Lent Reviews Year 6 Week 1: The Secret of the Kells (2009) (Saturday Evening Cartoons)

 So in peace our task we ply,

Pangur Ban, my cat, and I;

In our arts we find our bliss,

I have mine and he has his.

Practice every day has made

Pangur perfect in his trade;

I get wisdom day and night

Turning darkness into light. 

From "Pangur Bán" translated by Robin Flower

     The Secret of the Kells was released on March 3rd, 2009. It is directed by Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey and written by Moore and Fabrice Ziolkowski. It tells the story of a young boy named Brendan (Evan McGuire) who lives with the monks at the Abbey of Kells in Ireland. The arrival of brother Aidan (Mick Lally), the keeper of the Book of Iona, leads Brendan to develop a keen interest in assisting Aidan with the completion of the book (soon to be renamed the Book of Kells) much to the consternation of his Uncle, Abbot Cellach (Brendan Gleeson), who is obsessed with completing a defensive wall around Kells to fend off the attacks from the invading Northmen.

     The animation in The Secret of the Kells is a beauty to behold. Done in a retro style similar to that of Genndy Tartakovsky (Samurai Jack), it is evocative of Celtic and medieval artwork and is almost entirely hand drawn. It immediately brought the work of contemporary Christian artist Daniel Mitsui to mind, though the similarity is probably incidental (both are inspired by Medieval insular artwork). The score, by Bruno Coulai, beautifully complements the film. Drawing from Celtic music and medieval chant, Coulai's score is alternately delightfully enchanting and sorrowfully haunting.

     While not an explicitly religious film The Secret of the Kells is filled with religious imagery and themes, from both the Christian and pagan traditions of Ireland. The Book of Kells itself is based on an actual book made in Ireland around 800 AD which was an elaborate decorated edition of the Four Gospels. It is the pinnacle of insular illumination and is considered to be Ireland's finest national treasure. Although Kell's Abbey was plundered and pillaged by the Vikings many times during the 10th century, the book somehow survived. It is this story that the film draws inspiration from.

     As far as the Christian milieu of the film goes most of the film's characters are, presumably, Catholic monks (their particular religion is never made explicit) who live in fear of the pagan invaders ("Crom worshipers" as Abbot Cellach calls them, referring to the Irish pagan god Crom Cruach). St. Columbkille (Columba) is mentioned in connection with the book and there is one Christian image from the Book that is shown near the end of the film: The Chi Rho, one of the earliest forms of christogram formed by superimposing the first two letters, chi and rho (Χ and Ρ), of the Greek word ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ (Christos).

      On the pagan side, we see Brendan enlist the help of a faerie named Aisling to retrieve gall nuts for use in making ink for the the Book. Crom Cruach, who the brothers dismiss as a pagan superstition, is shown to inhabit a dark cave in the woods surrounding Kells. Brendan must defeat Crom, someone who even Aisling fears, in order to retrieve the eye of Colm Cille (the fictitious "third eye" of St. Columba). Brother Aidan's cat Pangur Bán is named after a 9th century Irish poem, ostensibly written by one of the monks who worked on the Book of Kells.

     In this portrayal of Ireland's Christian and Pagan roots, the film stumbles a bit. The central conflict in the film is between Cellach, who wants to concentrate on fending off the viking invasion, and Aidan, who wants to finish his great work. In the end both seem powerless once the invaders arrive. When the vikings finally arrive at Kells, Cellach's wall is insufficient to protect the village, and it is overrun, looted and burned. In one scene, after Brendan and Aidan run away from Kells, they are surrounded by vikings, one of whom picks up and looks through the book. It appears, briefly, that there may be a moment of grace, but the viking simply tears up the pages in anger. It is only the arrival of Aisling that saves the two monks.

     In other words, in the mystical world of the film, the forces of Christianity seems to have no power over the pagan/faerie world. The only real exception is Brendan's defeat of Crom Cruach, who eats his own tail, symbolizing, perhaps, the self-destructive nature of evil. In general though, while the supernatural elements of paganism are explicitly shown throughout the film, Christian miracles, and even Christian truth, are barely hinted at. Yet I couldn't help but find myself drawn to, and even uplifted by, the films worldview.

     The historical Book of Kells, in a sense, helped to "turn darkness into light" (as the last line of Pangur Bán says) by preserving the beauty and truth of the gospels through the dark ages. Because of this, somewhat paradoxically, the film feels oddly prescient in 2019 in a way I do not believe was intended by the filmmakers. In this postmodern era where it feels so often that the West's Christian identity is dying out, it is easy to identify with an ancient world divided between those obsessed with defending Christianity from physical attacks (the Vikings in the film, radical Islam and rampant secularism now) and those content to run and hide, neither holding out much hope for a renewed, vibrant Christianity to reassert itself over and against the barbarism of the outside world. The one source of light, beyond all real reason, comes not from a wall or even a more assertive discipleship, but from a piece of art (the Book of Kells), the transmission of transcendent cultural heritage.

     This is not to say that efforts at renewing a truly Christian culture in the world are in vain, but the Church has lived through dark times before, turbulent eras where the world order collapsed into chaos (think of the Dark Ages), and it has always emerged triumphant because men and women of goodwill passed on the traditions and teachings of the Church to their children. In that spirit, The Secret of the Kells seems to me a fine film to watch with your own family, though perhaps it would be advisable to follow it up with a brief theological discussion afterward.

Score: 9/10