Brehm Center

            The Spitfire Grill is one of a handful of recent "must-see" movies! Now playing in general release, the film has been widely praised, though it has been criticized by a few critics as "proselytism in disguise." (Perhaps it is, but so are all films which seek to affect their viewers -- that is, any film worth seeing.)

            The movie tells the story of Percy Talbott who comes to Gilead, Maine to find a job after finishing her prison term. Percy is given work by Hanna, the owner of a diner, "The Spitfire Grill," and is befriended by Shelby, Hanna's neice by marriage.  A rocky, but genuine, friendship ensues between the women, and their relationship forms the center of the film. There are a few good men in the story including Joe who accepts Percy without judging her former life and seeks to understand her continuing pain. But the movie's power and meaning comes from the interaction between the three women.

            Early in the story, when Hanna falls and breaks her leg, Percy takes over the diner with the help of Shelby. She can't cook, but she is willing to learn and the two younger women keep the restaurant in business. One evening as Percy is allowed by Hanna to rub lotion on her tender leg, she asks the older woman, "You suppose if a wound goes so deep, the healing of it might hurt as bad as what caused it?"

Here in microcosm is the question of the film.

            For Gilead, too, is suffering from a wound. All of the citizens of this small hamlet have been deeply hurt. Their hopes have been shattered by the disappearance of Hanna's talented son, Eli, who represented their future. He has failed to "return" from Vietnam. Their "dis-ease" needs treatment; but it will prove painful.

            It is Percy who acts as "a balm" to bring spiritual healing and new possibility to Gilead. At first, Percy simply substitutes for Hanna in running the cafe and in providing food for a needy recluse. But the wound is deep. Healing can come only as it is pierced ("Perced") through sacrificial love and forgiveness.  Reconciliation does take place, but it is not without its heavy price.

Does the film have a larger purpose?

            The Spitfire Grill has been warmly received by viewers and critics alike. Made on a modest budget ($6+million) by a Roman Catholic organization in Mississippi, it was the surprise hit at Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival last January. Purchased by Castle Rock Entertainment for $10 million, it is now charming audiences across the country.

            However, the film has not been without its controversy. Some critics, after learning of its religious sponsorship, have had second thoughts about its value. They wonder if the film is "hidden propaganda," though they have trouble knowing what to criticize. (The film has little mention of God and the town's one church is empty.) This is not the explicit religiosity of The Ten Commandments, but the message of redemption shines through nonetheless. Not all in the larger society seem willing to accept the film's indirect spiritual gift, particularly if it comes from a Christian organization. Yet most viewers are taken by it.

            Perhaps we can understand the value of The Spitfire Grill by recalling the fiction of another indirect storyteller. It has been almost fifty years since C.S. Lewis sought to overcome the narrow secularity of our modern age by writing children's stories. He was concerned that modern women and men were in danger of becoming little more than "trousered apes." It was not enough to have "just the facts," as Joe Friday was want to ask on Dragnet. Lewis was convinced that humankind was being cut off from our roots and our destiny.

            The purpose of Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia was to give a new generation of readers the taste and feel of truth -- to baptize their imagination. In this way, Lewis hoped to assist others beyond the tiny windowless universe they had mistaken for reality. A good story, thought Lewis, should do more than offer an engaging plot or merely produce excitement. (I suspect that Lewis would have been critical of such films as Independence Day and Mission Impossible.)

            In a good story, plot is important, but particularly as a "net" to catch something else. The story should mediate something more, or other, than what we are conscious of in our day-to-day existence. In the Chronicles of Narnia, Aslan, the lion (who is a Christ-figure), explains to the children that he has brought them to this distant place so that having experienced him there, they might be able to recognize Aslan in another guise where they live.

            What Lewis did for his generation through fiction-- the baptizing of our imaginations -- others are attempting in our day through the use of film. A wonderful example of this is The Spitfire Grill. (Chariots of Fire, Places in the Heart and Dead Man Walking also come to mind.)

            Like Aslan, Percy Talbott is an unlikely "Christ-figure" who by coming to Gilead ends "winter" and makes the "wounded whole." Like Christ, Percy experiences rejection and is thought to have a questionable reputation. Yet through her life, Percy is able to "pierce" through to the core of the small town, exposing its hurts and needs to her healing balm. It is indeed painful, but Percy heals both a family and a town. Truly she is a "balm in Gilead."

A Suggestion

            Go see The Spitfire Grill, by all means! Here is a film you might want to view with a neighbor who has not experienced the redeeming love of Jesus. Here is a film that can occasion discussion with your teenager or with a colleague at work. You do not need to make the Christ imagery explicit in your discussion with others. The producers worked hard to create an indirect representation of the Christian story. The film is meant to be preliminary to the gospel. You will have other occasions for more explicit witness. For the moment, let the shape and feel of God's truth work its charm in your life and in the lives of those you are with. You might find your imaginations "baptized."

September 1996