THE OMEN

US, 2006, 110 minutes, Colour.
Liev Schreiber, Julia Styles, David Thewliss, Mia Farrow, Pete Postlethwaite, Michael Gambon.
Directed by John Moore.

It is the 6th of the 6th 06 – and, in fact, the screening of The Omen this afternoon finished at 6.06 pm – so it seems a suitable moment for a statement on the film.

A preliminary observation. It has been amazing and irritating that in recent weeks we have been approached by newspapers and radio programs not so much about the film but about seemingly trivial matters. It was not for clarification of issues or the position of the Church. Rather, journalists were asking about women who allegedly don’t want to give birth on the 6th of June because of what they have heard about the number of the devil, 666. And they don’t want to call their sons Damien because that is the name of the devil.

People who declare that they are not religious, who are sceptical about the teachings of Christianity suddenly give credence to superstitions from who knows where or seemingly religious gossip. As regards the name Damien for the devil, that was invented by writer David Seltzer in the 1970s for the screenplay of the original Omen. Nothing to do with the Bible. And there are all kinds of discussion about the symbolism of 666 (not a date, let alone a date in our times) for the early Church and the Roman Empire.

So, in the immediate wake of The Da Vinci Code comes the remake of the 1976 film, The Omen. This present version is more respectful of the Church than Code’s blatant criticisms and implications, even if it opens with a bizarre-looking cleric at the Vatican observatory noting strange comets in the skies (echoes of stars over Bethlehem). The cleric hurries to inform a cardinal in Rome. The cardinal then explains recent events (Sept 11th, wars in the Middle East, hurricanes) to the Pope and the Curia along ultra-literal lines of interpretation of selected texts from the Apocalypse. (Actually, some very evangelical groups, especially in the US might not think them so far-fetched). One cannot imagine Benedict XVI listening to this kind of biblical hokum!

As regards the official church, there is nothing more, except a dying scene for the Pope where the Cardinal rushes to kneel by his bedside, presumably to tell him the bad news that Damien lives. And the Pope dies. There are two demented priests who have been caught up in the birth of the antichrist and have participated in having the baby adopted by an American diplomat who is the godson of the American president. Those who know the two Omen sequels are aware how significant this is for Damien’s easy entrée into world politics and business. (The riff given to the beast arising from the eternal sea is that this is not meant to be taken literally – while everything else is – and means the turmoil of the sea of politics).

Novelists and screenwriters as we realise, particularly at this Da Vinci hypothesis and conspiracy time, invent scenarios that rely on a medley of historical facts, legends and religious images. They are fascinated by apocalyptic texts, sometimes inventing them as in Omen 3, and eager to apply them to the present. They can be imaginative ‘what ifs…?’. The Omen is clearly one of these scenarios.

However. While non-Christians and non-believers can watch The Omen or dismiss it as a piece of imaginative nonsense, it is not so easy for believers to dismiss it.

One of the intriguing features of both Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby (1968), the first of the incarnation of evil films, and Richard Donner’s The Omen (1976) is that they postulate the incarnation of the devil. This came as something of a shock to us in the 1960s. We had not quite imagined this scenario. But it made Catholics reflect that, if the incarnation of God was possible, then so was the incarnation of evil. With the cultural and religious questioning of the 1960s, especially with Time Magazine’s take on the movements and opinions of say, Bishop John Robinson in the UK, ‘Honest to God’ and Paul Tillich and others suggesting in the US that there should be a moratorium on the word, ‘God’, with alternates like ‘Ground of our being’, the question was ‘Is God Dead?’. This was the black-background, red-letter cover of Time at Easter 1966 (which Polanski actually used in his film, the magazine that Rosemary read in the doctor’s waiting room). In the early 1970s came possession films, The Exorcist (1973) and its sequel and many derivatives. Audiences were invited to raise issues of the devil, incarnation and possession, that both fascinated and frightened people.

Is it the same today? Are we so apprehensive now with terrorist attacks, wars, earthquakes and tsunamis that we wonder about God’s presence and the presence of evil, of the demonic? Does the modern fascination with religious conspiracies add its influence? Has western culture lost its knowledge of Christian roots, symbols, images and teaching that audiences are prone to believe anything without checking it critically? These are questions that the Church today has to come to grips with.

In the meantime, The Omen itself?

David Seltzer has again written the screenplay, putting the events in a 21st century context. He has also made the parents of Damien (Liev Schreiber and Julia Styles) much younger than Gregory Peck and Lee Remick. Otherwise, it is very close to the original, relying on atmosphere and eerie suspense rather than horror (although the three upsetting deaths from 1976 are repeated in the same upsetting way here and the menacing dogs are present again). A footnote of interest is that the nanny this time is a fey Mia Farrow, looking surprisingly like Rosemary of 1968 rather than her sixty years. David Thewliss is the photographer and Pete Postlethwaite has melodramatic moments as the disturbing priest, Fr Brennan.

Dramatically and thematically, the film is quite pessimistic. It looks as though evil triumphs. After destroying his family and others who helped them, Damien survives and, as in the original, he stands at the graveside of his father, hand in hand with the president, turns to the audience with his perpetual malevolent expression – and then smiles. Obviously, it is all open to a sequel. For believers, fortunately, the sequel is optimistic, a sequel of grace.

For those who don’t know the original, The Omen may come as a surprise. For those who appreciated the original, the surprise element is long gone, so it is a matter of looking at the plot and questions more closely.

