Behind Closed Doors
A psycho-spiritual exploration of an individual's religious beliefs derailed.
Campfire advises that some viewers may be offended, and recommends viewing by 15+ years of age only.
Amen to avoiding superstition
[Behind Closed Doors] For an atheist, this is a very interesting film. For believers, it is probably quite challenging. To the rational mind of the atheist, it is often hard to make a distinction between religion, superstition and fantasy. In the film, the distinction is also blurred. It has all the paraphernalia of religion and portents of death, setting the scene for a scary horror movie ghost story.
The ghost woman talks about the murder of the Egyptians. Why did God kill all the first-born Egyptians? Would that not be a crime against humanity? In reality of course, like much of the Bible, it never happened. The boy sufferers terrible psychological trauma due to the religious imagery. In reality, this is exactly what the fear and guilt of religion does to the indoctrinated minds of many children.
In the end, the boy opens the curtain and sees the light. Hooray! There is no need to be frightened by unfounded superstition. There is no scientific evidence that any supernatural beings have ever existed. Morality is best being founded on the universal principles of compassion, honesty, freedom and justice. Amen.
Eternal world writ large
In Behind Closed Doors a boy deals with death and loneliness, his internal world writ large, the external world barely implied.
The antidote to literalists
[Behind Closed Doors] First choice.
Initial reaction: What the freak?!?!???
Post-initial-reaction: This film is perfect the antidote to literalists, simplists and heartless soul-searchers of any creed or ideology. This film captures for me the real caustic search for truth in all its confusion. This film speaks to my past, and the clarity which I was seeking in religion or otherwise. Islam describes itself as a religion for those who think, and so introspection, criticism, rejection, deconstruction - aren't to be unexpected from a true adherent to the faith. I believe a problem with the world is that we lack sincere and meaningful self-criticism. In critiquing ourselves, and that which we hold close to us -- including faith -- we are evaluating the world.
Words can to a degree capture the eccentricity of the mind, but a film such as Behind Closed Doors, certainly opens doors to such a realm that a pen and paper would struggle to do.