbits” first introduced in “The Hobbit” and took it a step further, as the generation after Bilbo Baggins dealt with temptation, evil forces, their own shortcomings and fallibilities between the presences of adversity and absolute power, the mind, and their resolve in accomplishing the mission laid out for them. C.S. Lewis went a different route, creating a world that would convey deep and profound spiritual truths in a fantasy setting replete with fauns, minotaurs, dragons, dwarves, and so forth that would have a different “port of entry” in each story.
Conveying the Reality of Something Deeper and more powerful:
Both Tolkien and Lewis’s stories conveyed deep spiritual/theological dynamics that made them incredibly epic in scope, scale, and influence, whether people were looking for them or not. C.S. Lewis once said, “I thought I saw how stories of this kind could steal past a certain inhibition which had paralysed much of my own religion in childhood. Why did one find it so hard to feel as one was told one ought to feel about God or the sufferings of Christ? I thought the chief reason was that one was told one ought to. An obligation to feel can freeze feelings. And reverence itself did harm. The whole subject was associated with lowered voices; almost as if it were something medical. But supposing that by casting all these things into an imaginary world, stripping them of their stained-glass and Sunday School associations, one could make them for the first time appear in their real potency? Could one not thus steal past those watchful dragons? I thought one could.” C.S. Lewis saw the world of Narnia as an entry into a world where one could experience for themselves the reality of theological and spiritual truths in that world so that they can see for themselves, not just hear, the truths and substance of what was unfolding in the story, so that the larger message could be expressed, without the added weight of dogmas, ecclesiastical elements, and rituals to "block" the ability for people to see and experience the profound realities being expressed for themselves, and come to their own conclusions from there. And the books were immensely popular, having a total of 7 published throughout the 1950’s.
From Book to Movie:
After the immense popularity of the books, movie producers had prospects for a film adaptation of “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe”. C.S. Lewis once talked against making a feature film on his book because he felt that the movie industry (at that time) would turn the seriousness and intensity of the story into a mockery. In other words, Lewis feared that the message would be cheapened, so to speak, by showing a bunch of actors in bad costumes, and that the poor production values would distract people from the power of the story being conveyed. If only he were alive today! In the early 2000’s, after the wild success of the film adaptations of “The Lord of the Rings” (2001-2003), and the explosive success of “The Passion of the Christ” (2004), a precedent was set in Hollywood, and so a market was established for C.S. Lewis’s epic world of Narnia. This production would be pursued by Walt Disney Pictures and co-produced by C.S. Lewis’s stepson, Douglas Gresham, who is also the heir/ executor of the C.S. Lewis estate. Gresham, also a Christian, who was impacted and influenced by his stepfather’s nature and literary works, would make sure that the production and its values would faithfully emulate the substance and spirit of the story and its transcedent message. The film was released on December 9th, 2005 and was immensely successful, earning over $735 million dollars worldwide. This was a direct message to Hollywood, that people wanted (and needed) films like these.
The Story:
The film begins in 1940, during the great Blitz of London. That year, Nazi aircraft dropped numerous bombs on London in the night. In the struggle for survival and hard times for a nation, and uncertainty about the future, a mother of four evacuates her four children Peter (William Moseley), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes), and Lucy Pevensie (Georgie Henley) out of London, to a house in the country owned by a Professor by the name of Digory Kirke (Jim Broadbent). In this house, the Pevensie children discover that there are many rooms and many places to play. But there are rules. In a moment of boredom, Lucy asks Peter to play hide and seek, and so all of the kids try to hide. In looking for a place to hide, Lucy enters a predominantly empty room, but sees a large wardrobe against the wall with a big dust covering over it. She takes the covering off, and enters the wardrobe. Upon entering, Lucy walks backwards, and feels the oddity of going much farther than a wardrobe would reasonably allow. Her fingertips touch ice, and she looks behind her to find out that she is in another world. In walking in the snow, in a magical forest that is supposedly within this wardrobe, Lucy sees a burning streetlamp in the middle of the forest, lit up. There, she comes in contact with a stranger, a faun named Tumnas (James McAvory). Once Lucy becomes acquainted with Tumnus, it is not long that the two strike up a conversation and she stops by his house for tea. They talk of things like Christmas, but in Narnia there hasn’t been a Christmas in 100 years. Tumnus tells Lucy that in Narnia, it is “always winter, never Christmas.”
