The complex plot of the movie intellectually challenging, as bioethical questions regarding medicine, reproduction, and cloning are raised and considered not simply as plot devices, but as extended reflections on the nature of human beings who live in social relation. Where the movie is at its most insightful is in its realization that absolute political power, even where it is instituted with good and laudable intentions, has the inevitable tendency to bring out the depravity of those in power. Lord Acton’s truism, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” was never more applicable than here.
Where the film falters, however, is in its portrayal of the underlying foundations of a just political arrangement. The framers of the Declaration of Independence had in mind the explicit model of human rights derived from God, that people are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” At best, Aeon Flux evidences a sort of implicit humanist sentimentality.
To be sure, there is no scientific naturalism in the film’s underlying message, as it emphasizes the power and love of the human soul. But Aeon’s ultimate wish is simply that the people of Bregna will be able to die with a hope in the future fulfillment of self-realized human potential.
This falls far short of the fullness of hope that comes with the recognition of God and an afterlife. Aeon ultimately recognizes half of the biblical formula, that “man is destined to die once,” but does not go further to realize that hope in the face of judgment in death consists in that “Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” (Hebrews 9:27-28 NIV) This is the only basis for true hope in this world, and the perfect society will necessarily remain a myth until this foundation is realized.
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Jordan J. Ballor is associate editor at the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion & Liberty in Grand Rapids, Mich.
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Article comments
1 - BG
I watched the first episode on the new box set last night and it's everything I dreamed it would be. It looked like it was made last week instead of 10 years ago. Some of the best animation ever made. Great eye candy and worth every penny it costs.
2 - Anna
Great review, but I disagree with you on your last point. I don't think that a utopian society can exist because we are still human and sinful creatures, no matter how much we strive to follow Christ. No theocracy has ever existed without becoming as corrupt as secular governments can be corrupted.
3 - Jordan
Anna, I meant ultimately an eschatological realization of this hope, thus the reference to the second coming in Heb. 9:28.