There has been a nice little crop of Christian movies out within the last 6 months, and whether I like it or not, I’ve seen most of them. The Christmas Candle, Son of God, God’s Not Dead, Blue Like Jazz, Facing the Giants, Fireproof, Passion of the Christ, you name it. There are many redeeming qualities about these movies, and yet, there are still many things that make me wince. 
But before we begin this melodramatic discussion of the deficiencies of Christian cinema, I want to say that I love the people that have made any type of the movies we are about to discuss. I love people bold enough to create and declare the deepest truths they know. If I had the opportunity, I would be right there among them, and just as criticized, if not more. So my intention is not to discourage anyone from indulging in faith-based films—if anything, they are more deserving of your cheddar—but instead, to identify how I receive the artistic goods they deliver.

Cover bands
Watching a movie about Jesus will always be like listening to a group of 8th graders covering your all-time favorite songs. No matter how talented and genuine they are, they will never recreate the magic. There are rarely Christian movies that I think wow, I am going to live differently as a result of this. Many deliver a good emotional high, but very few do justice to the content they cover. And I’m not blaming this on the fact that many of the movies use first time actors or have the budgets of a high school prom. Rather, the issue comes when we expect any two hour cinematic experience to represent real life. Have we ever trusted a movie to be just like real life? Even documentaries struggle to avoid the biases and scripted dialogue that come with filming. So going into any Christian movie, especially a movie about the life of Jesus, I have to remind myself that they will never present it the way I want it. How could they? I would want everything Jesus ever did presented in the context that I currently understand it.

Poetic Justice
Movies have to use poetic justice. If they didn’t, some scenes would be mind-numbingly boring. There isn’t much dialogue in the story of Noah. It would be a pretty dull movie if we limited the director of Noah to sticking to the script. Now, when ark-building rock transformers join the plot, that’s when poetic justice gets a little overboard. It doesn’t matter whether the director is a Christian or if the actor playing Jesus lives with his girlfriend, I appreciate the different interpretations brought every time someone puts a biblical story or theme on the silver screen. In Son of God, I admired the colors and emotions each portrayal of Jesus’ actions brought, but I absolutely despised the cheesy, dramatic lines throughout the movie. And I don’t think Jesus was ever that attractive. It’s more likely he had a bulbous nose and a unibrow. If we are going to imagine the biblical stories in film, let’s put the characters in flesh, not air-brushed skin. Passion of the Christ was one of the better films to portray the life of Jesus with its use of English subtitles, historically accurate torture and poetic justice, but the Satan/woman baby combo really freaked some people out.

Demonized Dissenters
To me, one of the most troubling occurrences in Christian films is when the “bad” characters are resolutely awful. I had a tough time with God’s Not Dead because every character against the protagonist was so morbidly evil that anyone could look good when compared to the film’s antagonists. In these movies, the atheistic professor doesn’t need to be a stubborn narcissist, the Muslim girl doesn’t need to hate her culture, and the ancient Pharisee doesn’t need to be the spawn of Satan (though Jesus disliked the Pharisee more than anyone). In real life, I can see myself in the Pharisees, I can see good intentions in atheists (or at least good manners), and I can see happiness in people of different religions. Does that mean we shouldn’t portray convicting truth? By no means! Does everyone still need Jesus? Absolutely! But the world isn’t split into good guys and bad, black and white. The ideology of ‘us’ and ‘them’ is what causes wars, racism, and exploitation. It is my heart to at least keep it out of films made by people who are supposed to be the best at loving people. But I write this section knowing that I do this too and I want to change this in myself before I worry about it in the latest film adaptation.

Group Think
When I watch a Christian movie, I want it to be the best thing ever. I am rooting for it to succeed. But the danger of Christian movies is how quickly it can become a back patting ceremony. Because of the demonized dissenters and our familiarity with the stories, we can easily create an atmosphere and a film where any unbeliever who watches it feels like an outsider, not an honored guest. Yet, in a movie market that makes most Christians look like antediluvian, dim-witted prudes, it’s honorable to let us rejoice in who we are and let us be the good guys for once. I just want to make sure we aren’t laughing at those on the outside, but instead, trying to bring everyone inside. I know that’s the heart of the men and women who make Christian movies, but it needs to be the heart of everyone watching Christian films as well.

Secularity
There is another trouble of which I am already a participant: splitting the world into secular and non-secular. Jesus isn’t just in Christian films and He isn’t just in Christian communities; He’s everywhere. When I say “Christian movie” I am isolating the artistic merit and sectioning it off into a genre of cheesy Sunday school lessons and poor acting. It’s the same reason bands like Switchfoot and U2 don’t want to be “Christian artists.” Moreover, calling films secular prevents us from admiring some of the most beautiful aspects of the Gospel. I have admired lessons of love, peace, and redemption in some blatantly secular movies. Some of the most beneficial movies for Christians are many of the movies that weren’t trying to be. I’ve seen pulsing traces of God’s love and truth in movies like The Lion King, Schindler’s List, and Les Miserables. Heck, event the motif of love melting the frozen heart in Frozen is more “Christian” than some of the blatantly Christian movies I’ve seen. Let’s not reduce beauty down to categories.


Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if a movie was made by Christians, pagans, or scientologists. We will do well to search for the beauty of God’s truth in every place, no matter how dark or light, secular or non-secular. Christians don’t have a monopoly on love, joy, or truth, and secular movie makers don’t have a monopoly on good filmmaking. Let’s watch every film with a watchful eye and an open mind.