FILMS OF FAITH

I was very pleased to read Kristine McKenna’s piece “A Closer Walk With Thee” (March 2). McKenna, thankfully, treats the subject of theology in film with respect and studiousness. It is refreshing and inventive for The Times to reach outside the sheltered sky of studio economics in discussing movies.

In empathizing with filmmakers who find their work neither in the lap of the film industry nor in the lap of God, McKenna successfully respects the role of film in a continuum of spiritual discussion, a discussion that will continue long after warehouses of Hollywood reels have turned to dust.

ANDY NATHAN

Corona

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Thank you for Kristine McKenna’s insightful article lamenting the lack of spiritual depth in all-too-many Hollywood films.

Case in point: The media are currently falling all over themselves promoting the film version of the sanitized life story of a “stern” man who has made a career out of being mean-spirited, foul-mouthed and utterly self-absorbed.

But I can tell you from personal experience--not as some sort of religious zealot but simply as a God-fearing man--that you will find almost no interest in Hollywood for a screenplay adapting verbatim the miraculous life story of a lowly man, worshiped by a billion people as no less than the son of God, who befriended the wretched, condemned the corrupt and ultimately gave his life so that we might live forever.

Of course, some would argue, “The former life story sold several million books in a single year.” But I would have to reply, “The latter life story sold and continues to sell 100 million copies every single year.”

It isn’t that there isn’t a sizable audience longing for a good production of a divine story (how many tens of millions are “Touched by an Angel” week in, week out?) or that Hollywood doesn’t have the technology, or the power, or even the finesse to tackle the big questions, but apparently we just lack the courage.

And we are all the poorer.

DOUGLAS DRENKOW

Arcadia