Searching for Forgiveness in The Words

Last updated on: January 24, 2013 at 6:45 am by Kendrick Kuo

Searching for Forgiveness in The Words 2013-01-24T06:45:22-07:00 Kendrick Kuo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Review of The Words, Directed by Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal

By KENDRICK KUO

The Words is almost more a parable than a movie. The film has three interlayered stories—Clayton Hammond is an author who writes The Words, a book about Rory Jensen who finds an old book manuscript and decides to publish it as his own, only to be found later by the original author, “The Old Man”, who has his own tragic story to tell about how he ended up writing the book. Despite this possibly confusing story within a story within a story, The Words is simply about moving on from our mistakes.

Hammond’s book, though considered fiction, is autobiographical and he supposedly plagiarized the book that first made him famous as a novelist, or at least this is what happened to Rory. Rory and his wife Dora go to France on their honeymoon, where Dora buys her new husband an antique leather bag. Rory is an aspiring writer, but the publishers reject the novel he has been working on for years.

It is at this time that Rory stumbles upon the manuscript hidden in the leather bag. He decides to submit the manuscript as his own novel and becomes a successful author. After this seminal work is published, Rory’s other novels are also published.

Then one day The Old Man finds him and reveals his identity as the original author. The Old Man also tells Rory how the book was written in the midst of tragedy—his child died as an infant and left his relationship with his wife in ruins. Rory is burdened by guilt and tells his wife and his publisher the truth, leaving his wife feeling betrayed and his publisher in a moral quandary. The publisher convinces Rory to offer to pay The Old Man all the money he made from the book instead of making a public confession of plagiarism, but The Old Man refuses to take the money and tells Rory to move on in life just as he did after his wife left him.

The message of the film—whether it is actually wise or even possible to move on from our mistakes—is left unclear. The Old Man doesn’t seem to have had a very fulfilling life after the divorce and Rory’s narrative does not continue after his encounter with The Old Man. The most decisive explanation may be the closing scene. Hammond is asked what he really wants, and there is a flashback to a scene where Rory asks Dora to forgive him (we are not told if Rory actually ends up moving on without forgiveness, or is forgiven, or lives the rest of his life, like Hammond, with regret).

Perhaps this ambiguity in the central message is a directorial move, leaving the first story (Hammond) clearly in favor of the need for forgiveness; the second story (Rory) ambiguous since we don’t know the rest of the story since Hammond, the author, leaves it hanging; and the third story, The Old Man, is in favor of moving on and letting go of the past.

Although I didn’t personally enjoy the film and wouldn’t recommend it to friends, the redeemable part of The Words is the exploration of the question of mistakes. The language of “mistake” makes it more excusable, as opposed to harsher words such as “sin,” having less weightiness and an almost accidental ring that lends itself to empathy. But Hammond recognizes the weightiness and longs for forgiveness. This longing reflects the way we are wired as human beings, looking to find a way to assuage our guilt incurred by our faults.

What’s troubling about the message of moving beyond our mistakes is that it lies about God. To bury our mistakes requires forgiveness. This is something that Hammond recognized he needed, and we all need it too, despite what The Old Men of the world may say.

Previous Post

January 23, 2013

Jesus Makes You Smarter

Next Post

January 25, 2013 In Defense of Burning Witches

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Action AFI Top 100 Animation Best Picture Winner BFI Top 250 Biography Biopic Books Childrens Christian Classics Classics Comedy Crime Documentary Drama Editor's Choice Family Fantasy Fantasy Films Foreign Historical Historical Fiction History Horror Horror IMDB Top 250 Indie Memoir Modern Novel Musical Mystery Non-Fiction Oscars Philosophy Poetry Popular Literature Reading and Writing Reality Romance Science Fiction Science Fiction Silent Sports Thriller TV Show Uncategorized Western Westerns Young Adult

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 June 2017 January 2017 December 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which principle does the "Golden Rule" teach?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Spread the Gospel Rest on the Sabbath Treat others as you want to be treated Pray aloud