The Grey is a movie about a bunch of burly Alaskan oil field workers who get stranded in the middle of nowhere when their plane crashes into remote Alaska. The few guys that escape alive are hunted down by a pack of wild wolves. They quickly realize that given the wild terrain, the wolves have an upper hand. Devoid of any equipment to defend themselves with, the men regress back into their fearful selves and try to escape from the wild wolves. The wolves hunt and kill the men one by one.
No guns. No TV. Nothing with which to defend themselves from death or amuse themselves into dying, these men faces the prospect of death. Reduced back to their primal selves, they realize that the only weapon they have is their will-power and the enemy they are fighting is not the wolves, but their ability to come to terms with death. John Ottway (Liam Neeson) is the leader of this pack of hunted men.
The movie shows how the will-power of different men is fueled by different philosophies of life. Ottway and Diaz (a funny guy in the group) have opposite philosophies of dealing with pain, suffering and death. Diaz tries to deny the despair by amusing himself with something else. Ottway acknowledges his powerlessness but fights for the sake of fighting, until his last breath.
When the men talk about death, Diaz says all he needed was 'one last good-f**k', and then he'll gladly die. Diaz seeks petty-pleasures to amuse himself on the road to death. Ottway (Liam Neeson) on the other hand is a serious man. Upon the prospect of being eaten by the wild wolves, he faces it head-on fighting. He rationalizes the pain and suffering by finding his strength in a poem from his childhood. The poem becomes the linchpin upon which the movie rests.
Once more into the fray...
For one one last good fight
Live and die today
Live and die today
If a man's philosophy does not portend to anything beyond this life then 'today' is all there is to this life. Such men have to either be like Diaz and find some semblance of meaning in a good-f**k or be like Ottway and find meaning in a good-fight. To Ottway, the fight to live and die 'today' is all there is to life. Ernest Hemingway had a similar philosophy to life. He loved wars, he loved the matadors fighting bulls, he believed people who did not go to wars lived only half-lives. He did not derive a sadistic pleasure from violence, on the contrary, he drew his meaning from the brutal fight for life and death. He viewed man as bravely, but helplessly fighting a hopeless fight against life. If this world is all there is, then what is more noble than to stand up and fight even if one will finally be defeated?
When one espouses such a 'this-worldly' philosophy of life, all one has is 'today' and two existential problems arise.
1. There is no reason why one shouldn't commit suicide. What is the point being strong in a hopeless fight. Why not just kill yourself and be done with it? (In fact, Ernest Hemingway took his philosophy to its logical end by taking his own life.)
2. The impermanence of love and relationships becomes a source of great angst.
Liam Neeson struggles with both these problems in the movie. In the very first scene of the movie, Liam Neeson tries to blow his head-off with his rifle. On and off, he has reveries of sweet memories of his dead wife. He is haunted by impermanence of loving relationship... The sweet memories of love fills his empty real life with a gut wrenching angst he cannot explain or bear. He writes letters to his dead wife in a hopeless attempt to cling to some sense of permanence of love.
On being chased by the wolves, every time someone dies, Liam collects their wallet with the photo of a loved one. All his comrades are dead and he is a lonely man, still being hunted by the wolves. Then from the depth of his grieving heart, he cries out to the God he does not believe in. He asks God to show Himself in 'some real way' in a life that seems so unreal and pointless. Silence, anger and despondency...
He lifts himself up, lonely and hopeless. Looks at all the precious photos of his comrades with their loves ones wives, kids... Cries profusely and buries them along with the letter to his dead wife. He turns back to realize that he is cornered by a pack of wolves and then one last time with a gritty demeanour, clenched fists and ferocious eyes he quotes his poem
Once more into the fray...
For one one last good fight
Live and die today
Live and die today
And gets ready for battle.... Silence... Nothingness... the movie ends and everyone in the theatre was too dazed even to get up. The helplessness depicted is deeply disturbing as one will realize its truth when one looks life in the eye.
Ottway's poetic platitude is partly right in that life is a fight. Often St. Paul uses the idea of a 'good fight'. Where Ottway's poetic platitude runs into a huge problem is that it makes the fight as an end in itself, with no ulterior purpose, meaning or dignity whatsoever.
In contrast, the Christian worldview is based on the revelation of the Truth of everlasting life secured for us by Christ. Christians are called to suffer. But Christian suffering is not a dead end, just like Christ's suffering was not a dead-end. Christ died for us and resurrected into Eternal life in which He has prepared some unimaginably good things for us.
I Cor 2:9
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
This hope of Eternal life is the fuel for our present 'good fight'. Besides, we are not alone in our fight. We have a Helper who will help us through the fight. Christian fight looks back to the crucified and resurrected Lord and forward to the Hope of Eternal life. Without this under-girding, suffering in life becomes a hopeless and meaningless source of angst. And so in order to rationalize suffering and deal with life's harsh realities, men like Diaz will look for meaning and diversion in a 'good f**k' and men like Ottway will look for meaning and dignity in a 'good fight'. Whichever option man chooses, he is at the end of the day but wolf-meat.
The Grey is a movie that gives you a better appreciation for what Christ did on the cross than most expositions of the Gospel you'll hear. It does so not by explaining the Gospel, but by showing how void and angst-filled a life would be without the Gospel. After all, no brilliant baking can engender an appreciation for bread as hunger can.
Gospel driven Christian fight and suffering has dignity in that Christ suffered/suffers alongside us. Our fight has purpose in that we have a greater Hope/Mission. Our fight is not lonely in that it fosters a loving Relationship with the Holy Spirit. After all, but for the Resurrected Lord, we would all be wolf-meat just like the men in 'The Grey'.
