Christian Cinema?

[sphinxsphere]

I have just finished watching the DVD releases of two movies: Kingdom of Heaven and Constantine. The latter, a phychological/demonic thriller about a man who can see supernatural entities both from heaven and hell pulls a lot from catholosism and totally mutilates it. As a fan of those kind of thrillers, i applaude it. As a objective observer, i'm amused by their biblical misinturpretations. And as a christian, i'm offened by it.
Anyone else who has seen the movie i think can agree with me, or at least see my point veiw. does this movie paint a picture in people's mind about the nature of the super natural, or does everyone see it as a flick and not take it seriously?
Kingdom of Heaven, however, i was impressed with. (oops, i used a preposition at the end of a sentence. That's a gramatical no-no :D ) i believe it hit upon several key points that i think disrupts stereotypical consepts of religion and christianity in general. But to delve deeper into what the movie presents and actual biblical truth is meant for people with an MRS. But what do you think? Is Hollywood making things better or worse for christianity?

[drewmc2001]

I think Hollywood is undergoing an MPD period in its development. On one side of the coin, the creative interests in tinsletown want to validate their world views, so we get "art" like Brokeback Mountain, Seriana, and Munich - These are movies that largely pander to the world view of the writers, directors and actors who litter the landscape of Hollywood. On the other hand, the "money" people can't ignore the huge success of The Passion, or the apparent success of the new Narnia movie. Movies that appeal to a Christian market have the eyes of the "money" people, but not necessarily of the rank and file of the crafters of the films.

I expect that we'll see more movies like the Narnia flick in the months and years to come, but my big concern is that for a movie with a Christian theme to be a commercial success, it will have to have great acting and high production values, which some christian art-house films (cough...left...cough...behind...cough) lack; and high production values translate into high production costs (Narnia cost 180m to make).

[Jerrbert]

Hollywood will always make things worse for Christianity because it will only give us a warm, fuzzy view of it. Take The Passion of the Christ for example. The average Christian (me included) walked away from this movie crying, but only because we already knew the spiritual implications of what had happened to Jesus. The movie itself made no attempt to expound on what was going on. While the gospel story was there, at no time was anything said that would serve to convict someone in their sins. There was no talk of why he died, spiritually speaking.

Kingdom of Heaven was much less of what anyone would call a christian movie. While the basis for the movie was the crusades, which can be held to be christian in origin, the bad guys turned out to be the templars, who were suposed to be working for the church. While the main character and his father believed in ideals that were morally right, they seemed to have no problem with breaking other commandments as they saw fit (such as adultery).

Most worldly people find no problems with these things, and you even said yourself that you were offended by the movie. I have yet to see a movie put out by hollywood that really can be considered a christian movie.

I would like to point out that while everything I said here was critisism of the two movies, I enjoyed them from the point of entertainment purposes. I even plan to own Passion.

jerry

[BrotherDave]

Interesting comments.
I agree. Hollywood now sees there is money in the church people's pockets, and they want to get at it. BUT there are philosophical problems between what they want to do and what they want to make money doing. IE Brokeback Moutain (pushing the Gay agenda but making no money) and Narnia (probably making the liberals barf, but lining their pockets with so much dough they can make as many Brokebacks as they want). One of the biggest reasons for the "Christian" revival in movies in the man who heads "Walden," which produced Narnia. He is a right on Christian billionaire who is willing to spend his bucks to get the message out. God bless him. It takes money to begat money, and begotten bucks buy anything you want, in this case a little gospel on the screen.

brotherdave

[sphinxsphere]

The thing about 'Kingdom' that also struck a chord was, like Jerrbert said, the protagonists have the right ideas, but still sin greviously. And that makes it *real*. it is what poeple do in real life. Is it right? No. But it's what we do. It would have been nice if they had brought up the moral implacations of the adultry. That's what i got from it, though i don't expect much of the secular world to pick up on it. They would see it as a means of justification. :-(

[Merry]

I don't know the head of Walden media was a Christian. Cool! Talk about a God send.

[benaniah]

i agree that hollywood has realized that there is money to be made with the christian public. yet as mentioned that it's not really christian but moral by world standards.they throw just enough God in there so we go wow a chritian based movie and yet subject us to immoral stuff. kingdom of heaven was a good man movie and a woman movie, it had both aspects to it. if God grants me more wisdom and i have enough time i'm wanting to write a screen play about the life of davids mighty men. that is something i believe would represent men as men of God and also be action enough to keep the world entertained and i'm sure most of you know if there would be a christian movie say like constatine or say the exorcist it would probably be a short movie....... in the name of Jesus be gone....the end.

