Maybe I’m a snob, but I don’t like Christian movies. By that I mean I don’t care for movies specifically made for a Christian audience, even though I am a Christian. Of course there are gems. The Hiding Place remains a classic and The Passion of the Christ is an excellent, if hard to watch, film. But I find movies made after 2010 by the Kendricks or the Erwins* and especially the awful God’s Not Dead (there were four of these movies!) simplistic and facile and even heretical. Most of these films preach that if you’re a good enough Christian (like the kind of person who watches these movies), you’ll go through some hardship, but pray enough and sing enough Newsboys songs and God will lift you up in the end. Altar call. Roll credits.
Why? It’s almost as if Christian movies have only two aims:
- Make evangelical American Christians feel seen and heard
- Satisfy their need for “clean” entertainment
I get it. Secular Hollywood mocks the Christian, assuming all faith is fake or disingenuous. They’re full of atheist and leftist dog whistles—Christians want to know: “where are our dog whistles?” God’s Not Dead has a character say, “God is good all the time,” and his friend answers, “All the time God is good.” A shibboleth! And our shibboleth. Amen and hallelujah!
Blowing dog whistles is the shallowest kind of art. It’s “clapter” comedy—the kind that appeals to an in-group but isn’t actually, you know, funny. Likewise, I don’t like PureFlix movies because they don’t have much to say about God, Jesus, or faith in general. Christ came to bring not peace but a sword. He also said his followers would have troubles: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) And yet explicitly Christian movies uniformly end on a happy note. Is this truth? Is this even pure and lovely (Philippians 4:8)? There are marvelous works of cinema art that are happy, uplifting, and inspiring. But the best ones have things to say about how we are uplifted and inspired. There are questions to be answered. Christian films seem to all be answering the same question: is it a good thing to be Christian in 21st century America? (Hint: the answer is yes.)
Perhaps I’m a churl to be pointing this out. I suppose some of my brothers and sisters in Christ need the exhortation and encouragement. I’m in no way against the industry! And I understand these movies are made exclusively for Christians, not for seekers or nonbelievers. But that’s a lost opportunity, I think. Fortunately, through the common grace of God, there are filmmakers asking big (or little) questions about God and even Christianity. They are believers (Lee Isaac Chung, Krzysztof Kieślowski), atheists (Oliver Stone) and everyone in between. Most of all, they are filmmakers making good movies, movies worth seeing whether you’re an atheist, a seeker, a religious non-Christian, or a Christian—especially if you’re a Christian. I’ll explore 13 of them in the coming months.
An apocryphal saying attributed to Martin Luther declares: “The Christian shoemaker does his duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.” Good movies are all that matters. You can keep your altar calls.
*I liked American Underdog and found Mom’s Night Out enjoyable. Those two films cast accomplished actors (Zachary Levi, Anna Paquin, Sarah Drew, Sean Astin), which no doubt helped. But even though these Erwin Brothers films were marketed as “faith-based,” they didn’t revolve around their characters’ religious dispositions. I think that’s why they worked.
