The Failure of Christian Films

Left Behind (2014)

For years, the Christian film genre has been the center of jokes and abuse from film critics, and it has left fans sitting back and scratching their head in disbelief. Allow me to take the opportunity to step in, and to explain why these films are typically despised. Bear in mind that I am addressing this issue from the perspective of a film critic and not from any sort of religious point of view.

Christian films are, for lack of a better word, sloppy. For the most part, they tend to serve as little more than a pat on the back and a moment of celebration for Christians who are excited to see their point of view presented on the big screen, but as movies they often fall flat. Putting aside any agreement (or lack thereof) with the messages taught in films such as God's Not Dead and Left Behind, movies in this genre have the tendency to use the message they preach as an excuse to completely disregard all other important aspects of filmmaking. They are filmed lazily with little attention to artistic angles or what sort of color schemes and lighting effects are aesthetically pleasing to the audience, the acting typically mirrors that of an after-school PSA (with strange scenarios to match, sometimes), and the plot typically ramps up toward the climax - where the devout Christian character is finally given their moment to shine and preach the gospel to a downtrodden sinner who's desperate for change.

Unfortunately, the majority of these films also come off as mean-spirited and prideful, due to being written from the perspective of someone who may have a struggle with a victim complex. Take, for example, the amount of bullying and torment Christian characters are forced to overcome in these films when their faith is revealed. In God's Not Dead, for example, our protagonist is outright bullied by his college professor who forces students to align with his atheist beliefs, a practice which would create outrage in any college (particularly with the Islamic communities who already feel cast aside and abused for their beliefs). This sort of bullying simply does not happen in modern western America, which was founded on Christian values. Even politicians often face scrutiny when voters believe there's a chance that a presidential candidate may not be as Christian as they claim to be. How could we live in a society which simultaneously forces Christian college students to hide their identities for fear of verbal and psychological abuse from their professors and peers, while also shaming Barack Obama for not saying "God bless" enough? The answer is simple: we don't.

The victim complex behind Christian films makes them unpleasant to watch, because it mangles reality to twist characters with atheistic and agnostic perspectives into terrible monsters. Atheists are presented as rotten to their very core, rather than human beings who simply have a different ideology than that of Christians. Then, when they are told that Jesus died on the cross for their sins, they are miraculously changed into wonderful human beings, who are crying on the floor begging God for forgiveness because of the monster their lack of religion made them into. Life isn't that simple. People can have religion crammed down their throats since birth, can be in complete agreement with every scripture in the Bible, and be absolutely callous and cruel to everyone they see. On the other hand, there are wonderful people who simply aren't certain if they believe that there is a higher power, and these loving and kind people are only going to roll their eyes and walk away from any movie which portrays them as terrible monsters simply because they aren't sure if they agree with the Bible.

There are, of course, exceptions to the rule. There are films which teach strong Christian values and accurately present faith while being decent movies exist, for example, The Passion of the Christ, Hacksaw Ridge, and Forrest Gump all succeed in teaching the message of loving one another and accurately depict what it means to be a decent person without anyone slipping into telling a complete stranger about how they need to change their ways or else they're going to suffer an eternity in hell (which sounds eerie when you realize they are essentially telling a stranger 'believe the things that I believe, or else you're going to be punished!'). Not all Christian movies are bad, but many of them are, and I implore Christians to expect better from these movies instead of blindly cheering because the protagonist taught his hilariously evil college teacher about Jesus.