Dogma (1999)

Dogma (1999) is an American fantasy comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith. Two fallen angels, Bartleby and Loki, were banished from Heaven for insubordination and are now stuck in Wisconsin for eternity. After an intoxicated Loki stepped down as the Angel of Death at Bartleby’s suggestion, they come across a newspaper article that reveals a way for them to return home. It turns out that Cardinal Ignatius Glick is celebrating the reopening of his church in Red Bank, New Jersey with a “Buddy Christ” statue. According to the article, anyone who attends the festivities will be granted a plenary indulgence, absolving all their sins. And if the banished angels take part in this ritual and die in their human forms, God would have no choice but to let them back into Heaven.

This plan is encouraged by Azrael, a demon, and his three teenage followers who serve him in hell known as the Stygian triplets. Bethany Sloane, a disheartened counselor at an abortion clinic, heads to her church in McHenry, Illinois. During the service, there is a call for donations towards a campaign aimed at preventing a Red Bank hospital from pulling the plug on John Doe Jersey, a homeless man who was brutalized into a coma by triplets. Suddenly, Metatron—the seraph and the voice of God—appears to Bethany in the form of a pillar of fire. He warns her that if Bartleby and Loki successfully return to Heaven, they will override God’s will and invalidate the belief in His omnipotence, ultimately erasing all existence. Now Bethany must work together with two prophets to thwart the angels’ plan and save the entire universe.