At Seattle’s Harvard Exit theatre last March, I witnessed a rare and wonderful thing on the big screen—a thoughtful portrayal of devout Christians putting their faith into practice.
I was caught off guard. I’ve developed a serious allergy to “Christian movies.” They usually turn out to be big-screen sermons with very little storytelling imagination and hardly a trace of poetry or visual composition. Moreover, they’re often misguided fairy tales that imply a relationship with Jesus will lead to answered prayers, wishes fulfilled, and oodles of happiness. In my experience, the closer I draw to Christ, the more challenging and often painful life becomes.
But this particular movie wasn’t another church-funded production. To my knowledge, this film wasn’t even marketed to Christian audiences.
…
Of Gods and Men is a rare wonder—a film about faith made by artists, not evangelists. It takes Christian faith very seriously, and yet it is crafted with such impressive artistry that it has won international honours: the Grand Prize and the Ecumenical Prize at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival; the Best Film honour at France’s César awards; the Best Foreign Language Film honours from the London Critics Circle and from America’s National Board of Review—just to name a few. (And lo . . . at this writing, it has a 93% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes!)
So why is it that, almost two years since its debut and a full year after its American release date, the film seems to have gone almost unnoticed in the Christian circles, where enthusiasm for “Christian movies” is so intense? Why hasn’t it become the new standard for “sacred cinema,” inspiring church-basement screenings across the country? Why hasn’t it caught on with mainstream evangelicals like Courageous,Fireproof, and Facing the Giants?
There are, I suspect, quite a few reasons for this. …
My full commentary on Of Gods and Men is published at Comment Magazine.