France, 1962
"ARCHANGEL"
Canada, 1990
"For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has {anything} been secret, but that it would come to light."
- Mark 4:22 (NASV)
In "Mere Christianity," C.S. Lewis set forth what he perceived to be the essence of Christianity - the religion's core ideas, its basic premises. Curiously, he could not resist the temptation to explore the subject of time, and its relation to eternity, even though these concepts play no doctrinal, scriptural, or ecclesiastical role in Christianity. Before the discussion he explains, "I am going to talk about something which may be helpful to some readers, but which may seem to others merely an unnecessary complication." After the discussion, he continues, "This idea [regarding time] has helped me a good deal. If it does not help you, leave it alone. It is a 'Christian idea' in the sense that great and wise Christians have held it and there is nothing in it contrary to Christianity. ... You can be a perfectly good Christian without accepting it, or indeed without thinking of the matter at all."
If the time-eternity relationship is so inconsequential, it seems unusual that Lewis would devote an entire chapter to it...especially when the purpose of his book is a summation, not a thorough explanation, of Christianity. Nevertheless, this is a topic theologians and mystics alike cannot seem to avoid. There is something about time, and its relationship to both God and man, that beckons the greatest minds in Christianity. Such beckoning cannot be inconsequential.
Even the briefest contemplations on the subject of time lead us into memory. Without memory, we would have no notion of time - no perceptions of past to draw upon, nor any basis upon which to imagine a future.
Memory and amnesia are the main themes behind two of the greatest avant-garde films ever made: Chris Marker's "La Jetée" (lit: the Pier) and Guy Maddin's "Archangel." Stylistically, they are vastly different films. But they share a common view of memory and forgetfulness which unites them, and brings into focus the relationship between time, morality, and Christianity.
"Archangel" tells the story of Lt. John Boles, a Canadian solider lost in rural Russia during World War I. Poison gases used by the German army have affected his memory, and caused him to forget that his beloved fiancé, Iris, is dead. He wanders into the village of Archangel, where he is nursed a peasant family. While in Archangel, he encounters the beautiful Veronkha, whom he mistakes for the dead Iris.
Meanwhile, Veronkha has problems of her own. She is unhappily married to Philbin, a Russian solider who suffers from chronic amnesia. At first we are meant to believe his affliction is physical, but we eventually learn his problem is a moral one. A doctor explains:
Forgetfulness, it seems, is synonymous with immorality, at least in Philbin's case. For Lt. Boles, forgetfulness isn't a source of immorality so much as a nuisance, for him and everyone around him. It resembles Philbin's forgetfulness insofar that it seems willed - both Boles and Philbin are active in their forgetting. Philbin blatantly disregards all rules of good behavior, good manners, proper conduct, and fidelity. Boles ignores anyone who points out that Veronkha is not Iris, just as he ignores all indications that Iris is dead or that Danchuk, his peasant landlady, is in love with him.Are we naturally inclined to sin, or do we merely forget our natural inclinations toward God's Laws? If the Laws of God are written on men's hearts (as the Bible claims), are we active in forgetting them?
The verb "to forget" in Hebrew is Shakach (שכח) - it is used 190 times in the Hebrew Bible, and usually translated into "forget" or "forgotten." But it can also mean "to ignore," or "to cease to care." Even when it is translated "to forget," the meaning is often active, more "to make or cause to forget" than simply "to forget." Forgetting, in Hebrew, is something we actively participate in...it doesn't just happen.
Jump ahead a couple centuries, and into a different language (Aramic), and the exact same word (שכח) acquires a wholly knew meaning - "to find," "to be found," or "to discover." How can one word descend into these utterly different shades of meaning? What is the relationship between forgetting and finding?
I cannot answer these questions, but I suspect the answers are terribly important.
"Archangel" is strangely aware of the relationship between forgetting and discovery. For Philbin and Boles to find their ways back to Veronkha/Iris (respectively), they are given treasure maps. The film follows no logical pattern regarding how the maps function - they lead neither out of forgetfulness nor futher into it. There is a symbiotic relationship between map and memory (or lack thereof), though it remains vague throughout the film.
In any case, forgetfulness is a lost, wandering state in Maddin's film. Both Boles and Philbin remind me of the fools described in Psalms (the word for "fool" is נבל, which also means "to fall and wither"; likewise, שכח can also be translated as "to wither"). They walk about in willed ignorance, totally capable but unwilling to see the truth about them.
If "Archangel" is ultimately a film about forgetfulness, "La Jetée" is a film about memory. And just as characters in "Archangel" are lost in forgetfulness, so the character in "La Jetée" is found in memory.
"Archangel" is shot in expressionistic black-and-white, seen through a haze like a fading dream. "La Jetée," on the other hand, is a series of still photos, clear and objective. What makes "La Jetée" really interesting is the correlation it presents between memory and time. If morality is bound to forgetfulness (as "Archangel" establishes), then it is also bound to memory. And if memory is bound to time (as "La Jetée" establishes), then morality is bound to time, at least partially. This is, I believe, why so many Christian thinkers have trouble not exploring the mysteries of time and eternity.
Where do time and morality intersect? How does our moral self relate to our eternal self? What is the relation between them? I believe watching the films "Archangel" and "La Jetée," in all their abstraction, will better answer these questions than I can in this column. These are questions that, like all truly important questions, cannot be answered clearly within a coherent, logical framework. When dealing with matters of eternity, one can only rely on symbolism and abstraction. "La Jetée" in particular provides an attractive framework within which we can consider these questions. The basis for Terry Gilliam's "12 Monkeys," "La Jetée" takes place after World War III. The world has been annihilated in nuclear war, and the victors (who speak German) take their captors (presumably French) and send them into the past and future in search of assistance and tools for restarting life on earth. The time-travel experiments fail except when the captor has a strong memory or mental image to which they are attached.
The protagonist is a prisoner who remembers vividly an experience from his childhood. This memory is the basis through which he can explore time. He travels to the past, and his understanding of strange events is made clear; he travels into the future, and there he finds humankind's salvation. He is offered sanctuary in the future, but chooses instead to retreat backward into memory.
What are we to take from this example? Is our salvation found in memory and our damnation a state of sad forgetfulness?
Perhaps.
One of the most powerful portrayals of Heaven and Hell is found in C.S. Lewis' "The Great Divorce." At first glance, it would seem that the inhabitants of Hell are bound to memory. They are so lost in remembrance that they confuse Hell with their former lives on earth. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of Heaven seem detached from all memories of their earthly lives. But upon closer examination, I see the exact opposite. Souls in Heaven remember their true natures, before the Fall, while the damned are lost in the same murky forgetfulness that we on earth must live within.
It seems to me that our earthly lives, from birth till death, our plagued by forgetfulness. When describing "Archangel," Maddin said it came from his own life of perpetual forgetfulness - forgotten friends, forgotten marriages, forgotten promises. Even if we have memories, they are bound in a state of perpetual forgetfulness. We cannot escape the feeling that we've lost something, memories of our true nature and our true purpose.
In his descriptions of the last days, Christ always spoke of a great disclosure, an "uncovering" of what had been forgotten. This is where memory and eternity intersect. In our earthly lives, we live in a state of forgetfulness - only through divine revelation do we begin to remember that which is forgotten. To be fallen implies that there was once a time when we were not fallen. That is precisely what we have forgotten.
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Note: Thanks to Mel, for her invaluable Hebrew resources/Christmas presents.
For more on "La Jetée," check out the reviews and summaries at Raging Bull, SciFilm.org, and Movie Reviews UK. For more on "Archangel" and its director, Guy Maddin, visit his page at Zeitgeist Films.