[BrotherDave]

Here's a small biography the big man:

Billionaire turns eye to movies
DENVER (AP) — For 13 years, Taylor Hackford was told a movie about the life of Ray Charles would be a failure. Then he met Phil Anschutz.
The Denver billionaire, whose love of Charles' music dates to the first concert he ever attended, told the director he believed in the project — and that he would pay for it. "There're a lot of rich people who pretend like they're going to finance movies," Hackford recalled. "But to go in blind without a distributor and finance a movie that cost $35 million, that was pretty astounding."

The resulting movie, Ray, was nominated for six Oscars this year.

Anschutz, 65, built an empire over four decades by relying on an instinct for underdeveloped areas, be they in oil, railroads, sports, newspapers or theaters.

Now, Anschutz is dabbling in movies.

The Anschutz Film Group is the umbrella for two companies he formed to produce family-friendly fare. Bristol Bay Productions was behind Ray. Walden Media works with teachers and librarians to pick books that can be movies. So far, they include Around the World in 80 Days, Because of Winn Dixie (out now) and the critically acclaimed Holes. Walden is working with Disney on C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, due in December.

Anschutz is a Presbyterian, but associates say he doesn't try to influence projects with his beliefs. Hackford said he and Anschutz disagreed only about the rating for Ray. Anschutz insisted on PG-13.

"He's a conservative Republican, and he knows I'm a liberal Democrat," Hackford said. "That didn't mean we couldn't talk about business. ... I ended up making the film the way I wanted to make it."

Anschutz grew up in Kansas, where his father was an oil wildcatter. He graduated from the University of Kansas in 1961, with a degree in economics and finance, and in 1965, formed Anschutz Corp. to hunt for oil.

His first foray into Hollywood came a few years later in a strange way: a Wyoming well blew out, which could have forced him into bankruptcy, Anschutz recalled in a 1974 oral history for the Colorado Historical Society.

He contacted renowned oil well firefighter Red Adair and raised the money to pay him by selling the movie rights to a Hollywood studio that filmed the fire for a John Wayne film about Adair's life called Hellfighters.

"There's always a point that if you go forward, you win, sometimes you win it all, and if you go back, you lose everything, and that was that point for me," Anschutz said in the history. He has not granted a public interview for 30 years, and did not for this story.

In the 1980s, Anschutz expanded into railroads, buying the Denver & Rio Grande and the Southern Pacific which then merged with Union Pacific in a $5.4 billion deal that created the No. 1 U.S. railroad. Today, he owns about 1.2% of UP stock and remains a director.

Anschutz kept Southern Pacific's telecommunications unit, which owned rights of way along the tracks, setting the stage for his next venture — Qwest, which built a nationwide fiber-optic network and became a major telecom player with its acquisition of US West.

Last fall, Qwest paid $250 million to settle civil fraud charges without admitting wrongdoing. Anschutz resigned as non-executive chairman to streamline operations after Dick Notebaert was named chief executive in 2002 but remains on its board. His holding company is the largest shareholder.

In the 1990s, Anschutz expanded into sports, buying the NHL Los Angeles Kings, part ownership of the NBA Los Angeles Lakers and five Major League Soccer teams. MLS Commissioner Don Garber credits Anschutz with seeing opportunity in the convergence of suburban soccer and the game's ethnic fan base, primarily among Hispanics: "He's been a trailblazer."

Anschutz is also investing in real estate and soccer stadiums, and his interests include Regal Entertainment Group, the largest U.S. movie theater chain, and a foray into publishing with the San Francisco Examiner and Washington Examiner.

But of late, the venture drawing the most note is his effort to make movies without sex or violence. Anschutz "believes in the commerce of it," said David Weil, an entertainment attorney who heads the Anschutz Film Group. "This is an underserved market."

Leonard Maltin, Entertainment Tonight film critic,said Anschutz's deep pockets have made him an industry player, but noted that G-rated movies attract a broad demographic.

"It's a smart way to go, and it also does some form of public service," he said.

Hackford said he tried to make Ray for years and was told young audiences wouldn't care, that black-oriented films don't sell overseas, that it was a tough story because Charles was a heroin addict and adulterer. But Anschutz believed it would offer inspiration.

"He's used to drilling a well and having it come up dry and losing a lot of money and going on and drilling another well and then having it come up a gusher," Hackford said. "He's got nerves of steel."

