This Is All reNickulous' Fault, I Swear:

Chris Weitz's screen adaptation of "The Golden Compass" adeptly delves into weighty subject matter while utilizing a dialogue that is distinctly child-oriented. The unfortunate consequent is the notion that we aren't truly acquainted with Weitz's characters, who are certainly not as well-developed as Pullman's. It becomes clear, however, that this was a calculated decision: any addition of children's dialogue sufficient to truly develop the characters, would undoubtedly be sufficient to bore an older audience. And more sophisticated dialogue would alienate a younger audience. In order to draw both the young and the old, Weitz implied quite a lot, while saying almost nothing. The result is a stunning allegory, and a great movie to watch high... Or with your mom and two younger sisters:

Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy is quite often placed in the same category as "The Chronicles of Narnia", and not simply because they are both books that Nick is all about. They both contain subtle references that cause quite a bit of religious controversy. I won't discuss Narnia, but Pullman's novels are considered to be criticisms of the Catholic church. This adaptation of "The Golden Compass" (I cannot speak for the novel itself because it has been such a long time since I have read it), goes much further than simply criticizing the church, it is an all-out allegory to the Crusades. Here goes:

The story begins at Jordan College, in Oxford, England. But the characters are referred to as "Scholars of Jordan", and, as far as I could tell, the name Oxford is never mentioned. This would not be noteworthy, if it weren't for two other references to the Middle East: the Gyptians and Lord Asriel. If we take the Magisterium to represent the Catholic Church, as so many critics have suggested, than The "Scholars of Jordan" and Lord Asriel are not only emblems of scientific progress but also of religious dissidence, and so it is not a leap at all to suggest that they are analogous to the intellectual and cultural affluence of the Middle East in the 11th Century. With this in mind, that the Magisterial Officers refer to "The Scholars of Jordan" as Heretics makes a lot of sense. When John Faa, of the Gyptians, explains that the Gyptians have always been friends to Lord Asriel, we begin to see what Pullman is truly illuminating: that Muslim-Jewish conflict in the Middle East is by no means innate, and that it was the stresses of Western (and Catholic) imperialism that brought it about. In truth, during the Crusades, the Muslim's protected the Jewish communities that inhabited Jerusalem.

Also, the symbol of the Magisterium flipped upside-down is the Freemason symbol, and the Catholic church-Freemason conflict is one of the longest standing conflicts in the History of Modern Civilization.

Go see the movie, it's tight.