When you want to show a movie in a Catholic parish setting, there is a list of approved films from which you can pick. This has nothing to do with censorship, or the desire to show only quality productions, whatever that means.  Instead, it is about money.  There are laws in this country that prohibit the showing of a piece of cinema to an audience outside of it being strictly for educational purposes.  This is why, within reason, you can watch whatever you want in school without being penalized.  For reasons that only somebody with a far more advanced degree in civics than I possess can tell you, this does not apply to religious organizations.  Maybe it has something to do with their non-profit status, but that is purely speculation.  At any rate, I speak from experience having worked in a few parishes and being told that I had to look through catalogs of motion pictures before showing them to an audience, no matter their age.  This becomes particularly tricky when you are dealing with youth because picking something broadly entertaining for them is a thankless task.  One selection that I always ran across is Evan Almighty (2007).  If you are familiar with it, you will understand why it made for a difficult option for youth nights.  This is a shame because there are some great Christian themes in it, so many that I wonder whether those who made it knew what they were doing.

Evan Baxter (Steve Carell) is not yet Evan Almighty, but he is a newscaster turned politician.  We start with him on the set of his last broadcast following his election from Buffalo, New York, to the United States Congress.  Running on a campaign slogan of wanting to change the world, he brings his reluctant family of five to the Washington D.C. area. Actually, his wife, Joan Baxter (Lauren Graham), is more supportive, but his three sons come around when they see the large home he has purchased for them in a new housing development.  To complete their transition, Evan promises a hiking trip after his first day on Capitol Hill.  When he gets there, his staff inform him that senior Congressman Chuck Long (John Goodman) would like to meet the newcomer.  Congressman Long expects Evan to back a new bill to make federally protected land available for private development.  The junior lawmaker is eager to please and agrees to take the draft home to familiarize himself with its contents.  This means no family outing, much to the Baxter boys’ disappointment.  It is at this point that strange items begin showing up around their home.  The first is a wooden box at their front door containing old fashioned tools for building an ark.  The next morning, with only the “Gen” appearing on their General Electric alarm clock, Evan and Joan are awakened at 6:14 am.  Yes, this is meant to be Genesis 6:14, which reads, “Make yourself an ark of gopherwood, equip the ark with various compartments, and cover it inside and out with pitch.”  To complete the pun, when they wake up a load of wood is dropped off outside from a company called “Go 4 Wood.”  Get it?  As Evan is trying to understand the meaning of these odd occurrences, he is greeted at the lumber pile by God (Morgan Freeman).  Evan does not immediately recognize the Divine presence, and does his best to ignore the evident when He keeps popping up in places as if He were omnipresent, which God is, of course.  When God is finally able to tell Evan the task for which the mortal has been chosen, still he denies it could be real.  Hence, God continues to send Evan signs.  At first it is flocks of birds following him wherever he goes, showing up in his office inconveniently when he is supposed to discuss further Congressman Long’s legislation.  Next comes a beard that Evan cannot shave off, growing back as quickly as he cuts off the whiskers.  Once he finally gives in and commences construction, the facial hair length accelerates, as does that on top of his head, and God leaves His instrument a set of Noah-appropriate robes.  Given all the other crazy things that have taken place, Evan takes this development in stride, quickly getting comfortable in his new clothes.  This is when Joan finally intervenes, pleading with her husband to stop what appears to be insanity.  He eventually explains what God has asked of him, which only increases her worry.  As such, Evan attempts one last time to be the Congressman everyone expects, tucking his robes under a business suit in order to appear semi-normal at the Capitol building.  In the middle of a committee hearing, though, with Congressman Long calling on Evan to vocalize support for the measure, Evan stands up and is once more in his robes and surrounded by animals.  The next day, Joan leaves with the kids and Evan is alone in constructing the ark.  Further, with Evan’s apparent abnormal behavior, Congressman Long moves to have Evan suspended.  His staff also reveal that there are powerful interests behind Congressman Long, particularly in the development of the neighborhood to which the Baxters moved.  Congressman Long had okayed the building of a dam that made the land possible for housing.  Despite the staff’s pleadings to come back and do something about this malfeasance, Evan remains focused on putting together the ark.  He had been given warning that the time for its completion is near, and he gets some help from his family when God persuades Joan to return with the children.  On the appointed day, with reporters on hand, it seems that nothing is happening despite the animals boarding the boat two-by-two.  It is not until Congressman Long’s dam bursts sending water rampaging down the valley that everyone crowds onto what had previously been seen as Evan’s folly.  They ride a wave through our nation’s capital, stopping outside of Congress where a humiliated Congressman Long must answer for his shady dealings.  Vindicated, Evan goes back to normal and finally has that hike with his family, but not before having one more direct interaction with God.

On that note, one of the wonderful points mentioned in Evan Almighty is that God is with all of us and loves us, which means we can interact with Him any time we want.  There are many other directions I can take my discussion of the film that would be satisfying in specifically Catholic, and generally Christian, ways.  For example, Evan comes to prefer to eat unleavened bread, which is exactly what Jesus ate at the Last Supper, and what we Catholics consume at Mass as the Body of Christ.  What I prefer to focus on, though, is the lesson Evan learns about surrendering to God’s will.  This is something all Christians struggle with, and I am not sure that Evan would call himself one at the beginning.  There is a scene early on when Joan says their sons asked that they pray together, but he seems to scoff at the idea.  It is not until he is about to go into his first day as a congressman that he gets down on his knees and asks for Divine assistance.  He is not the first person to turn to God in a moment of perceived need, nor will Evan be the last.  It is incredible how people only want to think of our Creator in times of stress, but while He prefers that it be more often (which is directly said in the movie), He is happy for whatever we can give Him.  What we need to understand is that God does not always answer us in the exact manner we expect, but He hears and responds to everything.  That person you prayed for to survive some life-threatening disease, even if it resulted in death, know that your pleas garnered some response.  While we can pray for the supposed benefit of others, it is really ourselves that are changed.  Relying on God means trusting Him, and molding our plans to His.  This is the heart of Evan’s initial rebellion as he complains to God that none of this is how he envisioned his life going.  And when Evan asks God why He is doing this, the Almighty comes back with saying it is because He loves us.  The film further asserts that everything He does is out of love.  This is some pretty heavy theology, but it is the truth that made and makes the world.  By giving into it, look at the amazing things that can be accomplished as seen by Evan’s construction of an ark.

How many of us if called upon would put our lives on hold in order to build an ark like Evan Almighty is asked by God? Not that I am trying to say that I would do so without hesitation, but I felt an affinity with Evan’s task and my pursuits with The Legionnaire.  Hence, I recommend this film if you have ever had trouble finding the courage to do something seemingly impossible.  It might just be a sign from the Almighty.