[sphinxsphere]

Yes, Hollywood is looking for the ultiment show stopper. "how much of this christianity suff can we slip in that doesn't interfere with all the action and gratuitous sex we have in the script?" It's sad. No one wants to see christianity in movies, and certainly not in the real world. It would mean they would have to accept that there is a God and suddenly they are responsible for all their actions and face the consequences. Heaven forbid that should happen! Taking charge of your life, surrendering to a higher athority? Never! Such is social accepted standard of America. seriously, we should have tee-shirts that say: wanna rebel? Be a Christian! (there probably is though. Darn, another original idea bites the dust.)

[ProfessorAlan]

The problem is that the Chruch as a whole will never agree on what a "Christian"movie is -- the makers of the Left Behind movies don't consider Narnia to be a Christian movie, for example, becuase there is no altar-call moment. It's the same question all artists of faith face, having to not only create quality art, but also create art that crosses some imaginary line of being "Christian."

I don't expect EVERY movie to appeal to my values; come on, that is unreasonable in a fallen world. I am actually very encouraged by the state of the movie world -- "Brokeback Mountain" doesn't bother me much, because "LOTR," "Passion," "Exorcism of Emily Rose," & "Narnia" have all been available at my local multiplex, as well as a number of non-spiritual movies that I liked, too.

[Jerrbert]

Professor, I agree with you that I don't expect every movie to appeal to my values. Where as "Brokeback Mountain" does not appeal to me as a movie that I want to go and watch, I have seen the others and, for the most part, liked them.

I suppose I look at movies from the point of entertainment. I know that they are not going to impart anything else that will really be of use to me. Now to contradict that, I went to "Narnia" expecting a Christian experience as well as entertainment. Having read the books, I was thrilled to see a screen version of this. I was so powerfully shaken to see the table break and Aslan come back to life. I cried at the way he led himself off to be a sacrifice for sin.

But you are also right, there is no altar call moment. There were many kids in the audience when my wife and I went, and I was just as heartbroken when I heard parents give outrageous answers to questions about his death and re-birth. For non-believers, there was nothing in the movie that made someone realise the importance of what was happeneing.

Back to the subject, there are certain movies that I will not see because they are so far into a morally bankrupt place that I know I won't get any entertainment from it. Movies like "Deuce Bigalow." Action movies that I used to love when I was younger like "Lethal Weapon." The sex movies are just that, usually one step away from porn. The action movies, I have come to realise that they are nothing but violence, sex and profanity. It just doesn't appeal to me anymore.

Actually, mosst of the mainstream stuff put out by hollywood doesn't appeal to me anymore. "Serenity" was the first movie that my wife and I saw in 2005. It came out at the end of September! They are getting worse. Good, original movies are getting no play while the garbage is hyped up and dumped on us by the load.

Well, after reading what I wrote, I am beginning to sound more and more bitter, so I will go.

Thank for letting me ramble. :)

Jerry

[sphinxsphere]

The thing i try and draw from movies nowadays is psychological and ethical themes. Serenity, though acclaimed as an action movie, has more insight and contraversy than seen at first glance. I could go into a long, drawn-out disertaion about the complexity of each of the charactors (and someday i might), but sufficed to say that what appeals to me it the dimention of the charactors. I don't agree with quite a bit of the philosophy and psydo-theocracy of Joss Whedon with the Firefly/Serenity of Buffy/Angel universes (6th season of Buffy, eesh!), but what does intrigue me is how he has captured the human condition. Take Mal, a former soldier who theives to make his living, and is willing to leave a man behind, but will shoot him in mercy. (for those who have not seen the movie, this will NOT make sense). One of the main themes of the movie was 'belief', and if the object of that belief was shifted to something else (i.e. God, redemtion, faith etc.) some of situations tweaked, and some of the more eye-raising dialogue dropped, it very well could have been a christian movie through and through.
Or maybe not. The 'woulda-coulda-shoulda' world is a facinasing place to get lost in, but the fact remains that there are very few movies out there christians can be proud with. Bummer.

[jenna_searcher]

I think sphinxsphere had it by mentioning "the human condition." As a film student (and, as far as I can tell, the only Christian in my department) it's been interesting to see secular reactions to my spiritually-inclined work. I took a screenwriting course last semester and was amused when, at my pitch, the majority of my peers considered my film idea "heavy-handed" or "preachy." I had expected this. What amused me was how they decided to help me figure out a way to make my Christian morals more subversive, if you will.
It was actually quite helpful - through many revisions and workshops, I came up with something that seemed to truly touch even the hardest hearts. They showed me how my "overt" lessons were unattractive, easily written-off. I think a true Christian film (if there can be such a thing) has to appeal to universal human emotion and experience, offering the ultimate answer/remedy, even if (and better if?) not directly.
To say that Hollywood is getting into the Church coffer is to give them too much credit. Of course it's an industry. Of course they want money. But guess what? God is mighty. Let's not limit Him by supposing He can only work through true-blue 100% Christian Brand films. In fact, let's trust that if He wants, enough believing writers and filmmakers can take Hollywood by storm. Let's be faithful. Let's write, if that's our call. Let's make movies and tell stories that will rend hearts, not by our amazing talents, but by the Holy Spirit. It's not our job to censure or boycott or scandalize or celebritize. It's our job to love the Lord and obey Him in all things.
So, that turned "preachy" - my apologies. Can I get an amen?

