One of the great science fiction
films of the 1990s was Independence Day, which
dealt with an invasion of the earth by extraterrestrial creatures. Released in
July 1996, the movie was a Hollywood blockbuster, grossing over $800 million.
It also won an Academy Award for best visual effects, and was followed in 2016
by a sequel called Independence Day:
Resurgence.
People still watch and enjoy the
first movie, largely because of the special effects. Huge alien spaceships
cover the sky, causing shadows to creep along the National Mall and up the
sides of the Washington Monument. And then comes a stunning piece of “world-destroying
work,” says K. Austin Collins in Vanity
Fair: “cascades of fire and destruction buoyed by long, slow takes of
people running through flame, and cars flying like Mattel toys, and buildings
being reduced to meaty chunks of debris and ash.”1
Of course, the movie has its heroes.
Will Smith plays an ace fighter pilot who goes to battle against the alien
invaders, assisted by the president of the United States, played by Bill
Pullman. After suffering terrible losses, the people of the world come together
and launch a counterattack on the Fourth of July.
Bill Pullman makes a rousing speech
to a group of U.S. fighter pilots, challenging them to join an international
air force. “We can’t be consumed by our petty differences anymore,” he says. “We
will be united in our common interests. Perhaps it’s fate that today is the Fourth
of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom, not from tyranny,
oppression, or persecution — but from annihilation. .... Today, we celebrate
our Independence Day!”2
Alien invaders and Christ’s rescue
Many passages in
Paul’s letter to the Romans sound like lines from a science fiction film. In
the seventh chapter, Paul explores the “world-destroying work” of sin,
describing it as a force that is coming into our lives to wipe us out. In the
mind of Pau
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