It’s a rarity that I reccomend a movie to the general public. Either it’s a movie that is something you’d have to be like me to enjoy or it’s something that’s not appealing to more conservative people I know (kinda like Tia’s circles). Seldom do things like that intersect.
I’ve always marveled at the things that pass for Christian “entertainment”. Turn on TBN some Saturday morning and you’ll see what I mean. I don’t expect kids’ shows to be intellectual but the cornyness of some of the shows is beyond belief. I don’t know what it is about puppets but even EWTN has a corny puppet show. The dialogue is stilted, the characters are flat and it feels like some poor attempt to bring back Leave it to Beaver. It only gets worse when it’s real live kids interacting with growns ups in costumes (think Barney read Ephesians). What’s worst is they HAVE to include scripture of some kind. While daily Bible reading is a good thing if the only book you read was the Bible you’d either go crazy or be incredibly dull.
What I think most of these people miss is that it’s possible to have a good moral story without having to tie everything directly into a Bible verse. Focus on the Family has made some of the best strides in this area since their Adventures in Oddessy series (radio but somewhat the cartoons as well) has great moral stories without having the Bible in every episode. It gets read, but only when it makes sense in the story to do so. I mean I don’t run around quoting scripture at every circumstance I face, do you? Scripture has a time and a place like everything else under the sun (see Ecc. 3 for more info)
Adult versions aren’t much better. I remember having to watch the Billy Graham movie Caught when it was in the theaters. Boredom doesn’t even begin to describe it. Few people even try to aim for adult Christians anymore.
So what has me intrigued is the movie coming out this Friday called End of the Spear. If you don’t know about it you probably do know who Elisabeth Elliot is. You might have heard the story how her first husband, Jim Elliot, was a missionary in Ecuador and how the tribe he and his compatriots tried to minister to killed them and how the women returned and finished their work. This movie is based on that story. Better still, it looks like a high quality production that doesn’t Hollywood-ize it.
Rare is the opportunity we all have to support a movie like this. As Cal Thomas has put so well
“End of the Spear” is the latest in a steadily growing number of films that are taking on culture on its own turf. Instead of cursing darkness, more independent producers are beginning to make good movies (do not confuse “good” in content with bad in execution) containing positive messages.
So if you are looking for something good to do this weekend you might want to give it this one a shot. It looks worthwhile (though not for kids) and if it does well maybe Hollywood will sit up and take notice.
Yes, and the cool part I think is that it’s in the tribes point of view. This woman had to have complete forgiveness to want to do this after what they did to her husband. I’ll probably have to rent it though.