Dogma (1999)
review
Ater I came out of the cinema to watch Dogma, my reaction was "Kevin Smith is a genius!". Not for directing this movie and starring in it, but for writing it. In Dogma, Smith questions the whole concept of faith and religion, by diving deeply into one religion and coming up with the big reality of what religion should be, in a unusual and comic way.
Bartleby (Ben Affleck) and Loki (Matt Damon) are two angels wanting to get back to heaven after being sent away by God years ago. They found a heavenly loophole in New Jersey where they could go back, but at the same time by doing that, they will destroy all existence. Bethany (Linda Fiorentino) is then send by The Voice of God (Alan Rickman) to stop these two buddies from entering the loophle. She is accompanied by two stoner-prophets, Silent Bob (Kevin Smith), who only spoke 5 words during the entire movie, and Jay (Jason Mewes), who spoke 500.000 words, 499.995 being "fuck". They are also accompanied by Rufus (Chris Rock), the 13th black apostle.
On the way to New Jersey, a lot of things happens, and a few deep discussions occur, talking about religion. From these discussions, Smith wants to point out how the normal society treats religion as an obligation, not as a faith. Which is, in some kind of way, exactly the same what I'm feeling. And in between a whole lot of movie jokes.
So they made it to New Jersey. But how do you stop two angels, desperate of going home back to heaven? Well, maybe God can help.
This movie is being criticized heavily by the catholic community, but I think that is a bit unfair. Smith did make some jokes about catholics, Jesus, and even God, but in the end Smith is actually showing the reality about religion. People who can look through the profanity and the poop-monster will be thinking a lot about their faith and religion, and Smith is showing the way to what these people should do, which is believe in God and do something about it.
Indra Moeljadi haven't seen any Kevin Smith movies before
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