It is not long before Lucy finds out that she is a “daughter of Eve”, and that she and her kind are wanted by the White Witch. Residents of Narnia are told that if there is a “Son of Adam” or a “Daughter of Eve” that they are supposed to turn them over to her. Tumnus tells Lucy that the White Witch is the reason why it’s so cold in Narnia and why it is always winter. When Lucy finds her way back in the natural world, she finds that her siblings are still playing hide and seek. They look at her strange because the clock never stopped for them. She explains where she has been, but nobody believes her. When they check out the wardrobe for themselves, they find that the wardrobe does not go far, and that wood stands naturally in the back of it. Everyone believes that Lucy is imagining it. That night, Lucy wakes up and goes back to the wardrobe to find that the wood is not there, and she is able to once again visit Narnia and Tumnus. Edmund follows her around, and enters the wardrobe to find that there is indeed another world just as Lucy talked about. While he enters Narnia and calls for Lucy, he is almost run over by a sleigh with a woman inside, and her elf assistant. She is the Jadis, the White Witch (Tilda Swinton) though she passes herself off as the “Queen of Narnia”. Jadis asks Edmund how he came to enter “her dominion.” There she finds out that he is a “Son of Adam” and that there are four of them (Edmund and his brothers and sister). The Witch tries to seduce Edmund with kindness, flatteries, sweets and hot chocolate, and as he “bites into the sweets” she realizes that she has him on her side. She tempts him with power and a kingdom of his own if he brings his brother and sisters to her. After he promises to bring them, it is not long before Lucy sees Edmund in Narnia, and the two come back. Lucy is excited and wakes up Peter and Susan, saying that Edmund was there too. Peter asks Edmund about it, and he lies about it, saying that he was just “playing along” with her. On another day, while playing a game of cricket, Peter throws the ball and Edmund hits it, breaking a window at Professor Kirke’s mansion. Mrs. McCready, the professor’s housekeeper (Elizabeth Hawthorne), asks what is going on up there, and the kids try to hide. Edmund tries leading them all to the wardrobe, of which Susan says, “you got to be joking.”
The “veil of the natural” world is lifted once again, and all four of the Pevensie children end up in Narnia. Amazed and stunned at this new world, Lucy shows them around. Lucy wants to introduce them to Tumnus, so the children go to his house. Once they reach it, they find that it’s trashed and that he has been arrested for high treason, and accused of fraternizing with a human. After this ordeal, they meet a beaver who can talk. He takes the kids into his home and sees a hope in them that they are not aware of. He fills them in, citing that they are the subjects of a prophecy foretold. They speak of a wise and powerful lion named Aslan (Liam Neeson), the creator of Narnia, and a prophecy. The prophecy is that two “Sons of Adam” and two “Daughters of Eve” will appear to defeat the White Witch, and Beaver thinks that they are the ones that the prophecy is referring to. They do not go for the idea, and want to go home, but Edmund wanders out, following his desires and hopes to the Kingdom of the White Witch. There, Edmund enters and gets “comfortable” sitting on her “throne.” The witch’s true nature is revealed when he stops to visit, but ends up short of bringing his brother and sisters with him. Edmund mentions that his brother and sisters are in the little house in the dam, with the Beavers. Edmund also mentions to the witch that they talked about a lion named Aslan, which causes great fear in her. The Witch summons her pack of wolves to pursue Edmund’s siblings as the prophecy instills a great fear in her. Meanwhile, the Witch keeps Edmund as a prisoner and as “bait” in hopes to capture the rest of them.
