Last Thursday, my lovely work colleagues took me to the 02 arena in London to see the premiere of this, the 2nd Narnia film. I had never been to a premiere, and didn’t really know what to expect. I loved the first Narnia film, and I loved the book of PC, so I had high hopes for this.
I wasn’t disappointed. It really was a marvellous evening. The arena was huge, the screen was gargantuan and the film itself was amazing.
I’m probably not allowed to tell you about the plot or anything like that, but I was really impacted by one scene in the film especially. It was really near the end, when the Narnians et al are engaged in one of those battles that is about rightness and valour but is not going to end in victory for the good without supernatural intervention.
The Telmarine forces drive them back to a bridge over a river, certain that they can beat them there. And then the sounds of battle fade and we see Lucy, the youngest of the Pevensey children standing on the bridge alone. She is young, I think 10 or 11. All the collected, well armoured, loud forces of the Telmarine stand on the other side of the bridge, waiting for the signal to march over it, confused as to why a small, unarmed, unarmoured girl is standing in their way. Everything is still for a moment, it looks like certain death for Lucy. She pulls a tiny toy sword out of her belt, and they all laugh at her.
But Lucy isn’t relying on her tiny sword to win the battle, because then we see that she is really not alone. Suddenly Aslan is revealed, standing closely beside her. Suddenly the tables have turned and she is no longer a vulnerable little girl facing the violence of her amassed foes. Aslan roars, and everything changes in an instant.
I guess this bit of the film touches me because I have always empathised with Lucy, she is the youngest, she looks weak and insignificant, and yet she has a key role to play in things. She is mocked by her enemies and overlooked by her family and yet she has a special relationship with Aslan, the representation of God. I want to have a relationship with God like that. I want to keep remembering that I don’t have to fight the battles that surround me with my little wooden sword, but in the power of the Almighty God that stands beside me. That is a very comforting thought.
Very true, and something I think we often forget.