Dogma (1999) —Synopsis
The movies up to this point have, for the most part, focused on Catholic women and their stories. Dogma is included here for that reason as well, but it also breaks new ground as far as Catholic women and their identities are concerned. Additionally, Dogma is an extremely complicated film, whose overall themes encompass much more than the films previously discussed.

Dogma opens with an elderly man taking in the view of the seashore off Ashbury, New Jersey. As he enjoys the scene, three hockey-stick-wielding thugs attack him, beating him unconscious.

At the same time, in an effort to reinvigorate the Church’s image and attract more Catholics, Cardinal Glick (George Carlin) unveils the new “Buddy Christ” campaign. Unlike the somber images of the crucified Jesus, Buddy Christ smiles, winks, and offers a thumb’s up to all. The Cardinal plans to kick off the “Catholicism Wow” campaign with the rededication of a cathedral in Red Bank, New Jersey. To all those who pass through the church archways, the Pope will grant a plenary indulgence, wiping one’s soul clean of existing sin.

This announcement comes to the attention of two fallen angels, Loki (Matt Damon) and Bartleby (Ben Affleck), who have spent the last 2,000 years serving out their banishment from heaven in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. That time is often spent at the airport, where, among greeters wearing Styrofoam cheese on their heads, they observe and contemplate the human condition. Bartleby has received a newspaper article from an anonymous source regarding Cardinal Glick and the church rededication, which he shares with Loki. Loki thinks that he can gain God’s favor again by killing all commandment breakers, but Bartleby sees this plenary indulgence as a loophole for them to trade in their wings and become human so that they may re-enter heaven.

However, by choosing this back door route into heaven, Loki and Bartleby are unwittingly assisting in a plan of revenge set in motion by Azrael (Jason Lee) to end all existence. Not knowing this, Loki and Bartleby set off for New Jersey via bus.

Enter Bethany (Linda Fiorentino), a practicing Catholic who is not only struggling with her faith but happens to work at a Chicago-area abortion clinic. The Voice of God, Metatron (Alan Rickman), tells Bethany that he’s in charge of a holy crusade to stop two angels from entering an archway and thus negating existence. When Bethany asks what this has to do with her, Metatron explains that as the last scion she will have the opportunity of becoming the Mother of Humanity by saving all of creation. As a descendent of Mary and Joseph, Bethany is related to Christ, placing her in a role of great significance. Metatron tells her she will encounter two prophets who will guide her on her journey.

Doubtful of what she has heard, Bethany is attacked the following evening by Azrael’s three hockey-stick-wielding minions as she leaves work. Rescued by two men, Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith), she recognizes them as the prophets Metatron spoke of. Unlikely prophets they are, too—Jay can’t compose a complete sentence without using at least one obscenity, smokes dope, and obsesses about sex, while Bob says nothing at all. They want to return home to New Jersey, and, still skeptical, Bethany asks to go along.

Experiencing car trouble, the three encounter Rufus (Chris Rock), the 13th apostle who literally drops out of the sky. He tells Bethany that he will assist her in her quest to save all existence, if she will help him in his campaign to be included in the Bible and show Jesus was a man of color. Says Rufus, “A black man can steal your stereo, but he can’t be your savior.”

In the meantime, the easily distracted Jay and Silent Bob have gone to a strip joint. There Rufus meets up with the muse Serendipity (Salma Hayek) who immediately recognizes Bethany as the last scion of Christ. As Serendipity explains her role in inspiration and wisdom, a giant monster known as the Golgothan materializes. Made of excrement, the Golgothan has been sent by Azrael to kill Bethany. (This is probably a play on the word “Golgotha,” the site where Christ was crucified; known as the place of the skulls, it also serves to represent death.) Silent Bob saves the day by blasting the ‘poop monster’ with spray that “knocks strong odors out.” Serendipity will pump the monster for any pertinent information and tells the group to get back on their journey.

