One of the questions frequently asked at our Q&A questions is whether the vicar in The Insatiable Moon is based on moi (the writer of the film) or not. It’s no secret now that at one time in my life I was a clergyman in Arthur’s stomping ground of Ponsonby, and that it was my encounter with the original character which sparked the fictional account of the novel and the film. All of that seems a long time ago to me now, though it was a great experience which I have no regrets about. One of the highlights was that it allowed for my encounter with the boarding house people who so enriched my life.

In the film, our vicar Kevin resigns from his church and credits Arthur with the inspiration to do so. He says: “If I hadn’t met you, God knows how long I would have stayed buried in this job.” I guess this is the point where my life and that of the vicar have intersected. For him as well as me, it was a recognition of the very real grace and spirituality which operated in the most surprising of places that invited the journey away from the structures of religion, and toward people.

I recently came across a lovely review of the film from Bishop John Bluck (an excellent writer and sage) in the NZ Anglican magazine, Taonga. You can read it here if you’re interested. It was of course very flattering to have Moon described as “the best result of our New Zealand film industry this year.” But also fascinating to see it described as a religious film, “informed with a powerful but never preachy gospel message about the cost and the redemptive power of sacrificial love and forgiveness.”

I guess it’s a religious story in the same sense that it’s a mental health story or a city story or a Maori story – in that the framework you bring to it can be explored in the light of the multi-level narrative threads and characters. In the review, John laments that the film is misunderstood by “our relentlessly secular” society, but also notes that “audiences are slowly discovering it by word of mouth, and loving what they see.” I suspect (and John is well aware of this) that there is more honest religion outside the church than inside it. Most people have some sense of a depth to the experiences of life, some intimation of meaning, some recognition of the healing power of love – but they don’t associate these qualities with organised religion. Perhaps the beauty of stories like Moon is that they allow for the recognition of such spirituality – yet without making any demand for commitment or signing up to some movement.

“That’s me in the corner,” sang Michael Stipe, “losing my religion.”

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