Entertainment

What the Magnificent Seven Says About American Faith

bogue

The Magnificent Seven begins in a church. It ends in a church. And even though the actual church building is a burned-out shell for much of the movie, the edifice still towers over the little town of Rose Creek—a charred, broken prophet, its shadow casting judgment over those who pass through.

Throughout American cinematic history, the Western has long been a lens through which America sees itself—at our best and worst. It’s given us our defining heroes and served as a crucible through which we judge what’s right and wrong. So it’s only fitting that The Magnificent Seven—a remake of a fine classic from 1960 and a throwback to the gun-twirling, sharpshooting Westerns of yore—would settle its steely gaze on something else that has helped defined us as a nation: religion.

From the first shot fired to the closing credits, faith—especially Christian faith—undergirds the story in fascinating, sometimes uncomfortable ways. It shows us how we use and often abuse religion for our own ends. And yet faith is a force for good here, too, enmeshed with themes of sacrifice and redemption and, of course, a bit of terminal justice.

Click below to see what I mean.

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