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Judging by Pure Flix’s The Case for Christ, Christian-made
movies are really coming into their maturity.
Thanks to the AMC Theater chain and its independent movie track,
otherwise unavailable Christian-generated pictures outside the South or the
West, where they tend to be made, are often scarce in our burned-over New
England towns on Boston’s northern shore.
But missing the film version of apologist Lee Strobel’s adventure in
conversion would be missing a lot. As one
of our church elders put it well when he saw the upcoming previews: “It looks like an action movie!” And it is indeed an action movie, as well as a
satisfying and worthwhile film that leaves one feeling both well-entertained
and, at the same time, well nourished.
A carefully written screenplay by Brian
Bird and the subject of the movie, Lee Strobel, himself, and cutaway action
sequencing directed by Jon Gunn grip the viewers, as the story centers on two
simultaneous mysteries confronting a young, coiffured investigative reporter,
replete with 1980s hairspray and an exploded, self-assured me-generation ego
that happens to be backed up by a high intelligence and sense of commitment
both sharp enough to miss the point amidst all his clever theorizing. Assigned to write on a cop-shooting, he is
harassed at the same time by his wife’s relentless moving into a faith in Jesus
Christ he neither welcomes nor understands.
Deftly portraying the Strobels are seasoned actors Mike Vogel and Erika
Christensen, who had previously worked together on the 2003 film version of Wuthering Heights. Their chemistry and conflict is riveting and
the parallel mysteries that confront our reporter are each complex, both of
them demanding the full attention of protagonist and viewer. We went in to a 6:30 p.m. showing and left at
nearly 9:00 p.m., but I had no sense of the passage of time. I was shocked that it was so late – the
story is totally engrossing and all the acting is so well done, from the young
child actress to the veteran Faye Dunaway, which is something one cannot say
about every movie one views. This
suggests as well adept directing and excellent cinematography and production.
The title may put off secular viewers
and that would be a shame, because the story is riveting and the crafting so
well done. But the title choice is
certainly part of the integrity and the skill of the filmmakers – to put
everything on the table in full view.
But, like every good mystery, things are rarely what they appear to
be. Debunking Jesus’s claims and solving
the shooting both turn out to be enigmas fathoms deep. My wife and I read a lot of mysteries and,
as seminary professors, we have a good handle on the evidence for
substantiating the claims of Jesus, but we were far from bored watching “Lee”
fly and drive all over the place to check this evidence and slowly find himself
overwhelmed. At the same time, neither
of us were successful in figuring out exactly what the crime case he was
investigating was really all about. Even
when the evidence was staring at us, we still missed it. And interrelating these two conundrums is
what brought the movie together so well, though this was never spelled out, but
left to the viewers to connect them, as any fine film will do. As one character expressed the movie’s point:
we don’t see the truth, because we don’t want to see it. That’s a bit harsh and not always true, but
it certainly was dead-on in the context of this film and left hanging to be
considered by every skeptical viewer.
Lee Strobel has been indefatigable
constructing and disseminating his defenses of the good news of Jesus. This movie, in my estimation, is a worthy
companion to his work. It conveys the
excitement of the adventure of big city reporting in both its this-worldly and
other-worldly dimensions, reminding us that the two are linked in their effect
on people’s destiny both temporal and eternal. I’ll buy this movie when it’s available,
because I’ll want to see it again and lend it to others. I think it’s that good.
Bill
(please look for Bill’s own mystery/suspense novel, Name in the Papers, which won the Golden
Halo Award for Outstanding Contribution to Literature from the Southern
California Motion Picture Council)
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