End of the world movies invite us to consider the end of ourselves and how we choose to live in the face of inevitable death. They speed up the timeline and create a sense of crisis to look at human nature under an intense microscope. Recently the movie Greenland 2: Migration hit theaters and I had a chance to watch the original Greenland (2020) this past weekend.

The basic plot of the film is a comet will hit the planet in three days bringing about the extinction of nearly all humans. John Garrety, a structural engineer, and his wife and son have been selected by the US government for a classified project meant to save a portion of Americans with special skills in hopes that they can rebuild civilization after the apocalypse. Participants of this project will be sent to Greenland, where they will live in underground bunkers meant to withstand the fallout from the comet strike.

John lives in a big, beautiful house in Georgia. He and his wife have fallen on relationally rocky times, but are doing their best to patch things up. It’s not a perfect marriage but you can tell they still love each other. John’s son adores him, their mutual love for one another is apparent.

At the time of finding out that the world’s end is imminent, the Garretys are hosting a barbecue for their neighbors. They are all gathered in the living room watching TV as a piece of rock falls to Earth and completely destroys a major American city. Everyone begins to panic and a call arrives announcing in front of John’s friends that he and his family have been selected for the Greenland project, while the others were not.

At this point in the story the main character faces a dilemma -does he stay at the barbecue or does he go to Greenland?

And if you think about it, this is an existential choice most of us make everyday of our lives. We see tiny bits of comet falling all around us - loved ones passing, personal health issues, a growing sense of our own limitations and smallness.

The end is inevitable, a extinction level event is just around the corner (for you and me anyhow). How will we respond? Run to the barren and cold underground bunkers of self preservation or let ourselves die at a fun barbecue surrounded by love and grilled weenies?

As far as I can tell the way of Jesus is the latter, but much of our current religion is self-preservation in pseudo-spiritual disguise. We think we’ve assented to “being selected” rather than dying. And when the time comes we will safely and comfortably head to our Greenland in the sky to survive the eternal storm.

12th century monk, Bernard of Clairvaux, talks about how each person alive bears the image and likeness of God. We are all created with inherent importance, beauty and dignity - this is the image. But the likeness of God is different, something we have lost along the way. We look like God but don’t act like God (read: love like God). We spend our days living in what Bernard called “the Land of Unlikeness”, our own personal Greenland.

Perhaps the most wrenching scene is when the Garrety family are pulling out of their driveway to leave everyone behind. The neighbors all come outside to watch and beg them to take their children to Greenland as well. “There’s no room,” John says “We can’t take anybody else.” Close friends and neighbors are abandoned at the drop of a hat when the choice is between them and survival.

It’s disappointing that the unquestioned assumption in this film is we will always try to preserve ourselves. There is never any really doubt of the family trying to get to Greenland. What follows is a tortured journey of needless pain and suffering. They go through horrific trials and tribulations all for the sake of stretching themselves a tiny bit longer. In the end they do make it to the cold bunkers of Greenland just before Earth’s demise. They survive the comet, but some other metaphorical comet like cancer or heart disease will probably get them soon enough. Living a bit longer had a heavy price tag for the Garrety family. Three days of connecting with people they love will never happen.

Critics called a “first-rate B movie”. Maybe it’s a philosophical masterpiece.

Makes you wonder about life in general - what if you just stayed at the barbecue?

If you had three days left to live, what would you do? Would you struggle and scheme to survive? In the Bible book of Luke heaven is described as a beautiful house party and we are all invited. But heaven is not Greenland, it’s the day we have today. You don’t have to do much, just stop trying to run from your asteroid.