The Omen is a reminder to those who believe in God that there is evil in our world, that it is malicious and destructive. It is alarming to see it embodied in a five year old child who appears more and more sinister and ruthless. A diabolical passive-aggressive.

1.The impact of the original film in 1976? The theme, attitudes of the world in the 70s, belief, faith? The remake in 2006? The marketing for 6-6-06?

2.The quality of the remake, David Selzer updating his own screenplay, the differences, the cast, the issues? The remake following closely the original screenplay? The musical score – and incorporation of some of the original themes by Jerry Goldsmith?

3.Audiences of 2006, their attitudes towards religion, towards the church, belief and faith? The discrediting of faith and the church? Superstition abounding? Women not wanting to call their children Damien? The background of The da Vinci Code and conspiracies? Undermining the authority of the church?

4.The new cast, the younger leads, different age, less gravitas? The effectiveness of having a younger set of parents?

5.The prologue, the Vatican observatory, the strange-looking cleric, observing the stars and the comets, his hurrying to see the cardinal, the cardinal in his study and his writing, the cardinal addressing the pope and the curia, the explanation of the disasters of the 21st century, September 11th, the war in Iraq, hurricanes and tsunamis? According to the revelations of the apocalypse? The end of the film, the pope on his deathbed, the cardinal coming to give him the news, the pope’s death – and his spilling the cup of wine over himself?

6.Rome, the American embassy, the American staff, Robert Thorne and his work? The godson of the president? The death of the ambassador in the car crash and the explosion? Robert Thorne getting the UK job, Katherine and her happiness? The irony of the Satanists choosing this context for the incarnation of the devil? To go into politics? The interpretation of the eternal sea from which the beast would arise as the world of politics?

7.The hospital sequences, Katherine and her giving birth and her exhaustion, not knowing the child was dead? The priest, his discussions with Robert? His advising Robert not to see the baby? His explanation about the adoption, that it should be a secret from Katherine? Robert accepting this? Katherine and the early scenes with Damien, the baby in the hospital, growing up, her devotion and care of him? Her never knowing that he was adopted? Her later feeling with his alienation that she was not his mother? Robert and his feelings about the adoption later? Robert going to see the priest, finding the truth about the cemetery, seeing the corpse of the baby?

8.The transition of the family to the United Kingdom, the big house and their moving in, Katherine hoping that Robert would like it? Their life there, the years passing, the happy times with Damien?

9.Damien and his fifth birthday, the party, the crowds gathering, the lawn party, the cake and the candles? The nanny and her declaring she was doing what she did for Damien, hanging herself? People’s shock? Damien showing no emotion? Keith Jennings and his photographing the death? The interviews for the nanny’s job, Mrs Balylock and her late arrival, the interview, her producing her references? Saying that she wanted to serve? Her beginning to make decisions for Damien, especially about the dog? Katherine and Robert countermanding her decisions? Mrs Baylock and his protectiveness of Damien? Service for him? Finally taking him to the hospital, getting him to wait in the corridor while she killed Katherine?

10.Father Brennan, mad, his accosting Robert? The apocalyptic warnings? His wanting Robert to repent? His wanting to save himself? Keith and his taking the photos, at the party, the meetings with Father Brennan? The meeting under the bridge, Robert and his moving away, the storm, Father Brennan at the church, the lightning and his death, being transfixed?

11.Keith as a journalist, taking the photos, at the party, at the reception, his camera being smashed by Robert, Robert offering to pay damages? His taking more photos? His phoning Robert, offering him the evidence, the light in all the photos of the nanny and Father Brennan, the light over himself? His being involved, potential death? Robert accepting his help? Their going to Rome, meeting the nun, the information about the hospital burning down, the records being destroyed? Her own disfigurement? Keith and his looking up the interpretations of the scripture? Robert and his remembering the poem that the priest recited in the hospital in Rome, the destruction of people and the installation of the devil? The travelling to the monastery, meeting the old priest, his blindness, his giving the information about the cemetery? The visit to the cemetery? Going to Israel, the Palestinian territories, the diggings at Megiddo? The soldiers on the streets? Their going to see the archaeologist, his warnings, the issue of the knives, Robert not wanting to take them, Keith taking them? His catching up with Robert, the dropping of the knife, the accident and his being beheaded?

12.Katherine and Robert and their tension, Damien and Katherine’s feelings, going to the psychologist and the discussions, her being pregnant and deciding that she should have an abortion? With Damien, Mrs Baylock? Her watering the plant, Damien and his scooter, bumping into her, her fall and injury? Going to the hospital, Robert’s concern? His being absent when she died? Mrs Baylock? administering the poison and speaking soothingly to Katherine as she died?

13.The sequences in Rome, the nun and the news about the fire, the monks and their looking after the priest, the priest and his conscience?

14.The archaeologist, his eccentricities, drinking, information, advice, gift of the knives? Instructions about how to kill Damien?

15.The film’s emphasis on Israel – in the light of apocalyptic understandings and the clashes between Israel and the Palestinians?

16.Robert and his return on the plane, holding the knives, his motivation, going home, taking Damien, the confrontation with Mrs Baylock, her being run over? Hurrying to the church, the police following him, his being about to kill Damien at the altar, the police shooting him?

17.The funeral sequence, the military honours, the president at his godson’s burial? His holding Damien’s hand, Damien turning round and smiling? The future?