The Catholic Church teaches that everyone is redeemable.  Put differently, we all deserve second chances.  There are a few Biblical bases for this tenet.  In the Old Testament, as the tribes of Israel followed their Exodus to the Promised Land, they sinned several times despite seeing all the wonders God did for them.  Each time, their Father in Heaven swore to Moses, their shepherd, that He would wipe them out and start anew.  Each time, Moses successfully intervened and the people were brought to account for their misdeeds.  In Matthew 18:22, in response to the disciples asking how many times a person should forgive another, Jesus gives a fanciful number of seventy meant to be a symbol for as often as it takes to achieve reconciliation.  The point of giving someone the opportunity to turn things around is so that person can improve themselves.  Ultimately, it is up to the individual to take what is being offered.  Though it is not given in a religious context, one can see these themes at work in Point of No Return (1993).

Indeed, Christian good will is absent from the beginning of Point of No Return.  Drug addicted Maggie Hayward (Bridget Fonda) does not know it yet, but her life is rapidly approaching the title moment.  Stumbling through the streets of Washington, D.C., with a gang of her friends, she enters a drug store they break into in need of a fix.  While they carry on, waking the proprietor and causing them to call the police, she remains on the floor barely aware of what is happening.  It is not until one of the cops has a gun on her after the death of her companions that she acts, taking his weapon, putting it to his head, and pulling the trigger.  Her subsequent arrest sees her attacking other authorities, including throwing a chair at the judge who sentences her to death.  Watching these antics in the background is Bob (Gabriel Byrne).  He is on hand when a panic-stricken Maggie is strapped to the chair for her lethal injection.  Yet, in the next scene, she awakens in a bed in a whitewashed room.  Bob is there with an offer.  He works for the government, and they have a job for her.  If she does not accept, they will make her death an actual reality.  Because her typical default is non-compliance, she tries to get out of it.  Instead, she is given one hour to either give in or die.  Ultimately, her choice is to accept the training to become a high-level government assassin.  Still, her rebelliousness remains.  This comes out particularly while under the tutelage of Amanda (Anne Bancroft), who is part of the program giving lessons in refinement.  While learning proper table manners, Maggie is frustrated by the delicateness of the fancy plates and resorts to eating with her fingers.  Further, while undergoing pistol training, she shoots all the targets, those meant to mimic bad and good guys alike.  This behavior has the program’s head, Kaufman (Miguel Ferrer), telling Bob that Maggie either needs to get in line or they are going to put a bullet in her brain.  Because Bob is soft on Maggie, he gives her this warning.  In light of this threat, with her demise imminent, she goes to Amanda for help.  Within six months, Maggie is a new woman.  As a reward, Bob takes her to dinner.  This is no ordinary night on the town, of course.  Instead, right on the heels of the arrival of champagne, she is given a handgun and told to assassinate two other diners.  Once this is accomplished, the plan is to go to the men’s room and escape through the window.  When she finds the aperture bricked in, she has to shoot her way out of the restaurant.  Upon returning to headquarters, she is furious with Bob for misleading her, punching him in the face.  He replies by informing her that this job was her final test, and she is now ready to be placed in the field with a new identity to await instructions.  Going by the alias Claudia Anne Doran, codenamed “Nina” after her favorite singer, she settles into a fixer-upper apartment overlooking Venice Beach in California.  It does not take her long to develop a romantic relationship with J.P. (Dermot Mulroney), the photographer who showed her the place into which she moved.  Such is the nature of their love life that she seemingly forgets what she had been trained to do until one day she gets a phone call, the voice on the other end saying “Nina” and giving instructions as to where she is to go.  After blowing up a hotel room, Bob comes to check on her.  This turns into a reluctant invitation to a meal at her residence, posing as her uncle.  This is great for J.P. as Maggie has been reticent to share anything about her past.  In the spirit of seemingly ingratiating himself further, he gives them airplane tickets to fly to New Orleans for Mardi Gras.  Unsurprisingly, it is to do a job, which she is ordered to complete while he is in the middle of J.P. asking her to marry him.  It is becoming too much for Maggie, and she travels to Washington, D.C. to confront Bob and demand that she no longer be given missions.  When Bob says he cannot help, Maggie turns to Amanda.  Amanda is non-committal, but Maggie takes it as a sign of her mentor’s assistance, leaving the file of her next target with Amanda.  Bob turns up soon thereafter In Venice Beach with the same information, saying that if she completes this last task, he will help her.  Unfortunately, this one does not go as smoothly as others.  When her and her partner accidentally kill the girlfriend of their planned victim, the agency sends Victor (Harvey Keitel), who they call “The Cleaner,” to take care of the bodies.  He then drives her to the planned destination.  With some difficulty, she finishes the job.  However, because of the issues, Kaufman makes the decision to have Victor eliminate Maggie.  Luckily, she is able to take care of him before Bob is needed.  He goes to her apartment, but is greeted by J.P., who seems to know the secrets that had been kept from him.  J.P. says that Maggie is gone, and Bob leaves.  Though he sees her walking away, he informs Kaufman that she is dead and the film ends.

I like to think that Maggie is fully rehabilitated by the end of Point of No Return.  I made the point early in my plot synopsis that the incident in the drug store is the title moment.  If nothing else, it is certainly the catalyst.  It is unfortunate that it had to lead to her becoming an assassin, but aside from the killing, the experience taught her discipline.  Her life before the program was directionless.  To be sure, as a Catholic, I do not approve of the new direction.  As it turns out, neither did she.  One of the things God seems to often remind me of is the fact that everything that happens to us can be used for His glory.  When times are good, we should thank God, which is a way of giving Him glory.  When times are bad, we should cling to God, which accomplishes the same thing.  It is a sort of balance, and that is something that Amanda tells Maggie right away when the wayward girl is finally ready to submit.  Spiritually speaking, this is the real point of no return, at least in terms of our relationship with God, because it is only when we reach our lowest that we can understand God’s power in all areas of our lives.  At the same time, transformations are gradual.  Yes, from one scene to the next, Maggie goes from rebellious grunge girl defying authority to sporting a refined smile and a cocktail dress.  Still, the government finds her tendency to violence useful.  Arguably, Amanda’s tutelage is too good.  By showing Maggie that there is an alternative to immediately punching somebody in the face, it puts her on a path to giving up violence for something better.  Her relationship with J.P., while not the most Catholic in terms of its physical intimacy, nonetheless cements the change began with Amanda.  Interestingly, during her last mission, with her gun poised to deliver a fatal shot, she hesitates, her hand shaking.  The coup de grace is also not shown.  Again, Faith does not play a role in the plot.  Yet, I hold it up as evidence that people can change.  It works best with God, but we can appreciate this story, too.

While there is some inappropriateness in Point of No Return regarding sex and violence, it is not as bad as some others.  I also expected it to be a little cheesier than what it is, but my memory was faulty on this score.  If on no other grounds, I recommend this film because it shows a person ultimately doing the right thing, and we can always use more of such stories.