Prince Caspian - the film

For anyone who misses God, Prince Caspian will remind you that to keep His company you must be prepared to move forward with Him. The comfort, though, is knowing that if you feel lost, He is waiting only a little way ahead.

If the first installment of the Narnia Chronicles, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was a picture of the victories that come with those who believe, Prince Caspian is concerned with the difficult journey of faith that always follows.

Narnia has aged more than a thousand years since Lucy passed through the wardrobe and into the Lantern Waste. The time in which the Pevensie children fought the White Witch with Aslan and were installed as High Kings and Queens is now broadly considered a fairy tale. The land of talking animals and tree and water spirits has been invaded by humans who have done their best to eradicate ‘Old Narnia’. As the story opens, we are introduced to Prince Caspian, ably portrayed by Ben Barnes, the heir to the throne of the Telmarines whose life is in danger from his traitorous uncle. As Caspian flees to the deep forests where the true Narnians might yet survive, his tutor warns him, “Everything you know is about to change”.

That warning, which has been picked up as the tag line of the film, is one we might all take to heart as this faith-oriented story unfolds. Caspian, like us, thinks that he knows the world. However he will quickly be taken out of the realm of the certain and required to find something surer to sustain himself. Likewise, for us, the development of our trust in God requires the removal of those things we desperately cling to – so that He can move our reliance away from our sense of control and on to Himself.

Peter, well played by a returning William Moseley, experiences the real tension of the ‘now but not yet’ nature of Christ’s kingdom. After what seemed a lifetime of growth and gladness in the land of Narnia, he finds himself back on his way to a stiff-necked boarding school, subject to the sort of adolescent struggles he thought he’d outgrown. Narnia never seemed so far away. Reminded of Aslan, the film’s Jesus persona, he mutters, “It’s been a year. How long does he expect us to wait?” I wonder if the disciples ever echoed that years after Jesus’ ascension? I know that I have. Peter’s frustration shows itself in all sorts of unbecoming behaviour for a ‘King of Narnia’. But then in an instant everything changes. It is a theme that CS Lewis, Narnia’s author, often returned to. Even as the cramped conditions of a school train beckon, the clean shores of Narnia’s seaside reveal themselves.

Prince Caspian’s animation and compositing effects are infinitely superior to those that hampered The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. But more than that, where the first volume was a better book, Prince Caspian makes a better film. Running parallel to the action is an on-going question about the seeming absence of Aslan. The children return to a land that has not heard from the son of the emperor over the seas for thirteen hundred years. There is a definite perception of abandonment and neglect. Lucy (Georgie Henley), the film’s embodiment of faith, is the first to see Aslan again. It’s at this point that one of the best lines from the book is faithfully reproduced. Hugging the lion king, Lucy exclaims, “You’ve grown!” He replies, “Every year you grow, so shall I”. It beautifully affirms the story’s major theme: our growth in trust parallels our perception of the God we adore.

However no one else is sure of Lucy’s claims and some openly doubt her. “Why didn’t I see him?” Peter asks Lucy. “Maybe you weren’t looking,” she suggests. She has more than the direction of his gaze in mind. Susan asks a similar question, admitting she had not been missing Narnia as much as her sister but had begun to ‘settle down’ to their life in London. Why didn’t she see Aslan? “Maybe you didn’t really want to?” Susan replies approvingly, “You always believed we’d come back didn’t you?”

All of the children are constantly looking for the same roaring king who delivered them last time. When he fails to arrive Peter busies himself with the job of saving Narnia himself. He has concluded that they must do the best they can; the subtext being they can expect no help from Aslan. Lucy challenges him to remember that he is not sufficient to the task, and never has been. “Have you forgotten who really defeated the White Witch, Peter?” she asks. His reply is cold – not lacking in belief, but a little bitter. “I think we’ve waited for Aslan long enough.” Peter continues to acknowledge the reality of Aslan, but he is angry that he does not act. Aslan is in fact near, and does answer their call, but not before his delay has challenged their hearts.

There is plenty in Prince Caspian to entrance the casual viewer. But for the Christian who feels they are looking out on a world that is bereft of any sign of their saviour’s presence, there is correction and hope. “Why haven’t you come to help us?” Lucy asks Aslan. “Things never happen the same way twice,” Aslan replies. And this, repeated through the film, would be a better tagline for those whose faith is faltering or grown cold. Why doesn’t God deal with us the same way twice? Why do the easy victories all seem to lie in the past? Because He has plans to bring us on, and if our trust is never tested, our relationship will never grow. In one of the darkest parts of the film Peter explains to Lucy why he didn’t move towards where Aslan was supposed to be, “I wish he’d just given me some proof”. Lucy responds, “Maybe it’s us who have to prove ourselves to him”. Anyone who has read the book knows it is a tale of gaining God’s company through faith. The film captures this well. I hope the kids get as much from it as I did.

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