The original post: /r/movies by /u/PonderingMonkey on 2024-12-24 22:35:22.

“Home Alone” hits year after year. That church scene when he’s getting ready to face the burglars is so emotionally loaded. He’s been on a journey from being a co-dependent cynic to learning and practicing self-sustaining habits and discovering himself while questioning his own fears.

He’s finally at a time and place to face the biggest threat: real criminals meaning to cause him harm, What does he do? In an attempt to look for answers he goes to the only place his brain knew there was some kind of divine power: the church, making it a literal and metaphorical “Hail Mary”. Eve when he doesn’t get the answers he’s looking he gets to face another of his childhood fears, the old man. By tearing down the scary image of the old man and discovering a human soul in pain within him, he’s able to inwardly take this mistaken assumption he’s had and realize he’s been afraid for no reason. It’s like the scene where he stops being afraid of the furnace in the basement, but at an existential level. This church scene is a transitional moment where he discovers his inner strength and now the fear is gone and replaced with the need to protect his home, his family.

Merry Christmas!