Robin Hood Sneak Preview - April 21

We Texans are into heroes. On San Jacinto Day (4/21), celebrating the final battle of the Texas Revolution and the surrender of the dictator Santa Anna, I attended a preview screening of the new Russell Crowe vehicle "Robin Hood" -- an English hero. Interesting movie, dealing with the pre-Robin Hood days -- why he moved into Sherwood Forest as an outlaw. As one might expect from a Ridley Scott production, the film was well-crafted, but I must say it seemed to be missing a "spark" to engage the viewer. It is no Medieval "Gladiator."
We Christians are targets in Medieval times. And "Robin Hood," though not anti-church totally, took several shots at the church of time. True, there is an engaging Friar Tuck who can relate to the people, but primarily he is into bees and mead, not his churchly duties. The "church" is often lumped in with the nobles as oppressors of the people -- not particularly worse than other oppressors, but an oppressor all the same. At the same time, the church is a target for society destroyers and it suffers from that. Is there hope in Tuck and the shared experience of oppression? In the end though, the Sherwood Forest dwellers live peacefully in the greenwood under the beneficent spirit of a deceased Loxley, not God.