Loki and Bartleby have also been making their way towards New Jersey, but not without a great deal of bloodshed. The two groups finally meet up with one another on the train. Not realizing who she’s talking to, Bethany strikes up a conversation with Bartleby over drinks. The discussion turns to when each lost their faith. Bethany’s faith was deeply shaken when her husband divorced her because she could not bear children. She tells Bartleby that her mother’s response of “Bethany, God has a plan” was the final straw. Still bitter, Bethany wonders aloud why her plan to have a family wasn’t good enough for God. For his part, Bartleby confides that he lost faith because God wasn’t listening anymore. As they proceed to get drunk, Bethany unwittingly gives her mission away in divulging that she’s on a pilgrimage to stop two angels. In the melee that follows, Silent Bob again saves the day by tossing both Loki and Bartleby off the speeding train.

Up to this point, Loki has been on a killing spree essentially to prove to Bartleby that he still has what it takes to be the “Angel of Death” and the bearer of God’s wrath that he once was, before Bartleby took sympathy on humans and had them both expelled from heaven. But Bartleby’s conversation with Bethany produced an epiphany for him: He now believes that God has always favored humans. Bartleby rants, “These humans have besmirched everything He’s bestowed upon them. They were given paradise; they threw it away. They were given this planet; they destroyed it. They were favored best among all His endeavors and some of them don’t even believe He exists! And despite it all, He has shown them infinite fucking patience at every turn. What about us?” While Loki is beginning to question his approach, Bartleby’s resentment that God’s infinite patience has been with humans and not angels has turned him against humanity, and he determines that Loki is coming along on this mission of destruction whether he wishes to or not.

A short time later, Metatron appears to Bethany and company to offer support and explain how the situation has reached the brink of all existence being erased. God could have rectified the Loki and Bartleby dilemma on Her own but likes to engage with humans once a month, particularly to indulge in a passion for skeeball. However, God has not returned from Her last trip to Earth, and no one knows where She is. With the fate of all existence hanging in the balance, it is Jay, stoner extraordinaire, who suggests that Cardinal Glick cancel the rededication. Metatron thinks this is a fine idea, and the group is off, racing against the clock.

Cardinal Glick, however, is more interested in his putting game than canceling the event and kicks them out—but not before one of the members has absconded with the Cardinal’s putter. Defeated, they convene in a bar, where they meet Serendipity, and Azrael, along with his three thugs. Azrael admits that it is he who has orchestrated all of this to undo reality because he wants revenge against God, as he believes he was treated unfairly. Azrael explains that at the time God cast Lucifer and other fallen angels from heaven, God also kicked out those who had not sided with Her in this battle but chose to wait and see whether Good or Evil would triumph. Having chosen to stand by and watch, Azrael found himself expelled from paradise. Understanding that Azrael will sacrifice himself as well, he says he would rather not exist at all.

Azrael turns on the TV where the group views Bartleby and Loki wreaking havoc at the rededication, smiting all in their midst. As the group watches, Serendipity and Bob spot the Cardinal’s purloined golf club. Noticing their interest in the club, Azrael eggs Bob on telling him to hit him with all he’s got, which he does. Much to Azrael’s surprise he sprouts a gaping hole—the Cardinal had blessed his own golf clubs making them a holy instrument and thus destroying the demon. Azrael’s three hockey thugs are melted in water turned on by Bethany, who as a descendent of the Holy Family automatically blessed the water, and the group heads for the cathedral.

At the church, they find the grounds strewn with bodies, with Loki now in human form and drunk, and Bartleby flying above dropping corpses from the sky. In the ensuing battle, Bartleby, still angered at Loki’s resistance to his plan slays him with a sword. Now only Bartleby must be kept from entering the church, and in the fierce fighting Jay tells Bethany that at least the elderly comatose man at the hospital across the street won’t suffer through the apocalypse. Remembering her priest asking the congregation to pray for the injured man at Mass, Bethany makes the connection that this must be God whom everyone is frantically looking for. Bethany instructs Jay to do what he can to stop Bartleby and rushes to the hospital. Finding the old man she disconnects him from life support unleashing the Spirit from human form, but lies mortally wounded from the shock.

