My wife and I finally went to see Courageous. I say finally because as Christians who are in full time ministry (and evangelistic ministries to boot), I/we have been the target of an overwhelming and oft overbearing movie marketing machine aimed at anyone who’s ever darkened the doors of a church, that finally made it seem like it was not only our duty to attend, but sacrilegious if we didn’t. So we finally went.
And much like we expected (we also saw Fireproof and Facing the Giants), it was just ok, but fell way short of the hype that marketers and sympathetic leaders in the church tried to paint it as. So no big surprise here. Now I realize that being a Christian – no, actually an Evangelical Christian – and being critical of a movie like “Courageous” that my tribe enshrined as “the greatest Christian movie of all time” long before its release is most certainly grounds for ex-communication. And I’m actually surprised that I’m even writing this review (I originally wrote and published this review on the movie review site “Rotten Tomatoes”), since I seldom take the time to review movies, even the ones I love.
I guess I decided to speak out here after reading the review below (again, referring to a review on the Rotten Tomatoes site), obviously from a “faithful follower” of what is becoming the insensitive, self-serving church, who proudly exclaimed “I saw the movie and loved it…don’t listen to these critics, they’re all against us…they don’t know what they’re talking about, etc., etc.” It’s becoming a “We love Jesus, the rest of you be damned” mindset. Putting that in contrast to all those things that the historical Jesus’ life actually represented and stood for, no wonder why most of the unbelieving world sees us as a band of lunatics and judgmental hypocrites.
But this reviewer’s attitude seems to be indicative of so many of those writing the positive reviews I’ve read for this movie – most self-proclaimed Christians, and most sounding like a heavy handed response to a kind of “write your Senator” campaign urged on by many of our tribal leaders whose go to sites like this and write positive reviews. It’s as if their goal was to defend God’s goodness before the throngs of heathens “out there” set on tearing it down. I’m pretty sure God doesn’t need our help in defending His goodness. He just needs us to show His love and forgiveness and mercy to others. But instead, He gets attitude.
My wife and I are getting so sick and tired of this us/them attitude that’s becoming so prevalent throughout the church. I’ve actually read many of the negative reviews here on “Rotten Tomatoes” – something I’m pretty sure most of my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who have written reviews haven’t done – and found a lot more truth and honesty and transparency in these critic’s criticisms than I could find in the words of those with obvious bias who were applauding it.
My wife and I are avid movie-goers, and are avid TV viewers as well. And not just of the PG rated stuff. We’ve walked out on many movies that we thought were over the top re- sexism, degrading sexuality and sexual inuendo (i.e., Bridesmaids was horrific right out of the gate…we lasted about 10 minutes) or violence, or just due to plain boredom or poor storytelling. While we didn’t walk out on Courageous – and yes, we both teared up several times throughout the movie – we still felt like it was an effort to endure the many shortcomings cited quite accurately by several critics that were somehow either ignored, omitted, or missed by many of the movie’s Christian sympathizers. While we both acknowledge and appreciate the noble intentions of the film’s creators, we couldn’t avoid cringing many times during the movie at the thought of how this movie attempts to portray Christianity to the mainstream.
For instance, as a Christian white male, I found the racial and sexual stereotyping so blatant, it was almost laughable – that is, if I didn’t also know how true and ingrained that attitude is in so many of the suburban and rural, predominantly white churches today, especially here in the South (we live in Atlanta). And the more rural you get in the South, the more de facto it is. This movie was shot in Albany, GA, and the attitudes and characterizations in it felt like every small town I’ve ever been in in the South in all respects (and while I wasn’t born here, I’ve lived in the South for over 25 years).
I could go on and on in my critique of this film, but my challenge to my fellow Christ followers who feel like I’m being overly critical of this movie is simply this – try pulling yourselves away from your holy huddles long enough to read a few of these critics comments. And consider what many of them are trying to say, which is in essence that the church THEY experience appears to be more separatist, judgmental, and out of touch with the culture than ever. And that we’re becoming less and less relevant to those outside of the church who need Christ the most. For those observations, I think the critics are spot on.
I recently read an interview where the writer asked the film’s producer and leading actor if the movie was designed to appeal more to an audience of the churched than the unchurched. And I was kind of surprised and saddened to hear his unapologetic response to the affirmative. If that was really the purpose, than I say “Mission Accomplished!” Another sign of the times, I suppose, and more evidence of the growing problem of an inwardly focused church.
But God help us lest we become like the hyper-religious “den of thieves” that Jesus Himself railed against – a people who used their relationship with God and their religiosity as a reason to justify separating and distancing themselves from the very people Jesus came to die for.
