In Inferno, Dante is sent to Hell by God because he has “strayed from
his path” and given Virgil as a guide. Yet in “Dante’s Inferno”, Dante wakes up
in an alley and is found by Virgil. It is unknown how he ended up in Hell, but
the reason why is clear. He’s downloaded Metallica, been divorced more than
once, and has a drinking problem. As Dante goes through the levels of Hell, he
relies on Virgil to take care of him, as in the original. But the scene where
an angel allows them safe passage is taken out entirely. Instead Virgil pulls
out a gun and shoots the monster that is pursuing them. In the whole movie, God
is not needed to save the travelers at any point.
In the
middle of the movie, Dante asks the question, “Who decides?” As in, who decides
who goes to Hell and what their punishment is? It is interestingly implied that
we, not God, are the ones who decide who go to Hell. This is in stark contrast
to Inferno, where Dante marvels at
God’s power by saying in Canto XXIV, “Oh, how severe it is, the power of God
that, at its vengeance, showers down such blows!” In the poem, God’s choices
are always just and absolute, and to doubt them earns Dante a rebuke from
Virgil. But in the movie, we see Hitler sent to Hell for consulting
astrologers, which Dante expresses confusion over. Virgil replies that “sometimes,
you can only catch the really bad guys on a technicality.” Dante also believes
Mr. Latini is in Hell because of “anti-gay legislation” and expresses more
sympathy for him than in the book. Clearly, in the movie, an omnipotent being is
not the one sending people to Hell if the system has to rely on technicalities
and outdated laws like the American legal system (which was probably the
intended criticism of the filmmakers).
Hell in
the movie doesn’t seem to be much of a Christian place. As with in the poem,
many Christian religious figures are sent there, but the movie seeks to make
fun of American religious conservatives. I find this funny since religious
conservatives are more likely to believe in Hell than the intended audience of
the movie. Overall, the message Dante learns is less of a Christian message,
and more of a PSA to get his life back on track.
I find it very interesting that in the film it is suggested that people decide who goes to Hell, not God. It seems like in this day and age, Christians are becoming more lenient about what is and is not okay, and who will or will not end up in Hell. In Dante’s time, his view on sin and the types of people who go to Hell was most likely pretty similar to most other Christians’ views during that time period. Now, the times have drastically changed as more and more things become acceptable and “mainstream.” Most Christians, with some exceptions of course, have become less conservative and don’t believe that many of the sins Dante condemned people for in the poem are sins worthy of sending people to Hell. Many Christians only believe that the “baddest of the bad” go to Hell. A big reason for this may be that people realize that if Hell does exist they are in big trouble. An increasing number of Christians don’t even believe that Hell exists or that it is as bad as Dante makes it seem in his poem. I would definitely agree that society decides who is good and who is bad, what sins should be condemned and which ones should not. I also think that society decides whether people are remembered for the good things they do in their lives whether they are remembered for the bad things they do.
ReplyDeleteI also find it interesting that the movie suggests that people, rather than God, decide who goes to Hell. Another example from the movie that I believe illustrates this is when Virgil is describing the time when certain people were removed from Limbo. At this point, a human hand clearly picked up certain individuals and took them out of Hell. This instance stuck out to me because of the presence of an actual person rather than another puppet. To me, the presence of a human at this moment suggested that the most powerful entity was actually humans. Had the creators wanted to present this entity as God they could have created a puppet of Jesus, or created another Heavenly representation of God similar to the portrait of Beatrice. That a human hand removed characters from Hell suggests that people can change the idea of who goes to Hell. A person literally decided that those people no longer belonged in Hell. This is related to legislation, in that people can decide that something that was previously against the law shouldn’t actually be illegal. Laws are typically based off the opinions of the majority. In the movie, Hell seems to be based primarily on legislation, which is controlled by people.
ReplyDeleteJust to be the Devil’s Advocate of this post, I’m going to very briefly explore some of the non-secular moments of the film. The first few moments of the film stay fairly strictly to the source material: Dante is alone, his phone isn’t getting reception and he’s in a pretty dark and scary part of town. After meeting Virgil, he finds out that Beatrice sent Virgil after descending from Heaven. In the final scene, Dante says that “Beatrice set this whole thing up.” Sinners like Caiaphas and Judas still reside in Hell, still sentenced because of what they did to Jesus. Similarly, simony is not only addressed as a sin, but the number of Popes in Hell is expanded by three more, two for simony and John Paul II for… comedic effect and social commentary?
ReplyDeleteIn other words, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that the movie presents an entirely secular Hell, totally devoid of God’s judgment or justice. If the choice of humans in placing individuals in Hell were the only response this film presents to the question “Who decides?”, then there would almost be no need for Dante to experience Hell – all of those who had transgressed the law, in his eyes, would be there. Dante would never have asked the question “Who decides?”, because he would understand why the people were being punished; because the judgment would be human instead of divine, he would not have passed out in Ante-Hell, or in the First Ring.