At the cathedral the doors fly open and out step Metatron and God (Alannis Morissette). Having lost his wings in the killing spree and thus become human, a repentant Bartleby comes before the mute deity who forgives him. Taking in the scene, she sadly surveys the destruction and carnage, and with a soothing smile heals and restores order. In the meantime, Silent Bob has followed Bethany to the hospital and weeping, carries her back to the church. God lays her hands upon Bethany’s wounds and she is resurrected anew. Before returning to heaven with God, Rufus, and Serendipity, Metatron tells Bethany he knew she would rediscover her faith and succeed in her task, and that she is three months pregnant with the next scion of Christ.

With catastrophe averted and new possibilities for the future, Bethany, Silent Bob, and Jay sit on the cathedral steps. But the always loquacious Jay, thoughts of sex never far from his mind, tells Bethany that sexual intercourse is safe up until the third trimester of pregnancy. Rolling her eyes, she says she’ll keep it in mind.

Dogma —Analysis
This controversial film was lambasted as an assault on Christianity and Catholicism by some, and hailed as a film with a powerful message about faith and grace by others.

The first woman seen in the film is a nun, whom Loki has engaged in conversation at the airport. She is an innocent, who appears to have questioned little in her life. Loki tells the sister that organized religion is based on nothing more than the fear of being punished and this gives the nun pause. When she asks, “What have I been doing with my life?” Loki nods in understanding and tells her to seize the moment and live life to the fullest. Here again a woman is portrayed as a misguided innocent. When Loki confides to Bartleby that, “I just love fucking with the clergy,” women get the shaft yet again because the nun is misidentified as clergy, a role Catholicism does not allow them to assume.

The other women in Dogma make a much more profound impression. From the moment the Voice of God Metatron appears in Bethany’s bedroom it’s clear that she is anything but a misguided innocent. When Metatron first materializes as fire, Bethany takes after him with a fire extinguisher, putting out the fire and exposing him as an angel. Still not convinced he intends her no harm, she wields a baseball bat as protection until Metatron turns it into a fish. Bethany fearlessly takes on the intruder and will display her courage and strength throughout the film.

When Metatron tells Bethany that without her help all of existence will be negated and she must rediscover her faith she replies, “I don’t think I have any faith left.” This exchange sets up Bethany’s central role within the story, which is one not seen in the other films. On one level, Dogma is the story of a Catholic woman constantly questioning her faith, particularly due to the painful traumas she has suffered in her lifetime. Throughout her journey Bethany continues to ask, “Why me?”, and at each juncture she begins to make sense of what faith is.

On another level, Bethany’s experience serves as an allegory of the story of the Virgin Mary. Mary saved the world through becoming the Mother of God despite no human conception and her initial doubts, and Metatron tells Bethany, who is barren and has her own reservations, that, if she completes this urgent mission, she will become the Mother of All Humanity. In both instances salvation for mankind comes not only through women, but through women who, despite their fears, are willing to take on challenges few could ever envision.

In Dogma even Mary has the opportunity for a much fuller life beyond the “ever Virgin” teachings of the Catholic Church. The very existence of Bethany as a direct descendent of the Holy Family indicates that Mary and Joseph engaged in sexual relations that produced other children. Subsequently, this removes Mary from the holy virgin category she is so often assigned to and offers her the richness of sexual experience within a loving marriage.

