Welcome to the Movie Mystic!

Before we begin, I want to add a couple of post-Oscar observations: it was a weird evening, wasn’t it? Finding the appropriate tone between celebration and respect seemed to me to be a constant challenge all night … Personally, I was most thrilled that Nicole Kidman won and most shocked at the two big “upsets”—Roman Polanski for Best Director and Adrien Brody for Best Actor … Brody stole the show (and millions of hearts!) … and, speaking of Brody: with all the brouhaha about Michael Moore’s acceptance speech for Bowling for Columbine, can you imagine how relieved Halle Berry must have been that she didn’t present that award!

Okay … onward to The Core…

The phrase “a vast wasteland” was originally applied to network television but it also seems to apply to the films so far in 2003. The first three months of the year produced exactly 0 movies about which I felt I could write. In 2002, I felt that there were only two serious (American-made) movies worth noting in the first nine months of the year (Road to Perdition and Unfaithful) and this year has started off similarly. As many of you know, I usually do not write about movies that I don’t enjoy and the films we discuss each month are not “reviewed” in the traditional sense of that word; rather, we look at metaphysical messages in films, both current and classic. (In response to some reader inquiries, the reason I do not discuss as many foreign films is that many of them are not available in most places across the country and I want the column to be useful to as many people as possible. Conversely, I get many emails from our friends outside the United States that refer to having to wait for American films for several months after they are released domestically.)

Recently, however, I did enjoy The Core and I think its release is timely in a very meaningful and eerie way.

On one level, The Core is simply a fun ride. Popcorn and drink in hand, you can escape for two hours into an entertaining and pleasantly diverting adventure.

On another level, however, there is something more meaningful at work. The plot of The Core revolves (pun intended) around the discovery that the earth’s liquid (outer) magnetic core has ceased spinning around the solid base core of the planet. This occurrence has thrown the Earth into environmental chaos that will destroy the planet unless the core can be “jump-started.” A team of scientists and other experts is recruited to build a ship that will burrow to the core and detonate nuclear devices that will cause a chain reaction and, hopefully, stimulate the liquid core to begin spinning again.

For me, The Core reflects our reminder to ourselves that our planet is in both an environmental and political crisis. The film even addresses our creation of “weapons of mass destruction” and the disaster in the film itself seems to have been caused by our experimentation with one of those weapons, somewhat incongruously but very significantly named “Destiny.”

The Core thusly fits into the category that I call in Chapter Four of my book “Fires, Floods, Earthquakes, and Riots”:

“Why are there so many films that posit that the only way we can get to the future is to go through disaster first?

“I believe that the answer lies in our sense memories as a species that have only experienced either catastrophe or decay. We have trouble envisioning positive futures because we have not in our past been able to evolve into one; therefore, filmmakers have taken their ‘inspirations’ from our fears.

“All of these films contain cautionary messages about the ways we have destroyed ourselves in the past — technology, overpopulation, pollution, nuclear power, violence, natural disasters, loss of freedom — and serve as reminders of what we are committed to avoiding this time around.

“Taken just at face value, the messages of the films could be perceived by doomsday ‘enthusiasts’ as frightening; however, I experience them very differently.

“Once you have faced a fear head-on, it loses its power. If a warning light comes on in your car letting you know that you need oil, you stop at a gas station and add oil to the engine. The warning light then goes out. When seen from that perspective, the messages of the movies in this chapter are actually about empowerment; that is, they exist to remind us of our understanding and promise to each other and ourselves that we will not allow any of these doomsday scenarios to ever happen ... again.”

For me then, The Core is simply another reminder that we are here to change the course that we have charted in other civilizations at other times in our evolution. To end with another quote from Chapter Four of my book:

“The ‘glass half-empty’ approach would be to look at these fears as a harbinger of terrible tragedies that are about to occur. The ‘glass completely full’ approach sees the fears, acknowledges them, and simply determines that, however complex the engine may appear, adding oil to the crank case will keep the engine light off.”

Stephen Simon has produced such films as Somewhere in Time and What Dreams May Come. His book The Force is With You: Mystical Movie Messages That Inspire Our Lives, published by Walsch Books/Hampton Roads, is now available. Stephen also leads seminars, telecourses, and inspirational Mystical Movie events around the world. For more information, please visit MysticalMovies.com. Stephen welcomes your comments by email: Stephen@MysticalMovies.com)

MovieMystic Chakra Rating for The Core:

Chakra 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Rating 3 3 2 2 3 2 3

(For an explanation of THE CHAKRA RATING SYSTEM, please visit www.Mysticalmovies.com.)