God On Trial by PBS Masterpiece Contemporary
Last evening, I was scrolling through Netflix looking for a movie to watch when I noticed a film by PBS Masterpiece Contemporary titled God On Trial. The title was intriguing, but the synopsis of the movie was especially evocative. So, I sent it to queue and then hit play and I watched it, intensely. It is an incredible, thought provoking film.
God on Trial is a television play that takes place in Auschwitz during World War II. A group of Jewish prisoners are forced to go through an Auschwitz “selection” (i.e., a Nazi doctor separates the prisoners into two groups; one group will continue working and the other group will be exterminated in the gas chambers). The Jewish prisoners return to their barracks after the “selection” process is over, but they do not know which group was picked for labor or which group was picked for the gas chambers. It is from somewhere deep within that sort of torture, anxiety, and despair that one of their members stands up and suggests that they put God on trial for breach of covenant! God is obviously breaking the promise he forged with the Israelites! God is guilty of breaking his own promises! A number of other prisoners agree and a rabbinical court is established right there in the barracks. Witnesses are called; testimonies are given. The trial of God begins!
Screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce and director Andy DeEmmony deliver a 90 minute television play that effortlessly and naturally flows through almost every imaginable historical debate concerning the problem of evil (theodicy), a personal god that interacts in time, space, and history for the benefit of humanity (theism), and the concept of divine chosenness (election). In fact, the “trial” actually seems less like a trial and more like a theological, philosophical, sociological, ethical, spiritual, and scriptural debate. Regardless of the exact nature of the conversation shared in their barracks, these Jewish men engage the question of God’s covenant guilt or innocence with intellectual power and emotionally-charged energy. The stark and terrifying reality of their immediate situation is never too far removed from the immediacy of their theological, philosophical, and spiritual conversations. The trial is intense with raw emotion and very, very practical expression.
Anyone who is interested in history and theology would appreciate God on Trial. Those of us who are interested in the big philosophical questions that are expressed throughout the film will appreciate it even more. Every religious believer who takes seriously their faith should watch God On Trial. My suggestion: Watch it! It’ll be 90 minutes of your life well spent.
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