Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)

Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)

Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) is a movie review of the ninth Star Trek film with analysis to compare spiritual insights from the Bible.

Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) continues the journeys of the crew of the USS Enterprise-E. The crew rebel against Starfleet after they discover a conspiracy with a species known as the Son’a to steal the peaceful Ba’ku’s planet for its rejuvenating properties.

Forced Relocation of a Population

The film addresses the theme of potential genocide and the forced relocation of a smaller population to satisfy the needs of a larger one.

Admiral Matthew Dougherty: Jean-Luc, we’re only moving 600 people. Captain Picard: How many people does it take, Admiral, before it becomes wrong? Hmm? A thousand, fifty thousand, a million? How many people does it take, Admiral?

History of full of examples of this unkind practice. The Trail of Tears, in which the Cherokee nation was displaced in North America in the nineteenth century.The event known as the Armenian Genocide is considered by some to have been a population transfer. The Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire was transferred in the years from 1915–1919. The Albanian people were moved by force in the Kosovo War in 1999. In the ancient world, population transfer was the more humane alternative to putting all the males of a conquered territory to death and enslaving the women and children. The deportation of the elite of Jerusalem on three occasions to Babylonian captivity in the years 598, 597, and 587 BC was a population transfer. The Bible describes these stories in the books of Jeremiah, Lamentations, and 2 Chronicles. According to the Book of Ezra, the Persian Cyrus the Great ended the exile in 538 BC, the year after he captured Babylon. Incidentally, a similar plot was used in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Homeward” in 1994.

 Living in the Moment

Anij: Have you ever experienced, a perfect moment in time? Captain Picard: A perfect moment? Anij: When time seemed to stop, and you could almost live, in that moment. Captain Picard: Seeing my home planet from space, for the first time. Anij: Yes. Exactly. Nothing more complicated than perception. Anij: …We’ve discovered that a single moment in time can be a universe in itself, full of powerful forces. Most people aren’t aware enough of the now to even notice.

In this fast-paced world, the movie reminds us to take time to just “live in the moment.” The Ba’ku are a people who have refused to use technology. The reason is that it has prevented them from living life to the fullest. Psalm 118:24 and James 4:14 remind us to live for today – to live in the moment.

Questions:

1. What do you think about the forced relocation of a people that is addressed in the movie? How does that violate the value that the Bible teaches about people?

2. The Bible reminds us to live for today. How does it feel to live in the moment?