This is an amazing true story of a young man in his late teens called Frank Abagnale Jnr (played by Leonardo De Caprio) and FBI agent Carl Hanratty (played by Tom Hanks). The way I see it, it’s also the true story of the rebellious heart found in each one of us and a loving God who never gives up. Having learned wayward ways from his financially struggling father, Frank takes up a life of fraud, forgery and false identities to escape the painful realites of his parent’s divorce. In a bid to restore what financial loss was incurred by his family through his father’s actions, Frank sets out on an adventurous life, taking risk after risk, all the while dumbfounding the powers that be with his incredible forgery skills.

The movie is titled “Catch Me If You Can” because of the cat-and-mouse game running throughout the story between Frank and Carl. Carl volunteers to chase down and bring in this young man who is essentially stealing millions of dollars from American banks through fraudulent cheques, parading as an airline pilot, a lawyer and a doctor. Even though Frank is continually on the run from Carl and the authorities, every Christmas Carl receives a call from Frank. It becomes evident to Carl, that Frank is lonely and Carl has in many ways become his only friend. As the chase goes on, there appears to be growing mutual respect and a genuine liking of one another.

Although Frank is living a life of criminal activity, as a young man, there is still a level of childhood innocence that seems to come through and for which Carl seems to care very much. So in some respects, Carl looks out for Frank’s safety and well-being when he is in the hands of the French police. In the end, Carl catches Frank and brings him to justice with a 12-year prison sentence, yet chooses to visit Carl during his prison time. Upon one visit Carl brings to Frank, one of the latest forged cheques he has come across from another fraudulent source. He seeks Frank’s expertise in order to identify possible leads on who is forging the cheques.

Recognising Frank’s incredible skill, he then introduces a superior FBI agent to Frank on another visit. In an incredible real-life twist, Carl volunteers to act as Frank’s custodian and Frank becomes employed by the FBI to assist them in cracking down on fraud. Before the closing credits start rolling, it is noted that at the time of making this film, Frank continues to work for the FBI in this capacity, earning hundreds of thousands of dollars per year and that he and Carl have remained very good friends. It is a truly remarkable story of redemption.

Frank Abagnale Jnr is like us when we are lost in our sin before meeting Christ. Even though there may not have been evil intent in our hearts initially, we were drawn to sin, self, and deception, even unwittingly. Before we knew it, we were caught up and became prisoners to sin ,and unable to get our way out of it. The further we ran, the more we lost, and the less control we had over our destiny.

Carl Hanratty is like Christ. Christ is always ‘after us’. He is always there, following us, knowing our whereabouts, and looking out for us, calling us to righteousness, even as we continue in our sin and rebellion. Like Carl was always encouraging Frank to give up, Christ never tires of wanting to bring us into righteousness. Christ wants to restore our innocence and He knows it can only be done through Him. Frank had to give in, surrender, give up, admit defeat. It was only by doing this, that Carl could restore Frank into society as a respectable human being contributing to Carl’s cause of upholding the law. We are the same.

It is only when we finally give ourselves up and over to Christ that our lives can make sense and we find purpose, integrity, a future and a hope, awaiting us in Him. Frank was always running from Carl and yet had a longing to be his friend. At one point, he asked Carl to stop chasing him because he was obviously tired of running. We too, even though living in sin and rebellion from God, can have a sense that we actually need Him. We have an aching in our heart for relationship with this God who is always calling and drawing us to Him, even if we try to ignore it. Frank was safer and better off in the custody of Carl than having his own freedom. His own freedom was a threat to himself, he was unable to deliver himself from his past and was unable to stop his wayward ways. By agreeing to be placed in Carl’s custody, Frank actually found freedom and blessing, which was undeserved.

It is like this for us. When we accept the Lord Jesus as our Saviour, we become a bond-slave to Him. We understand that living life by our own independence is really a life of slavery to sin, but a life surrendered to Christ, where He is now our Master and friend, is a life of abundance and liberty which we could never create for ourselves. And of-course, all of this is a marvellous story of grace – unmerited, undeserved favour. It is by grace we have been saved, through faith, and not that of ourselves, but it is a gift from God…lest we should boast…