The Gospel in 'Furiosa'

Dear Reader, 

You know I love stories, and if you didn’t know that yet I’m now declaring it as loudly as I can. 

“I LOVE STORIES!!!”

(I hope you read that last line as if I was yelling from a rooftop.)

I truly do love them, one could say I’m -somewhat obsessed with them, but then again there are worse things to be obsessed with. 

Last week I got the chance to witness a film in an IMAX theater. If you don’t know what that means, in its purest form it’s the highest resolution, biggest screen, and loudest sound. 

Their goal is to transport you into the film you’re watching. And boy oh boy did they nail it on the head. 

I watched ‘Furiosa’ by George Miller, and it was nuts. I’ll do my best to explain the story and my perception of it. 

(SPOILER ALERT)

The world’s society ends very abruptly, most likely nuclear warfare is involved but not confirmed. What we watch play out is the remains of the human race and how they respond to surviving in a desolate wasteland. 

Furiosa is a young girl who lives in a part of the world where people treat each other well. They are loving and kind, but they would be easily taken advantage of by the savages in the world. 

She is taken from her home, her mother sets out to save her, and is captured and killed by scavengers ruled by the madman Dementus. 

Dementus wants to have some sort of stability in life and to lead his group of miscreants to a life worth living. He preaches of equality and justice, but realistically can’t deliver on it due to the harsh circumstances.

For the majority of the movie, we see two things. 

Dementus destroys everything good in order to remake it better (in his eyes), and Furiosa wants to enact revenge on the one who took her away from paradise and her mother. 

It truly is a film that showcases the slow burn of humanity’s truly depraved nature. There is one character that seems to be perfect, not making morally wrong decisions on camera anyway, and Furiosa gravitates towards him as often as she can. 

Jack (The Jesus Figure) shows her mercy and compassion when she does wrong, and teaches her how to survive without sacrificing your morality. 

He gives himself up for her on multiple occasions, and it was truly good to be reminded of that reality with Jesus and myself. 

The story of Furiosa ends rather abruptly. She is tormented throughout the film and comes out the other side full of vengeance.

Dementus creates so much havoc and turmoil and just runs away. Furiosa chases him down and finally has the chance to enact her revenge. 

Don’t get me wrong, she whoops him for a while. But the ending was kind of nice, she doesn’t end up taking his life because she realizes what she became throughout the course of the film. She was becoming more like Dementus and less like Jack, and that’s not the story she wanted to be told of her. 

She allows justice to have its way with Dementus, and she decides to spend the rest of her life righting the wrongs enacted on others. 

To wrap this up I will say that thinking about humanity in light of the future can be horrifying. The events in Revelation can be hard to swallow, but I believe it’s safe to say that our King and Lord is good, and He will do as He sees fit. 

I don’t know if we will ever reach the apocalyptic narrative that Furiosa weaves, but I know that I aim to be a light in the darkness wherever My Lord puts me. 

Sincerely,

Your Fellow Somewhat Mad Man, 

-Mitchell