It doesn’t matter what you believe… or does it?
The trailer for the film looked great. Lots of fast-moving action and ‘how are they ever going to get out of this’ type of agility. There were lashings of special effects, impossibly gorgeous people and the rugged strong jawline of a masculine hero. Hec, what’s not to like?
But it was none of this glitz that snagged my attention. Instead, it was the tagline from one of the heroes.
‘It doesn’t matter what you believe, but it’s how hard you believe it.’
Now spoken in a subtle, seductive voice, when you’re enthralled by the good guy overcoming the gruesome forces against him and winning the heart of the fair maiden at the end, this tagline actually sounds very plausible.
There is a part of you that wants to adopt it as your own life rule.
But take away the raw emotion of the film and look at it in the cool light of day and you will discover that the motto is fundamentally flawed.
‘It doesn’t matter what you believe’… Really?! If I believed that it was OK to take a sledgehammer to my neighbour's mower because they insisted on using it at unsociable hours… or if I believed that it was OK to pilfer the odd Turkish delight from the supermarket, or I believed that it was OK to have 8 1/2 cheeky chardonnays and then drive down the main street on a crowded Friday afternoon…
What we believe inevitably spills over into our actions, which must affect ourselves and others. We are all responsible for each other and it does matter what we believe. It matters very much. However, that didn’t stop me from enjoying the film and having a large fix of escapism just for the afternoon.