The English novelist P.D. James once wrote that murder mysteries aren’t about death, but about “the restoration of order,” stealth theodicies sealed by happy endings. We expect an orderly universe. When a mystery breaks the rules, it gets our attention.
Chinatown, the Roman Polanski-directed classic marking its 50th anniversary, is famous for breaking the rules. It’s a “hinge” film, New Hollywood’s reflection on the Old. And though it’s not usually discussed as a theological film, it should be. Chinatown is in dialogue with Genesis as much as it is The Maltese Falcon. Corruption goes all the way to the top—to God himself.