As Edmund spends more time in the company of the witch, he witnesses firsthand how she really is - cold, cruel, evil, and will say and do anything, try with an iron fist to control everything, including thought, trample over anyone who is on the opposite side of her, kill, and in all of her pursuits to fulfill her desired ends, reveal how much contempt she has for life, instilling fear in many, which grants her control of what she convinces herself is her dominion. As he is troubled by all of what he sees, feels, and experiences, Edmund tries to intervene to save the life of someone else. Repulsed by his actions, she smacks him across the face and reminds him to remember whose side he’s on. As Peter, Susan, and Lucy try to pursue Aslan to help them free their brother, they finally meet him. Aslan’s presence, teaching, nature, and wisdom changes their perspectives, their outlook on things, and offers them hope, and builds them up from within. Meanwhile in a raid to rescue Edmund, Aslan’s forces successfully accomplish their mission. At the camp, Aslan talks with Edmund alone about what he has done, and releases them to his siblings.
The witch enters Aslan’s camp, demanding a meeting with him. She accuses Edmund of his offenses in the presence of Aslan, and cites the laws upon which Narnia was built, citing that his blood is her property, and that he will need to die on the “stone table” or else all of Narnia will be destroyed. Aslan meets with the White Witch alone, and offers her a deal. He will sacrifice himself in the place of the traitor. And so, Jadis the White Witch, celebrates as she is convinced that she has won the day, and all of Narnia. As Aslan is brought to die, things look bleak, as a war is about to unfold, a war that involves the Pevensie kids, a war that is ultimate and definitive between the forces of Aslan and the forces of the Witch. There, we see how death is not the final end of things, and with the right development, the sovereign power over them governing their destinies, coupled with the power working within them that aides in their maturity and growth, the Pevensie children fall in line and fit into the destiny laid out for them which is the fulfillment of the prophecy that they first wanted no part of.
My Take:
When this movie was released in theaters in 2005, I was enthralled by how meaningful and substantial it is. I saw it a number of times in the movie theater, and took friends with me to see it each time, talking about it afterwards. It has a tendency in its composition to open the door to deep, intriguing, and thought-provoking concepts, ideas, and dynamics that are meaningful, valuable, and constructive. That said, Narnia mirrors the Spiritual world, which we cannot always see or hear in the natural, but sense. Aslan the Lion represents Jesus Christ, as Christ is characterized in the Bible as the Lion of Judah (Revelation 5:5). The Witch represents Satan as the adversarial force trying to dominate creation and overthrow God's Kingdom on earth, and prevent prophecy from being fulfilled. Satan also disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14) to control them and follow his agenda, but it always leads to entrapment in some way, shape, or form. The wardrobe itself illustrates faith and the elimination of blindness. In one scene, the Pevensies are pursued by “Father Christmas” who supplies them with weapons and tools, but it requires training, maturity, discretion, and discipline to properly use them. The idea very idea was a reminder of Ephesians 6:10-16. The children themselves also carry within their characters distinct characteristics and thoughts/perspectives that accompany them, causing you the viewer/reader to best relate to at least one of them.
The thing about this film that I find fascinating is that every time I see it, simply by the power of observation, it opens doors to a new insights and dynamics, and places deep theological truths in perspective. In other words, it makes you think. The film also does a fascinating and excellent job conveying the true nature and forces of good and evil and their distinct characteristics to the point where you can easily relate to them from not only a Christian standpoint, but from a personal one as well. And to people who may not see this aspect, it is an action, adventure story that is powerful, deep, and uplifting. And finally, the movie is very well done, deep, interesting, and brilliantly captures the essence of the spirit that C.S. Lewis was trying to convey in the book. It is personally one of my favorite movies, one that easily deserves 4 stars, and one I am more than happy to recommend and discuss.
The Chonicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe is rated PG and runs 2 hours and 23 minutes.
To view a trailer, please click on the “Play” button below.
Trailer 1:
Trailer 2:
“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” is available on DVD, Blu-Ray and on various streaming services.