Finding peace in a frantic world.

The Poseidon Adventure

Life in an upside down world

Released around 1972, The Poseidon Adventure has been a long-standing favourite of mine. The Poseidon adventure with an all-star cast which included: Gene Hackman (what a great actor), Leslie Nielsen, Shelley Winters and Ernest Borgnine. It was one of a number of disaster movies released in the early 70’s (Towering Inferno, Earthquake, Soylent Green).

The story is about a luxurious passenger liner on her final voyage from New York to Athens which capsizes when hit by a giant rogue wave on New Years Day, sending the ship upside down, with the passengers left to find a way out in order to escape.

For me, the deeper spiritual meaning (and religious allegory) of the movie is that to escape, sometimes we have to go in the opposite direction to those around us. You have to have faith. Gene Hackman plays the part of a rebellious, renegade Reverend (N.B he has a different, less traditional approach to the Church to teaching God’s word) who becomes the saviour by leading others to safety. He sacrifices his own life for others (a story familiar to many).

There are three poignant spiritual moments of enlightenment in the movie that had a deeper meaning (beyond just story line and conversations), that told us something we could learn from. In the first few minutes of the movie, the Reverend Frank Scott (a man of God) up on deck explains to the Chaplain, how we are typically (in the orthodox way) taught to seek God. He goes on to explain this orthodox way of teaching in a slightly cynical / tongue and cheek manner.

“Get down on your knees and pray to God for help? And then maybe everything will work out fine? Garbage! Not where I come from. You can wear off your knees praying to God for heat in a cold winter flat in February, and icicles will grow from your upraised palms. If you are freezing to death, you burn the furniture, you set fire to the building, but you get off your knees!

Reverend Scott goes on to say this about being sent away by his Church to Africa to teach the word of God.

“My bishop doesn’t know it, but he’s given me exactly what I wanted – elbow room – freedom! Freedom to dump the rules and all the trappings – and freedom to discover God in my own way”.

In the quote above, it shows how each of us are on our own path in life, that finding God isn’t simply a matter of attending a church building once a week, or only praying when one’s life is in imminent danger, it is about doing the inner work, the personal change and living the right way, finding God in our own way as the Reverend states.

During Scott’s sermon on deck to a group of passengers he explains in a succinct way how as humans we can seek God and get to know God. Note this dialogue differs slightly from the original written movie script.

“God is pretty busy; he’s got a long-term plan for humanity that stretches far beyond our comprehension. So, it’s not reasonable to expect him to concern himself with the individual. The individual is important, only to the extent of providing a creative link between the past and the future. And his children and his grandchildren or in the contribution he makes to humanity. Therefore: don’t pray to God to solve your problems. Pray to that part of God within you. Have the guts to fight for yourself. God wants brave souls. He wants winners, not quitters. If you can’t win, at least try to win. God loves tryers. So, what resolution should we make for the new year? Resolve to let God know that you have the guts and the will to do it alone. Resolve to fight for yourselves, for others, for those you love. And that part of God within you will be fighting with you, all the way.”

This to me, this sermon, explains that God’s role is more akin to that of a director, gently guiding things from afar, a hidden hand, rather than like a micro-managing, controlling boss or there for us to use as a last-ditch call for help (that’s not to suggest God cannot perform miracles of course). We can’t expect to put nothing in and get everything out. The world doesn’t revolve around each of our personal wants or demands. We all have free will to make our own choices and mistakes. It is up to us how much effort we put into changing the way live, changing our behaviours, thoughts and attitude, showing love and kindness to others.

The efforts of the Reverend come to a head when the survivors he is leading to a passage is blocked by a curtain of burning hot steam. The only way to get the survivors through this pass is to turn off the steam valve. To do this, he leaps onto the valve hanging over impending death. He manages to turn off the valve and sacrifices his own life to save the other six passengers. His last words to God are:

“We didn’t ask You to fight for us – but damn it, don’t fight against us. Leave us alone! How many more sacrifices? How much more blood? How many more lives? Belle wasn’t enough. Acres wasn’t. Now this girl! You want another life? Then take me! You can make it, keep going, Rogo, get them through.”

Near the end of the story (in the original script but left out of the movie), whilst standing beneath the ship’s upturned hull Manny (one of the six survivors) asks out aloud to God.

“Will somebody tell me why us? Why did Mr. Scott save us? Why did Belle have to die? Why did the others die, but not us? Can you help me understand?”.

Martin Responds to Manny’s questions with “Maybe we’re not supposed to know”.

Put another way, God works in mysterious ways. His great plan is beyond our understanding, beyond our understanding of “time”. The only survivors of the disaster were the few that had put their faith in the Rev, the man of God.

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The 1972 film The Poseidon Adventure is an adaptation of the 1969 novel The Poseidon Adventure written by Paul Gallico.
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