[sphinxsphere]

Amen!
I saw a movie once, a long time ago, and i forget a lot of the details. It was called: The Cross Is Mightier Than The Switchblade. I don't remember much of it except that is was based off real charactors and events (the only name i can remember is Nikki Cruz, the leader of a gang), i also remember that it unabashedly spoke of the gosple in a world where it was rejected. And i also remember it was *compelling*! I remember understanding the charactors, learning about them, seeing them as people. I'd have to watch it again (i think it was made somewhere in the late-eighties) but i think it stands for what christian cinema could be, and be accepted by the secular community. or at least tolorated. Or maybe not even that much. :-(

[momwitness]

the Cross and the Switchblade was a Billy Graham production based on the life of Nicky Cruz, a gang leader. It was also a book.

[Gumpngreen]

Mr. Anschutz recently said he's interested in getting into video games. Unfortunately I don't know if he even knows about the existing Christian game developers. I do know Digital Praise was actually passed over in favor of Buena Vista Games (probably as part of the packaged business deal with Disney) when it came to doing the Narnia video game. If I could figure out a way to get hold of him I would.

[DrRita]

What I fear is that Hollywood will make "Christian" or "religious" movies without using Christian writers or consultants and think they are doing it okay. There are a couple of reasons for why they would do this. One, there aren't a multitude of talented Christian writers willing to write for Hollywood and subject themselves to all the scrutiny and other secular garbage. And as Jenna pointed out, many of the scripts are too preachy or "heavy handed" to get a chance. The second reason is just plain predjudice. Christian are not well accepted and the producers would rather work with their own kind. Prayer is our greatest weapon. We can pray for the executives, producers, writers, actors and all those who work behind the scenes--especially the Christian who are commited to serving the Lord in that industry. This link Hollywood Prayer Network (http://www.hollywoodprayernetwork.org/) is a great ministry specifically targeting Hollywood as a mission field. Also Act One (http://actoneprogram.com/) another ministry dedicated to training Christians for careers in the industry. We definately need more Christians involved, not just as professionals but as prayer warriors and workers.

[wgjones3]

I was really dissapointed to get an email yesterday urging me to pre-order the Visitation on DVD. Apparently it's going to be released into 200 theaters this weekend (though I wouldn't have known had I not gone looking for the info after getting the email) and it's going to be out on DVD within a month. I somewhat understand why the first Left Behind movie went straight to DVD before it hit theaters, but this nearly straight to DVD distribution method is practically screaming, "We can't make movies that are good enough to compete with Hollywood, but we'll still try to get into theaters just in case you'd like to see it there."

*sigh*

Here's hoping Thr3e gets more theaterical support.

[Merry]

The Visitation is going to theaters? I never even heard!

[BrotherDave]

Maybe is somebody wrote a screenplay about two homosexual christian lovers trying to reach the south pole in a dune buggy, call it "Brokeback Mountain, Christians Too" it would succeed...then again, maybe not...

[DrRita]

Maybe is somebody wrote a screenplay about two homosexual christian lovers trying to reach the south pole in a dune buggy, call it "Brokeback Mountain, Christians Too" it would succeed...then again, maybe not...

How about "Brokenback Mt. Sinai" and place it at the foot of Mt. Sinai among the Israelites waiting for Moses--wouldn't even have to make up anything!

[paulchernoch]

A friend at church just saw "The End of the Spear", based on atrue story about the deaths of several missionaries in South America, including Elizabeth Eliot's first husband Jim Eliot. It sounds like an excellent Christian film, though not for children. Cal Thomas gave it a good review in his column.

- Paul

[DrRita]

A friend at church just saw "The End of the Spear", based on atrue story about the deaths of several missionaries in South America, including Elizabeth Eliot's first husband Jim Eliot. It sounds like an excellent Christian film, though not for children. Cal Thomas gave it a good review in his column.

- Paul


Just came home from see "End of the Spear." I thought it was well done. I agree, not for children. I do have to say, the evangelism part was perhaps a bit underplayed, but better under than too overt. It was still there.