A second female central to Dogma is the muse Serendipity. Although her persona is not a Catholic one, Serendipity has seen enough of Catholicism to understand its male-dominated pitfalls. Serendipity offers Bethany insight, enabling the latter to illuminate issues surrounding her faith and to complete her mission. In clarifying her own role as inspiration, Serendipity explains she encouraged the writers of scripture to understand that God was a woman, but the pen holders were men who produced the male deity within the Bible. She laments that this is the reason the Bible is biased against women. In examining her faith, Bethany echoes this view referring to God as “She” throughout the film.

Like Bethany, Serendipity is also strong, smart, and fearless. Once the Golgothan is subdued, Serendipity isn’t afraid to question the monster for information on her own while encouraging the others to get back on the road to New Jersey. Nor is Serendipity intimidated by Azrael—in fact, she is only too willing to tell him that it’s completely childish and egocentric to end all of existence just because he’s angry with God. And later, in the film’s climatic battle when Loki and Bartleby must be stopped from entering the cathedral, Serendipity takes on Bartleby in hand-to-hand combat.

The idea of a female God doesn’t occur in the teachings of most religions, but it is intriguing nonetheless. Dogma does tend to go back and forth in this regard, with both Loki and Bartleby referring to God as “Him,” while Metatron and Serendipity allude to “Her.” There most definitely appears to be a strong female aura within this God, demonstrating the idea that women are better at seeing the “big picture” of life because their lives are not compartmentalized into work, family, sex, leisure, etc. but rather encompass all those areas at once. At the film’s end, Serendipity tells Bethany, “I told you She was a woman,” but Rufus responds that She isn’t really anything in terms of a specific gender. The most telling lesson in Dogma may also be the simplest—that God is something different for every human being.

Ultimately Dogma is a story centering on the themes of healing, grace, and faith. While there is, no doubt, strong irony in the fact that an abortion clinic worker disconnects life support equipment to free God from human form, the real point here appears to be sacrifice and healing. Bethany sacrifices herself so that others (in this case, God) may live. In return, God heals and impregnates Bethany with the gift of the child she could never have, completing her.

As with other films analyzed, the concept of grace exists within the idea that God works through all kinds of people—both the sinners and the saints. If there is any split within Bethany it is that of the sinner/saint and that God, as Bartleby duly noted, shows humankind infinite patience. But God works through others, too, and that includes the two “prophets” of Jay and Silent Bob, who in their own unique way open themselves to the Spirit. It doesn’t matter if those faults are a penchant for pot, an obsession with sex, or a foul mouth, grace triumphs despite our weaknesses.

Finally, there is the concept of faith. Early on, Serendipity notes that Catholics don’t celebrate their faith, they mourn it, an idea Bethany seems to relate to early in the film. Late in the film, Bethany denies her position, screaming in anger at God for placing such a Herculean task before her. When Metatron tells her that she’s “shouldering great responsibility; be who you’ve always been,” Bethany recognizes that accepting who she is and the role of faith is something she had to come to gradually, and on her own. Bethany is actually a realistic model of faith, a person who comes to that understanding through experience, even in her doubt and railing against God. The point is clear: God continues to work in our world and in us, despite all of our failings.

As a Catholic woman, Bethany achieves a fullness few others are allowed. The dichotomy within Bethany of sinner/saint is present in all of us, and it’s that very contrast that defines humanity as a whole. She isn’t relegated to the category of virgin, whore, or mother but encompasses the complexities of a person much truer to life. Here is an attractive, intelligent, unmarried woman, who isn’t a virgin but isn’t put off by sex, who declines sexual invitations by her own choosing. This is a woman who will become a mother and single parent, and whose daughter will offer the world salvation, but who won’t be limited by motherhood. By her own her choice, Bethany has a career focusing on women’s health issues that 82 Hollywood and Catholic Women she will likely continue to pursue, giving her multiple and overlapping roles. And Bethany accomplishes all of this without relying on a man. While there are increasing numbers of positive images of Catholic women in film, Dogma has moved to a higher level where women aren’t just smart, strong, and sexy, but are allowed to reach their full potential while saving humanity in the process.