hollywood and the bible: read the book
Hollywood keeps trying to capture the power and drama of the Bible with
movies made both to entertain and inspire. The moviemakers often don’t
succeed with the inspiration because they put more emphasis on marketing
than theology, but there have been notable exceptions. It is encouraging, at
least, that they keep trying.
There is a spate of new movies this season with religious themes, none of
which I have seen yet. Some seem promising, others less so.
The first, Left Behind, opened in early October, and was widely panned as
a vacuous end-of-the-world apocalypse – a disaster in more ways than one. It
is based on a Christian best-selling book about scary end times and eventual
rapture. The reviews were scathing.
The Hollywood Reporter said cuttingly: “The rapture won’t come soon
enough for the unfortunate souls forced to suffer through Left Behind.”
USA Today was equally blunt: “Left Behind returns at a time when there’s
been an increase in similar God-fearing fare in theaters, as well as an interest
in religious apocalypse stories, thanks to HBO’s The Leftovers. It’s a concept full
of inherent drama that, if done well, could explore humanity’s faith and foibles
in an enlightening fashion. This is not that movie.”
A much more promising movie, which had its first release around
Halloween, is God The Father. This is the true story of the spiritual
transformation of Michael Franzese, son of John “Sonny” Franzese, underboss
of the Colombo crime family.
Michael told his story in a TV interview prior to the release. He had been
active in the crime family for more than 20 years, witnessing and participating
in all the worst you can imagine of organized crime. He spent five years in
prison, and after a year of freedom was sent back on a parole violation. He said
he was lying on a cot in solitary confinement, feeling absolute hopelessness for
the first time in his life, when he heard the thunk of something being dropped
onto the floor through an opening in his cell door.
It was a copy of the Bible. Nothing was said, and at first Michael wasn’t a
bit interested. “I was mad at God,” he said, “typically mad at everyone except
myself.”
But eventually he picked up the Bible and started to read. In the depths of
his despair it spoke to him. For the following three years in prison he studied
that Bible and felt his life transformed. Now he speaks wherever and whenever
he can about the power of the Bible to change lives. Hopefully, he will reach
others and help them to find purpose and transformation in their lives, as he
did. This is where Hollywood can transcend itself.
Another encouraging movie, due for a limited release in mid-November,
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