Under the lens takes a deep look at films by focusing in on one or two particular areas of the picture that helped to define it for better or for worse. Minor spoilers will be included in this review.
Bokeh is a 2017 post-apocalyptic picture directed by Geoffrey Orthwein and Andrew Sullivan. It stars Matt O’Leary and Maika Monroe, the to star as a young American couple on a romantic getaway to Iceland, who wakes up one morning to discover every person on earth has disappeared. Their struggle to survive and to reconcile the mysterious event lead them to reconsider everything they know about themselves and the world.
Under The Lens: Theology and Scenery
Scenery: Bokeh is at its core a beautiful picture, its soaked in the Icelandic inland and coastal regions, and the locations are as much a character as the two leads are. We spend much of the picture exploring the island and city, as well as various locals off the beaten track. While most post-apocalyptic narratives are grim and dark, Bokeh shows us the breathtaking beauty and stillness of a world that is sitting still and motionless. The scenery was so wonderful that at times I almost forgot the main narrative and just drank in the beaches, fields, and rivers.
Theology: Bokeh may be a post-apocalyptic story at its core, but it has a lot to say about our purpose as humans and the role of God in our lives. As the narrative slowly unfolds we learn that Jenai is religious, and we see her at an empty church. Later on, she talks with another survivor named Nils, who has a lot to say about God and the reason for the mass vanishing. Bokeh has a deist viewpoint of God, meaning that God 100% exists in this world, but he built the world and then left it for us, Nils says at one point ” They say that God’s one and only voice is silence. He just must have more to say these days.” The picture seems to present us with the idea that God exists, yet seemingly does not care about humanity, or humanity is too impatient to see the fullness of his plan. Again Nils says “His plan is for us to exist in the world he created for us, not to exist in his world”. Overall the picture presents us with a lot to think about theologically.
Highlights
The picture shows a fairly realistic post-human world, that does not collapse immediately but slowly over time.
The picture is not really plot-driven but experience-driven and its better for it.
Much like the camera function “Bokeh” the meaning of the title is subtle and in the background.
Something to think about
Do you agree with the pictures portrayal of God and his plan for humanity?
Conclusion
Overall Bokeh is an interesting and beautifully shot picture, it is less focused on the post-apocalypse and more with how our characters react to it. Bokeh in photography refers to blurring out the background to focus on the subject of a picture, much in the same way the film blurs out the background of the apocalypse and focuses on our characters. Now the picture is not without flaws, the acting is mediocre at times (but improves as the picture moves on) and the script is very minimal (On purpose but some may take issue with it). Boken is a thinking mans (or woman’s) motion picture, it asks one to ponder the deeper questions of our being and what we are on earth for. In that respect, it succeeds.