House of Keys

Description

House of Keys is a set in a futuristic, industrial city which has set itself up in rebellion against reality. Seeing itself as a new way of life rather than simply a place to live, the city defines its freedom as giving each citizen the right to define their own moral code and idea of reality, as long as those ideas don't encroach upon other individuals. The film is about a young man called Max Rayner, an underdog who longs to be accepted by his contemporaries. He is assigned a political prisoner who is restrained because his views are deemed to undermine the state's idea of freedom. The prisoner claims he is free and poses Max the question "what happens when two people disagree about freedom?" His story shows that in practice, some people pay the price for the freedom of others and that defining your own morality leaves the possibility for abuse wide open. The prisoner offers Max truth, freedom and the key to leave the city to see the world beyond the governance's creation for himself. Max receives both this key and a call to interview for governance, giving him the choice between acceptance and true freedom.

Biblical Connection

House of Keys is grounded in two verses: 2 peter 2:19 and John 8:32, and based upon the interaction between Paul and the Philippian Jailer in Acts 16:25-36. For the film I have pushed the Jailer's story to its logical concluding tension: the truth that sets the Jailer free also puts him in the same danger as Paul. My story is told from the Jailer's (Max Rayner's) perspective and is set in a futuristic city. It follows him from being introduced to a radical idea of freedom, to accepting it for himself and paying the price. The world is drawn from Peter's scripture regarding false teachers and from relativist 21st Century philosophy, the "false teacher" of our age. In contrast to the idea that freedom means defining your own reality, Jesus states in John 8:32 that the truth will set us free. This film explores the nature of truth and freedom in the context of two men's lives; one is a prisoner, the other is not free.