Overcomer is more than
another sports encouragement movie. It was excellent! —a moving picture with
significant themes presented with humor and pathos.
The basic plot was a coach (John
Harrison played by Alex Kendrick) who loses his promising basketball team and
is stuck coaching one person—a young girl with asthma (Hannah Scott played by
Aryn Wright-Thompson)—in cross-country racing (a sport the coach knows nothing
about). This is one theme, how he helped her succeed in racing. Both coach and
athlete persevere to win. As Principal Olivia Brooks (played by Priscilla
Shirer) says, “One runner matters!” In other words, you only need one runner to
succeed, and a race is won racing past one person at a time. Or, as the apostle
Paul wrote, “Run in such a way that you may win the race” (1 Corinthians 9:24).
Another theme is good relations between
white and black people. A white couple become mentors to a black girl, but then
a black principal oversees all three. This theme is presented in a subtle but
clear manner. The movie reminds us that Christians living now need to
foreshadow heaven by creating community with people from all ethnicities
(Revelation 7:9).
A third theme is the need for
communication and especially forgiveness between all people, including Christians.
The couple, John and Amy Harrison (played by Shari Risby), talk and pray
together when they disagree. The father (Thomas Hill played by Cameron Arnett)
who abandoned his wife and daughter is transformed and seeks forgiveness from
his family members. Indeed, they confess their sins to one another and pray for
one another so that they may be healed (James 5:16).
A fourth theme is a comment on
child-rearing. The young sons observe the parents’ interaction and learn from
them the need to be humble. True masculinity and femininity is humble. Men can
ask for forgiveness and women can be assertive.
A fifth theme is the elevation of the
worth of very ill people and those with disabilities. The blind father, who is
dying, is able to pray, communicate, evangelize and mentor others. The runner
with both physical and emotional disabilities is able to overcome them. In
other words, as Jesus preaches, the meek can inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5).
A
sixth theme is the need for half-committed Christian lay people to become
completely committed to Christ and to see their commitment to Christ as
essential to their very being because if their job is their major
self-identification, events outside their control can seize and affect their
very being. The movie asks: “What do you allow to define you?”
At its heart, this is a refreshing
woman’s empowerment movie. A young girl is empowered to succeed as a runner and
become a whole person. A woman can be the principal in charge and do an
excellent job. Male teachers respect her leadership and comply with her
directives. Girls can model on such women and become themselves effective champions,
principals, leaders, evangelists, reconcilers, and homemakers.
Although the basic theme was not a new
one (the coach who mentors an athlete—or team—to succeed), yet it had many
surprising turns. The prodigal father returns to his home town seeking
forgiveness. The younger daughter and the older grandmother need to be
forgiving. Instead of a father with two sons, as in Jesus’s parable (Luke
15:11-32), the prodigal “son” is the father and the “elder son” is the
grandmother. This prodigal “son” also goes away to a “distant country” and
squanders all his property in “dissolute living” (15:13). He becomes a needy
person (15:14) when he receives the ramifications of his dissolute living in
his own body and his relationships. The “Father” of the earthly father is God
before whom he sinned, who, with compassion, forgives him (15:19-21). The
celebration is the father’s new-found relationship with his heavenly Father (15:22-24).
The grandmother (Barbara Scott, played realistically by Denise Armstrong) plays
the part of an angry “elder son” who refuses to forgive the prodigal father,
Thomas, because of all the harm he has done (15:28). The prodigal father was
lost and has been found, spiritually he was dead and has come to life (15:32),
but will that new life be accepted by those he hurt?
The acting is marvelous and effectively moving.
Cameron Arnett does an emotive and believable part as the transformed father
(Thomas Hill). Priscilla Shirer plays a firm but approachable high school
principal (Olivia Brooks). Her bringing the young girl to faith is attractively
done. The coach, John Harrison (Alex Kendrick) and his wife, Amy Harrison
(Shari Rigby) and the runner, Hannah Scott (Aryn Wright-Thompson) all are
believable, reminding us of people we have known throughout our lives. Alex
Kendrick brings humor and vulnerability to his role. Everyone plays her and his
part well. In addition, the music was well chosen as an accompaniment.
Overcomer is not an allegory, word by word copy of Jesus’s parable, rather, it is an
allusion to the parable with its own surprising twists. It is a call for the
need to become Christian but without the traditional seeker going to a revival meeting
or to a pastor for the climatic evangelistic conversation. And it is not up to
the male protagonist to solve every problem. The verisimilitude in this movie
is commendably strong.
We highly recommend the movie as
edifying and encouraging and emotionally moving. The audience in Massachusetts
was most enthusiastic about the movie too, clapping at key turning points and
especially at the end.
Aída
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