MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

Pitch Black (dir. David Twohy, 2000) was largely overlooked by critics. Some dismissed it as a formula piece, while others focused solely on relative newcomer Vin Diesel and his potential star qualities. The film certainly has not gained attention from the religious community. Yet, interestingly, religious terminology appeared even in the most unflattering reviews. For example, although New York Times critic Stephen Holden remarked, “Narratively speaking, the movie isn’t much more than a flickering montage of scary action sequences,” he also acknowledged the film as an “escape-from-hell story.” If hell is unforgiving light followed by utter darkness, and is filled with demons that both pierce flesh and can rip a person in two, then Twohy, like Hieronymous Bosch, has done a satisfying job depicting it. Yet Pitch Black goes beyond the realm of nightmare; at its heart, it is a profoundly religious movie. Closer examination reveals a careful meshing of influences, from classical Greek tragedy, featuring visual motifs contrasting literal and metaphoric light and darkness; Christianity, featuring an extended metaphor of The Fall as well as powerful themes centering around transgression, sacrifice, and redemption; Kelton Cobb’s “Gothic worldview,” in which “[e]vil no longer occurs in a providential order that we can trust will ultimately contain it and even bring good out of it”; the contrasting, relentless faith of David Keith’s Imam, one of the few positive examples of a Muslim character in mainstream cinema in 2000; and Charles Taylor’s “ethics of authenticity,” to name but a few. Add to this a diverse mix of characters whose reactions to conflict reveal clashing views on faith, loss, death, and resurrection, and we clearly have a film that exceeds mere genre expectations. Fourteen years and two sequels later, Pitch Black is worth a second look.