It is very difficult to think of many Hollywood films that depict the Catholic, or Christian of any denomination, faith in a positive light, even fleetingly.
Some of the films that show Catholicism in a positive light do so unexpectedly, as in the case of Home Alone.
There are some irreverent references to the faith throughout the film, such as when Kevin blesses himself saying grace before a meal, but one particular scene stands out.
That scene is the church scene where Kevin, abandoned by his family, terrorised by fears of his elderly neighbour and expecting a robbery from the ‘wet bandits’, heads to his local church where a choir are practising.
At the beginning of the scene, we see Kevin walking past a nativity scene outside the church. In the background we can hear ‘O Holy Night’. After hearing the music, he ponders going in to listen to the music. He looks up and down before deciding to trudge through the snowy path and into the church.
Once he enters, the music has reached the high note ‘Fall on your knees and hear the angel’s voices…’ as the camera pans to the choir showing us a shot of the nave.
As it gets to the line ‘O Night when Christ was born’, we see Kevin directly in line with the altar, about to begin his walk into the church.
Some might be familiar with the fact that the external scene was filmed in at a Methodist church and the internal at an Episcopalian rather than Catholic church, but the inference is that it is Catholic. The first image that we see Kevin looking at is a statue of St. Padre Pio, with Cross in hand and Rosary beads attached. As Kevin’s view pans across the scenes of Christ with the Apostles on the windows, he then sees a statue of St. Joseph with the child Jesus, illuminated by a light shining down on it.
After he sits down, he is approached by the elderly man from his neighbourhood that he fears. What occurs then is akin to a Confession box, both of them discuss their problems, their sins, their mistakes.
As the old man, named Marley, points out his granddaughter on the altar, a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary is visible, the choir are on the altar and the tabernacle with an Cross above it is behind it.
Marley explains that he is there to hear them sing because he won’t be welcome to hear his granddaughter at Christmas Day, he tells Kevin ‘I’m not welcome’ to which Kevin replies ‘At church??’ before ‘You’re always welcome at church’.
The two of them make a resolution at the end almost as penance, as one would do after Confession.
He then wishes Kevin a Merry Christmas and he returns the favour.
It is simple, elegant and memorable.
In the final scene of the film, Marley, has reunited with his estranged son and Kevin waves to him. Like Marley in Charles Dickens’s Christmas Carol, he has been weighed down by the chain of his sins and he is now loosed from them.
The most straightforward stories and the most honest scenes are sometimes the most realistic, and the most worthwhile. Life is short, make it beautiful.