Christian vs Secular Movies

[TK]

I forgot about Gandhi-- very inspirational.

TK

[Jason]

I completely forgot about documentaries, being that I'm a fiction writer! I watch around 2-3 documentiers per week on PBS and have gotten much out of them. So although I enjoy a good doc, it's not really my field. For those of you who've read "Heavenly Man," I approached a woman at my former church who knew Brother Yun (an NBC corrospondant who is a Christian) about doing a full blown theatrical re-telling of his life story. She told me they'd considered it before but decided not to move forward for whatever reason. It's too bad because his story might inspire a lot of lukewarm Christians.

It's funny that several of you mentioned the cheesy factor when it comes to Christian movies. I think this is generally because the most talented filmmakers these days are not Christians. But look what happened when Mel Gibson made a passion movie. I doubt anyone would call that a cheesy film! It was incredibly cinematic and moving with great performances. It can be done, but serious filmmakers have to be at the helm and not just people with good intentions.

I think one of my all time favorite films is actually the Karate Kid part 2. Maybe it's because I grew up in the eighties but this film still resonates with me because of the strong morality. The flick is all about loss, forgiveness and suffering for the cause of peace. And not to be a snob, but I consider part 2 the final film in the series.

[darinhouston]

It's funny that several of you mentioned the cheesy factor when it comes to Christian movies. I think this is generally because the most talented filmmakers these days are not Christians. But look what happened when Mel Gibson made a passion movie. I doubt anyone would call that a cheesy film! It was incredibly cinematic and moving with great performances. It can be done, but serious filmmakers have to be at the helm and not just people with good intentions.

At least for films like Left Behind, it could be that the author sells out -- I don't agree with the books, of course, but I can't imagine there weren't quality filmmakers who would have loved a chance at that immense audience even with retained editorial control. At what point did art and music become relegated to the pagans? Historically, it was usually sponsored by the church, I understand.

[Jason]

At least for films like Left Behind, it could be that the author sells out -- I don't agree with the books, of course, but I can't imagine there weren't quality filmmakers who would have loved a chance at that immense audience even with retained editorial control. At what point did art and music become relegated to the pagans? Historically, it was usually sponsored by the church, I understand.

I think we'll start to see more quality in these types of films because Hollywood now sees it as a massive revenue market. Fireproof (a Christian flick) was the highest grossing independent film released in the last year and that got studios thinking. They aren't doing it for altruistic reasons, but financial. Some quality work might come out of this decision to bankroll "faith based films," as they call them. Nevertheless, I think God will bless a pile of rocks if he wants to use them. Flywheel was a Christian movie, made with pocket change and without decent actors, yet ran in the theater for 6 weeks and has sold 30 million dvds. In this business, it's extremely rare to see that kind of thing. But the people who made that flick were trying to honor God and I think He put his hand on them.

[steve]

Darin mentioned the movie "Life as a House." I have to say that I found it to be powerfully moving. It is one of those several movies that I really liked, and would watch again, but which I am reluctant to recommend because of some objectionable material, language, etc. I really think that modern Christians are exposed to so much rebellion, crudeness, sexuality, perversion and profanity in everyday life that the occurrence of some of these in a story that is, on the whole, otherwise edifying ought to be something that we might readily endure without harm to our souls—just as we regularly have to do at work, at school, or in the marketplace.

On the other hand, I totally respect Christians who may feel that it dishonors God and/or does spiritual harm for them to hear and view ungodly language and behavior (or even to bring such into their houses), and who therefore do not willingly subject themselves to unnecessary dosages of objectionable behavior in their entertainment choices. Many movies that I, on the whole, have been positively affected by, like "Life as a House," and which I would recommend to people of the same mind as myself, might be edifying for those who feel that they can get past the unrighteous behavior of the unrighteous characters, and can gain spiritually from a positive overall message (As an example, I think of the positive reactions of most Christians to "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," despite the story's inclusion of lying, rude behavior of siblings to each other, the presence of characters from pagan mythology, witches and magic, etc.).

However, I believe that one should monitor his own spirit regularly, if such viewing is very frequent (I don't see very many movies—of any genre). We Christians should have the ability to live among idolators without compromising our own purity, but we must not assume we are immune to the corrupting power of mental saturation in the images and ideas of the world. I think, too, we may be more vulnerable to being personally compromised by our hearing and seeing evil in our chosen entertainment than in our overhearing the same from ungodly people in the places of business that we are obliged to frequent. This is because, in the latter case, we may easily maintain an attitude like that of Lot, who "tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds" (2 Pet.2:8). It is harder to maintain a continual torment of soul over actions offensive to God when the behavior is deliberately brought into our homes for our viewing pleasure and is performed by characters with whom we are made to feel sympathetic.

[TK]

excellent points, steve.

i heard david wilkerson preaching a rather fiery sermon and he was really coming down on his congregation over the popularity among them (and other christians as well) of the series "The Sopranos" which is obviously rather unsavory material. the same could be said of the attraction of movies like "The Godfather" or "Goodfellas." it is so easy to fall into the trap (me included) of getting so absorbed in the stories, and even sympathizing with the bad guys, that we forget how evil they actually are.

TK