Note: This review contains spoilers.

There was once a time when the majority of “Christian” movies were cringe worthy, laughable, and extremely Christianese, in a “turn or burn” kind of way.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy watching some older “Christian” movies such as the Thief in the Night series as well as all of those 1970’s, 80’s, and 90’s end of the world, Jesus is coming look busy type of flicks.  With that said, I will be the first to admit that there has been a great need for good, solid faith based movies that don’t ram the Gospel message down people’s throats.

Over the past couple of years there have been quite a few movies released that can safely be classified as “Christian” movies but don’t go for the “turn or burn”, ram it down their throats approach. The past couple of years have seen movies released like The Visitation, End of the Spear, To End All Wars, Amazing Grace, The Second Chance, and so on, movies in which faith is an integral part of the storytelling yet don’t have that uneasy “force the issue of faith” feel to them. In fact, I would be happy to watch any of the above mentioned movies with anyone who wasn’t a Christian.

The latest addition to the ever growing genre of faith-based movies is Saving God, the newest release from Cloud Ten Productions, the same studio that bought us the OK, but not brilliant, Left Behind series of movies.

Saving God is a gritty, faith-based, street drama. Set in Chicago the story centers around Pastor Cain, an ex-felon turned pastor, who sets about trying to clean up the neighborhood where the church his father built is and where he intends on pastoring. However, as it goes with all good dramas life’s never simple as he is faced with low life criminals who sell drugs in the neighborhood, people struggling with despair and hopelessness, and to top it off, a greedy TV evangelist who is intent on buying the rundown church and turning it into an extension of his own ministry. Not only this, but Pastor Cain is also trying to move on from his own past and make amends for the things he had done in his youth.

Into the story comes Norris Johns, a street wise teenager who’s being used by the local drug lord to sell his goods on the streets. It’s not long before Norris and Pastor Cain cross paths and begin a relationship. During the course of the movie Pastor Cain manages to get through to Norris and show him that there is a better way and that he could have a better life if he gave up selling drugs, trusted in God, and went to college. However, his ex-boss Blaze, doesn’t take kindly to Norris’ refusal to sell drugs anymore, so much so that he puts the word out on the street.

BEGIN SPOILER: Well, it doesn’t take long before someone fesses as to Norris’ whereabouts and in a heartbreaking scene Norris, who had just begun to turn his life around, is left dying on the living room floor of Pastor Cain’s house. The following scenes in the hospital were unexpected to say the least. I thought the Doctor would come out and say that Norris was in a stable condition and that he would make it. Instead the Doctor comes out and gives them the bad, and sad news that Norris is dead.

Pastor Cain loses it, and in a fit of rage hunts down Blaze and gives him a good beating. Again, I was surprised by this as usually in a story like this he would simply forgive and move on. But that’s not real life. I must admit I was ready to join Pastor Cain as he laid into Blaze. Being a big man, Pastor Cain manages to overpower Blaze and is in the process of strangling him when he sees a reflection of himself and realizes that this would solve nothing – except to put him back behind bars.

The very next day Blaze sets out to kill Pastor Cain and again the ending is somewhat unexpected… good, but unexpected. END OF SPOILER

Saving God stars Ving Rhames (Dawn of the Dead, the M:I movies), Dean McDermott (Tori and Dean, Due South), and Ricardo Chavira (Desperate Housewives), and apart from a few shaky moments at the beginning of the movie everyone does an outstanding job in the acting dept. I was also impressed by the writing and direction. The screenplay was well written and thought provoking and the cinematography reminded me of the first Rocky movie, in that it provided an extremely bleak backdrop for the movie; the February weather in Ontario, where the movie was filmed, also helped make this movie feel cold.

Saying that, this is not an entirely cold or bleak movie, and although it didn’t turn out the way I was hoping (call me an old softy wanting happy endings) it does have a huge payoff in the end. As to spiritual content – Obviously with the movie centering around Pastor Cain there is quite a lot of spiritual talk and faith-based observations, including a couple of scenes that involve prayer and people coming to faith in Jesus, but they really fit into the storyline and do not feel forced in anyway. There is also a scene in which Pastor Cain confronts the TV evangelist and accuses him of selling God, whereas he (Pastor Cain) was trying to save God, hence the movies title.

I really liked Saving God and would have no problem recommending this movie to believer and unbeliever alike, something that until recently wasn’t something one did too often with faith-based and Christian movies.

Christian St John
June, 2009

To purchase Saving Godfrom the HardcoreFaith.com a-Store and support this ministry click here.

---

Related Posts:

1. Opportunity or Obligation? If the truth be told, we should be actively working out and sharing our faith...
2. Christmas Do-Over Jay Mohr stars in this family Christmas movie, but is it worth putting on your...
3. Freedom Writers Looking at the cover art for Freedom Writers DVD and the fact that the movie...
4. The List As a novel The List hit all the right marks. As a movie I was...
5. The Wool Cap William H. Macy (Wild Hogs, Cellular), one of the best, though somewhat under-rated actors in...



---