Seldom do films come along that seem so ready made for the Christian message. The City of Ember will not only captivate the imaginations of children, it is likely to earn the gratitude of youth ministry workers and parents for the Gospel illustrations it provides.

The City of Ember is a metropolis built deep underground during the last days of a terrible conflict that devastates the surface of the earth. This electrically powered civilization goes about faithfully tending its generator and growing its food while its members await the day of their return. However two centuries pass and the instructions for leaving Ember are lost. The story begins properly in the last days of the city, when the generator is slowly grinding to a halt and the food is running out. Most of the population now believe there is no ‘outside’ and that the best thing they can do is work together to make the most of a faltering world.

The City of Ember’s heroes are Doon Harrow (Harry Treadaway) and Lina Mayfleet (Saoirse Ronan), a boy and girl who begin questioning the conventional wisdom of Ember. Mayor Cole (Bill Murray) tells the decidedly ragged populace to celebrate, “This miracle of achievement that is our city of Ember,” even as he overlooks a city running to rust and ruin. However it is Doon and Lina’s explorations that uncover the truth: the builders of Ember always intended its people to leave a world that was not designed to last forever.

The ‘builders’ provide one of the richest veins of spiritual content in the film. There is wide-spread faith in those who constructed Ember, that they will one day provide a solution to its increasing decay. “The builders will come again and show us the way,” a woman assures Lina. But the believers seem to take the evidence of creators as a reason to do nothing more than wait. However the film shows that salvation comes to those who are prepared to act on the information they have been given. Evidence that there is actually an ‘exit’ to Ember propels Doon and Lina to defy social convention and the local authorities until they discover the truth for themselves.

In the process of investigating the existence of this ‘exit’, Doon has to confront the doubts of others. “The builders left instructions,” he tells his father, Loris (Tim Robbins). “The builders abandoned us,” replies Loris, bitterly. “No they didn’t – and I have proof,” Doon responds. The proof is there for all to see in the ‘exit instructions’ that he and Lina have uncovered. However the information simply does not suit influential people like Mayor Cole. Throughout the story it also becomes clear that the instructions left by the builders cannot be followed in an arbitrary manner. “The builders are smart. They would have thought it through. They would have planned everything,” Lina tells Doon. “We’re not supposed to skip ahead. We have to follow the builders exactly.”

There are several other plot elements that have parable potential for a Gospel presentation – the man who sacrifices his safety so that the children can escape their dying world is one; the message the children send to those still trapped in Ember of a world outside is another. However probably the best symbol is the darkness that pervades this underground city and the minds of its inhabitants. When citizens come of age they recite a civic oath which includes, “Beyond Ember the darkness goes on forever in all directions.  Ours is the only light in a dark world.” And it does appear to Lina at a crucial stage in the plot that they have escaped their perilous world only to emerge into an even greater darkness. “They’re right,” she says. “There is only darkness beyond Ember.” It is a poignant image of the problem of death and our inability to see beyond it. But then in the distance the sun begins to rise and Lina and her companions realise that they have made it out of bowels of the earth into a new world that far exceeds anything Ember could have promised. The parallel is obvious: death seems like nothing but darkness and futility until the sun rises on Heaven. The Creator’s ‘exit instructions’ can clearly be trusted.

The City of Ember is a worthy attraction for a family looking to direct their children’s attention to the real world waiting outside of this failing one. There are some violent moments that would make it unsuitable for children who are easily scared. But the portrayal of young heroes seeking an exit from a society that is not meant to last forever is a picture well worth the price of admission.