What's with the church ?

[KuroHebi]

Why can't the monsters get inside the church? It's just a building, so how is it more powerful than the monsters? Has there been a protective spell cast upon it by the cult? What is stopping Pyramid head from smashing the church window and jumping in, or cutting the door down? Please explain !

[Mis Krist.]

If you listened to the Demon at the end, "She" says that "their blind faith repels me." She can't enter the church on her own - so, it would stand to reason the monsters she created also cannot enter the church, because the faith of the cult keeps them out.

Faith can do wonders. I just wish silly goth SH fans would see that.

Also, again: Please use the search button and look around this forum before you make a new topic - these are topics that have more than likely been discussed before, as the movie has been out for a year. Also, please take a look at the Quicklinks Sticky on top of this page for an easier way to find your answers.

Thanks.

Edit: Apparently I type with a lisp.

[KuroHebi]

"I just with silly goth SH fans would see that. " What did you say here ?

Thanks.

[Mis Krist.]

"I just with silly goth SH fans would see that. " What did you say here ? "

Faith was a powerful object in the movie, enough to protect the cult throughout the course of the film (until Rose's pact). What I said was a playful jab, nothing more.

[KuroHebi]

I see. OK, thanks!

[AuraTwilight]

Basically, faith, along with thoughts and emotions, manifest physical results in the Otherworld, just like in the games to a more limited degree.

[Phantom Allure]

I think a more interesting question is: why the hell are all those birds flocking to the Church? surely, Alssa doesn't give a shit about enacting her revenge on them... also, why would animals be able to differentiate that they're fleeing into a "safe" place?

[KuroHebi]

What would happen if they didn't fly to the church? They could sit on any old buidling and be fine I think. It's probably just for dramatic affect.

[AuraTwilight]

I think they were subconsciously conjured by the cultists as a "Warning from the Lord" or some such.

Or maybe Alessa made them as a warning to make it a more fun of a chase. Either way, I think they were conjured mentally as a clue.

[kennsj]

I think they were subconsciously conjured by the cultists as a "Warning from the Lord" or some such.

This makes sense. They carry a bird in a cage (a reference to their mining past) to warn them when the Darkness is coming, after all...

[phantomess]

"I just with silly goth SH fans would see that. " What did you say here

I also think that "with" was supposed to be "wish." That confused me at first.

Wow, I don't remember birds flocking to the church, and I've seen the movie at least several times. Sometimes I can be so unobservant.

Yes, their "blind faith" holds the 'darkness' (including monsters) at bay- but I always thought of it more as denial than faith. (After all, their faith is false- while they think it's a good cause, it basically just leads them to do evil things.)
Denial. The darkness, followed by Alessa, was able to come into the church once the truth was told outright and forced upon the cult members. It's sort of like how a person can't change while they're still denying a problem exists. Only in this case, the cult members didn't change; they faced their doom.
I somehow doubt if my awkward explanation further cleared anything up, though.

[Phantom Allure]

I think they were subconsciously conjured by the cultists as a "Warning from the Lord" or some such.

Or maybe Alessa made them as a warning to make it a more fun of a chase. Either way, I think they were conjured mentally as a clue.

Why would you think the cultists capable of creating actual living things?

Myself, I'd lean more towards your second guess. But what i hold to most of all is that the birds support the theory that the people trapped in Silent Hill were already dead. Why? As I mentioned before in the movie ending thread, birds are commonly associated with the afterlife as messengers or escorts of departed spirits, in which function they are referred to as "psychopompos". Remember the Stephen King story, The Dark Half? Also, there's the movie, The Crow. And what are the birds that were flocking to the Church in Silent Hill? why, they're mostly crows, with a smattering of pigeons and sparrows.

In a sense, when they were leading the people to sanctuary when the Darkness rises, they're performing the duty of leading souls. I couldn't quite chalk their behavior up to purely animal instinct, especially given the fact that the extremely loud siren would have frightned off the birds

[phantomess]

I think I do know the birds you're talking about, now that I think of it. I thought you meant there were birds flying toward the church along with the cult members that were running, but do you mean the ones that fly out of the pit in the building next to the hotel? I didn't get a good look at them and assumed they were bats.

[kennsj]

I don't think the birds or bats were conjured by anyone, really. Gans just chucked them in there because he wanted that particular visual.

The film is not as rich with symbolism as the games. As such, it's far too easy to read too much into everything.

That's probably a killjoy comment, but I don't think there was really any thought put into symbolism in this film.

[AdjectiveRyan]

I think the reason he put the birds in there is it is hard to walk around and plug in a karaoke machine when trying to search through places for food, clothing, living stuff, etc. They didn't really have any pocket radios to warn them seeins as the town got cut off from the rest of civilization for as long as it has.

[Xev]

I think it was a convenient way for Gans to portray the radio, having the bird in the cage to warn them when the danger is about to appear. The birds flying to the church is peculiar since they do not go in, therefore do not have the protection. That might be as stated before, just for aesthetic reasons but I think also - a slight hint of death. Like Phantom Allure wrote, birds such as crows are linked with death. In the Egyptian culture they were sometimes messengers from the living to the dead or communication between ones who have already passed. --Im trying to remember something else about that. Ill have to look it up.

anyway, seeing them flock and circle the church steeple I believe is supposed to evoke a feeling of dread and oppressiveness.

[Mis Krist.]

Maybe they're there to watch the show.

[Phantom Allure]

Why bother with making the birds a stand-in for the radio when they DID actually put in a radio in the movie? Granted, it only seems to work on Lying Figures, but hey... still a squawking radio for all that...

I think I do know the birds you're talking about, now that I think of it. I thought you meant there were birds flying toward the church along with the cult members that were running, but do you mean the ones that fly out of the pit in the building next to the hotel? I didn't get a good look at them and assumed they were bats.

I was referring to all of the birds in the movie.

[Xev]

The only radio was in the very beginning correct? Only in Rose's vehicle and Cybil's cop talkie? They didnt replace the radio, just another way of showing that purpose.

[Phantom Allure]

heck, Rose's phone also reacted to the Lying Figure. And she mysteriously hadn't lost the damned thing all throughout the running and screaming and dying.

Anyway, we sort of strayed from the discussion of the Church itself.
Anyone get the translation of that Latin motto at the altar? The "someting, something, Omnipotens" thingy?