I woke up during the night after we saw the movie, and couldn't get the scenes of the moose in Alaska out of my head. Each time I tried to roll over and go back to sleep, I kept feeling this tug to consider what the moose was representing. There was this idea floating around that when Chris shot the moose, it was symbolic of Old Testament sacrifice.
McCandless begins butchering the animal, and soon has thick red blood all over himself, especially his hands and arms. Even during the movie, I thought of Aaron and the priests slaughtering the bulls on the altar, and maybe for the first time realized how much blood had to be flowing all over the temple. As the scene in the movie unfolds, you see that the kill - the sacrifice of the moose - was for naught as the meat spoils, which Chris calls "the worst tragedy of my life." From something that was supposed to be good (provide meat), Chris was devastated to learn that the sacrifice was insufficient and he was still in need.
A powerfully revealing scene is when Chris is trying to wash the blood off in the river. It's thick, dried, and hard to get off. A quick scene change shows an over-head view looking down on a naked, clean McCandless, floating in the water on his back with his arms outstretched like Jesus on the cross.
The power of this scene comes from remembering the previous scene, complete with the blood of the sacrifice, which is replaced with a scene of purity. Is it possible that his nakedness points to a rebirth? Is the experience - the worst tragedy of his life - opening the door for forgiveness? Is the water a symbol of baptism?
Can God teach me about those things through a moose being shot in Alaska?
No comments:
Post a Comment