"Hollow Man" Follows Bible Theme

In contrast to the film Left Behind which deals with Christian topics directly, there are more mainstream movies out there that take a much different approach. One in particular that comes to mind is the recent box-office hit Hollow Man starring Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth Shue. You see the old Cain and Abel themes so often these days that it is often very easy to forget where the story comes from. No, neither Cain nor Abel were invisible men, but they concept of an evil man that pays for his actions is present.

Often times in movies that refer to the Cain and Abel stories, the character will have some name that is easily recognizable to the Cain name. Usually the Cane or Kane variation is used. The stories never directly re-tell the original Bible story, but they do get the general idea of Cain's personal character. To give you a better idea of what I am talking about here, I will try to summarize the story. Cain was a son of Adam and Eve who slew his younger brother Abel over jealousy and greed (Gen. 4: 1-16). After the Lord rejected him, he entered an unholy covenant with Satan. After this event, you see Cain referenced as Master Mahan, or "master of this great secret," and he could "murder and get gain" (Moses 5: 29-31). This aspect of his demise is also in Deuteronomy 27. Cain and his descendants lived separately from the other descendants of Adam.

This Cain and Abel theme is a common one for drama, suspense, and thriller movies. Chances are anytime you see a character name that sounds like Cain, and who murders and gains, chances are they are referencing this Bible fable. Kevin Bacon's character Sebastian Caine follows that theme. Following suit, Hollow Man does not have a character representing Abel. There usually is not in these types of movies. Abel usually comes through different characters, each voicing their objections over the morally apprehensible behavior.

All the other scientists in the project make their feelings apparent to Caine. It usually comes in the form of jokes about playing God. It is never quite apparent just what kind of man he is in the beginning, except that he has got an ego the size of Texas. It is not until he becomes a part of the experiment that you see what he is truly capable of doing. The experiments show that the drug brings out anger with extended exposure. It goes without saying then that the film does contain violent content.

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