Watching Guzikowski and Villeneuve’s Prisoners through the Lens of Patristic Teachings on Evil

Abstract:The 2013 film Prisoners, written by Aaron Guzikowski and directed by Denis Villeneuve, was the most profoundly Christian film produced by Hollywood that year. Yet its many spiritual themes have gone largely unexplored by Christian film critics and theologians. Among the most striking of these themes is a much-neglected idea concerning the sources of evil in our world, an idea with deep historical roots in scripture and patristic theology. In this article, I explore this idea and seek to show how Prisoners is effective in conveying its spiritual force and practical import for the lives of believers.