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I don’t go to the movies very often – maybe a few times a year. I watch a lot of movies at home, but I don’t often feel motivated to spend money on a theatre seat. Sometimes I look forward to a movie hitting theatres, and this weekend I’m particularly excited for one I’ve been waiting for since 2021: Project Hail Mary. Andy Weir became my favorite fiction writer with his breakthrough book, The Martian, which was published in 2014. I’m not a huge sci-fi reader and haven't been drawn to many fantasy sci-fi offerings, but Weir’s writing and storytelling are different. He uses a lot of science in his books, explaining things in detail in a way that makes it interesting and entertaining. His plots are fictional, to be sure, but written in a way that makes us believe they could happen soon, roughly in the contemporary world. It’s not a vision of a future millennia away. His writing has also made me laugh out loud while reading alone, which is quite rare and always appreciated.
The movie version of The Martian was pretty good overall. I rewatched it recently so Eva and I could show it to Eva’s friend, who had never seen it. As always, the screenwriters cut out a sizable part of the narrative, but they captured the essence of the book, and I have watched the movie several times. In a world of streaming, it’s one of the few digital movies I “own.” I purchased a copy of his then-new book, Project Hail Mary, the weekend the book launched, and I’ve read it several times (as I have The Martian) since. I knew it would make a good movie if someone could pull it off, and ever since the trailer dropped online, I knew I had to go see it. Unfortunately, I won't be able to see it because I won’t be going alone. My family is away this weekend and has asked me to wait for them, which I can manage. I’ve waited this long, so a few more days won’t hurt.
What surprised me today was reading a professional reviewer who called it a “Christian allegory.” That tells me more about the reviewer and what they do and don’t know than it does about the film's reality. As someone who knows the story very well, although I haven’t seen the movie, it’s not an allegory in the way The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is. There are some Christian themes in the film, but honestly, it’s a secular humanist take on them. I don’t think Weir or the filmmakers intended that way, but I could be wrong. It seems that for some people, any story that has a person willing to sacrifice themselves to save others must be a pseudo-Christ figure. I do think there are elements of the story we can reflect on through a Christian lens, but the connections break down if pressed too far.
To my knowledge, Weir is not an overtly religious person. He has used clever religious humor in The Martian and Project Hail Mary, but more to be clever, akin to a pun, than to signal his “true” meaning. For example, in The Martian, when Astronaut Mark Watney realizes he needs something he can burn to turn hydrogen-based rocket fuel into water (there’s a lot of legitimate science to explain that this process is legitimate), the only thing he can find, thanks to NASA’s fear of fire, is a small wooden crucifix one of his crewmates brought on the mission to Mars. He cuts it into slivers and uses that to kindle his fire. Weir can be seen to be making a joke, perhaps, of Jesus saving another person, or it could be a critique of Christian faith as the cross is destroyed. In truth, the character, like the author, is simply agnostic, but can play with symbolism.
Weir plays again in the name of the novel, and his main character with Project Hail Mary. The spacecraft sent to save the world is named the Hail Mary because, if it doesn’t accomplish its mission, everyone is doomed. The world won’t survive. The reference is more about football at that point than theology, but Weir does have fun with it on another level. The main character of the novel, who goes on to inhabit the Hail Mary, is Dr. Ryland Grace. So, in essence, it’s a play on “Hail Mary, [the ship], full of Grace.” The joke isn’t made in the book, but Weir admitted to the wordplay in interviews after it was published. Again, it’s not anti-Christian, it’s just a playful use of religious notions.
The book, and presumably the movie, will raise issues of salvation, hope, perseverance, stewardship, and love, all of which will resonate with Christians, but they aren’t at the forefront for theological reasons. I wish Weir could say his motivation is to bolster the Christian faith through incredibly creative storytelling, but he is a humanist, and in all his books, Science is the savior. I don’t find that offensive at all, and I enjoy his writing because he's smart and funny, and it's tight. I don’t miss the inspiration that guides him, or the hopefulness that humanity will come together to solve problems. I can see how my faith informs those themes and why they are attractive, but I don’t need them to be anchored in a sermonic way. I simply rejoice that anyone writes about the triumph of humanity’s better angels in a way that inspires. The Church can take it from there.
I can’t (yet) recommend the movie, as I haven’t seen it, but I highly recommend the book. If and when you read the book or watch the movie, don’t worry too much about figuring out all the potential allegorical bits, just enjoy entering into the story – it’s well told. And God can take it from there.
