Jess and I sat down and watched the movie, “The Invention of Lying” the other night and at first I didn’t want to review it here on stevansheets.com.
The premise of the movie is that there is a “world” where no one could lie. The truth was ONLY told – no one yet knew what a lie was. This world seemed to function “normally” and without knowing that they didn’t know how to lie, people went about their daily business without any problem.
This world of “honestly”, however led the main character, “Mark Bellison” (played by Ricky Gervais) to break the cycle and tell the world’s first lie. After his first lie, Mark quickly develops a habit for lying and finds himself enjoying it very much – the power that he yields continues to grow.
The twist comes when Mark tells his mother a “lie” on her deathbed to comfort her fear of her understanding of nothingness after she breathes her last.
Mark’s lie revolves heavily around what I believe as a Christian (with a couple of comical twists to keep people’s interest).
His lie is heard by the doctor and nurses and quickly spreads to people hearing this “truth” (because they don’t know what a lie is) and they rally together to build Mark up as some sort of a guru on the unknown.
Mark holds a press-conference on his new understanding of a “guy in the sky” and hands down this truth as he has outlined on two pizza boxes to further poke fun of Moses and the 10 Commandments. The audience’s emotion of this “guy in the sky” changes from hatred (he causes bad things) to love (he also gives us good things). The “lie” continues to build as Mark continues to hand down this information about the guy in the sky.
The movie ends with Mark winning the love of his dream-girl (Jennifer Garner) by telling the truth, but beginning the cycle of lying as seen in the way their son responds to a dinner-conversation about his mother’s cooking.
The movie did spark some conversation and thought for Jess and me. I shudder in realization that there are some in our world who think that the teachings of Jesus Christ is just a lie. While this movie pokes fun at some of the truths I hold as foundations for what I live every single day, it does also remind us of some of the people we have opportunity to live-like-Jesus in front of.
