Alternative Culture: Spectral review

Overcoming the odds

Ever so in history we encounter a black swan event, or an out-of-context problem. The Japanese of World War 2 knew they were outclassed when they faced atomic annihilation. The warmongering New World Aztecs had no counter to the visiting Spanish steel and horses. The medieval Europeans experienced it as when they had their first encounter with Black Death.

No amount of thinking could have prepared them for the disasters that followed. After all, how could you fight a problem that did not even think exists?

That is the premise of the 2015 film Spectral, which I caught on Netflix recently. Military scientist Clyne travels to war-torn Moldova as reports of soldiers dropping dead mysteriously reach him. Using advanced visual equipment, Clyne discovers that the soldiers were being attacked by spirit-like entities called "spectrals". After deducing the composition of the spectrals, Clyne and the remaining soldiers have to come up with a plan to counter the spectrals before they overrun the world.

Analysing the situation

At one point of the film, Clyne argued about the solution to defeating the spectrals. The local villagers believed the spectrals were supernatural entities. The CIA analyst, on the other hand, concludes that the spectrals were a form of advanced camouflagued. Clyne, however suspends judgement till more evidence is gathered. He accurately points out that his counterparts were more interested in solutions rather than actual problem identification, leading the team to implement faulty methods to deal with their new threat.

Later in the film, Clyne notices that the spectrals had human forms yet intangible, could move through walls yet not ceramic, and had no compulsion in killing children yet felt pain. This helped him construct an effective counter against the spectrals.

Unlike how Clyne's counterparts often read their biases into the situation, we Christians must be cautious about interpreting the Bible according to our fancies. I have seen too many a time where my fellow Christians haphazardly apply the Bible verses from Jeremiah and Habakkuk into their lives. Bible verses should be read with little personal bias as possible with much prayer and understanding of context.

Making moral decisions

Late in the movie, Clyne also had to make a decision to end the generation of spectral. Acknowledging his decision was beyond science, he delved into the realm of morality before making his decision.

Similarly, we Christians must acknowledge that we are incapable of making all decisions rationally. Ultimately if we honest with ourselves, there are things beyond the pure reason. Thank God He is charge of everything.

Conclusion

Spectral is a thrilling movie, with predictable plot twists. Do watch it if you have the time.