First of all, I have an issue with art being labeled "Christian." (I'll be using the term throughout this post for clarification purposes, but I'm gonna leave off the quote marks from now on, because they're just annoying.) Jason Dunn, the former lead singer of Christian rock band Hawk Nelson once told me, "Christianity is not a genre." Truer words, my friend, truer words...But I'm not gonna get into that, because Jon Foreman, lead singer of Switchfoot, who is a Christian NOT in a Christian band, said it better than me here.
The second thing is, there often seems to be an imbalance when it comes to Christian art, specifically with music, movies, and novels. It's like they're trying so hard to be "Christian," that they settle for mediocrity. Quality is sacrificed for spirituality. For example, the majority of Christian romance novels read like the authors all learned how to write from a "How to Write a Christian Romance Novel" handbook. And then there's the Christian movies with terrible acting, weak plots, and an over-abundance of sentimentality. You know what I what I'm talking about. I bet you're thinking of some specific examples right now, aren't you? Truth be told, I avoid Christian movies like the plague. And Christian novels. There are so few Christian authors I actually enjoy reading. I can't handle the sappy, contrived, unoriginal stories that saturate the Christian fiction market. (However, Lisa T. Bergren, Jenny B. Jones, Ted Dekker, Jen Turano, Elizabeth Camden, Francine Rivers, MaryLu Tyndall, and Julie Lessman are all Christian authors that I read and keep going back to again and again.)
So you'll understand that when I went to see the newly released movie God's Not Dead, I had extremely low expectations. I was banking on bad acting and extreme cheesiness. I really thought this movie was gonna suck.
But it really didn't. In fact, it was REALLY GOOD. Really. I was shocked.
For those of you who haven't heard of the movie, or maybe have no desire to see it, lemme break it down for you (Ahem...there are a few spoilers):
The movie is about a college freshman (played by Shane Harper) who takes up his philosophy prof (Kevin Sorbo)'s challenge to prove the existence of God.
It is the BEST Christian movie I have ever seen. (Unless you count Passion of the Christ). It was compelling, entertaining...and NOT sappy or overly sentimental. It WAS on the preachy side, but given the storyline/subject matter, that was kinda necessary.
I LOVED the acting. Shane Harper did an amazing job as the lead, Josh Wheaton. Kevin Sorbo as Professor Radisson made a very convincing intellectually pretentious douche. Honestly, I thought the entire cast was great.
I LOVED the filming location/setting. The movie was filmed in Louisiana and set in a fictional Louisiana town, which I personally loved since I have such close ties to that particular state. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing people walking around wearing LSU. But that's just me.
I LOVED the accuracy. From theology to apologetics to cultural representation, God's Not Dead impressed me with its detail and accuracy. It was obvious that a fair amount of research went into this film. (And one of the subplots involved Prof. Radisson's girlfriend realizing she was unequally yoked. I LOVED this. But that's a soapbox for another day...)
I LOVED the diversity of cultures represented within the film. There was a subplot involving a female student from a traditional Muslim family who converted to Christianity and was kicked out of her house when her father found out, as well as a subplot about a Chinese classmate of Josh Wheaton's who decides to follow Jesus after Josh presents his case to the class for the existence of God. As a missionary appointee with a degree in Bible and Intercultural Studies, I was impressed with the accuracy of these depictions as well as the film's boldness in doing so.
The only thing I DIDN'T LOVE were the "celebrity" cameos. The appearances of Willie and Korie Robertson and the Newsboys added the only bit of cheese to an otherwise cheese-less film. (Especially considering Shane Harper's character also wore a Newsboys shirt AND had a Newsboys poster in his dorm room....overkill if you ask me.) Still, this small amount of cheese did nothing to detract from the movie's all-around awesome.
Bottom line: GO SEE THIS MOVIE. As it turns out, quality doesn't have to be sacrificed for spirituality, after all. Go figure.
