Christian Movie Review: REAL

Wow... I haven't posted in a while; sorry 'bout that!

How's it going with you all!? Well, I don't have anything particularly amazing to post today, so... here's a movie review! I wrote this months ago and haven't posted it! Yikes! Ok, here it is... 

I was really excited when several of you voted for "Christian movie reviews" on the poll I featured a couple {more like SEVERAL} months ago. Since then I've seen many good Christian movies and hoped to review them, but haven't done it yet! Recently I watched an inspiring Christian movie called Real. I wrote the review right away so I wouldn't forget about it.

First of all, I'm going to introduce you to my rating system. I'll vote the movies out of 5 stars (represented as asterisks) with one star being "Didn't like it, would not recommend" ranging up to the fifth star, "Loved it and would fully recommend it!"

Today's movie review is a Christian film called Real.

What's it about?
The movie starts out with Jesus in Gesthsemene being confronted by Satan. As Satan tempts Jesus, the movie leads into four stories in which Jesus helped the main character by giving that person hope. Jesus uses these stories to counter Satan's accusations.

The four stories feature four different people in modern times (give or take 30 years or so :)), dealing with tough situations. Jesus comes into their lives dressed in modern-day clothes and basically counsels them and gives then hope.

Smiley face stuff :)
I really loved this movie. The music fitted well, the acting was terrific, the stories were intriguing and there was never a part in the movie that caused me to be bored or uninterested. The characters seemed real (haha, no pun intended :p) and I felt as if I knew and understood them, even if they'd only been on screen for a few moments. However "Real" also caused me to think, but for a different reason than usual.

To me, "Real" is a great movie, but also served as a reminder that even if a movie is labeled "Christian", one must still be discerning when watching it. There were a few things that concerned me about this movie, which leads me into the next section of the review...

Frowny face stuff :(
One could say that the Jesus you find in the Bible was very "into" salvation. History points to, or looks back at, the cross and the resurrection. The Jesus portrayed in this movie is an excellent counselor (even if one of his analogies involving a pencil and Carbon completely lost me...hey, I'm not a scientist!) but He rarely discusses salvation. This is not neccesarily a negative point, it's just something to note. My take on this movie was that it showed people in unfortunate situations who were visited and given hope and counsel by Jesus, and this hope later led them to the cross. It's different; I've never really seen a movie like this before - maybe that's why I liked it so much. :p

Anyway, that paragraph up there is just a thought, the more concerning matter is that two of the characters marry a non-Christian - in other words, they are unequally yoked (verse reference) and this is not portrayed negatively, even though scripture clearly warns against this. Now I know these stories were based on real people's stories, but all I can say is, in the film the problem of being unequally yoked was solved by the non-Christian going to church. Now going to church is great, but it is not the way of salvation and a non-Christian going to church does not always lead to salvation because church is also fellowship for believers. Therefore my mom also pointed out that a non-Christian might watch it and could possibly get the wrong ideas about salvation. So, this is not exactly an evangelistic movie.  However I think this potentially a great movie for older Christians...

In other words, I loved this movie but I don't recommend it 100%. Here are some more notes...

And it's rated...? 
These people are in some tough situations - a teenage girl gets pregnant, a child is abused, a man discovers his wife having affairs, two men find themselves deep in gambling debts (and one considers suicide) and more. Though this movie is NR, I'm guessing it would receive a PG-13 for content and violence. This is a movie for older teens, to be watched preferably with parents as well. It's a powerful movie that would prompt great discussion afterwards.

Fun stuff
Randomly, I love the line when a science teacher is begging God to spare his mom. "I'll be a creationist!"

Also, Jesus has a pretty epic line, but I won't spoil it for you. :)

An Aside
Though this slightly dark movie centers deeply around hope and redemption, it does pose the deeply challenging question, "Why do good things happen to bad people?" though "Real" doesn't answer it directly, it does leave the viewer with a renewed sense of hope and passion. I would like to put in my own (keep typo-ing it as Ken:)) three cents, though...bad things happen to good people because we aren't really good. We sinned. The "bad things" that happened are a result that sin. Though I haven't read it yet, my mom read a great book by Ken Ham that talks more about this subject, called, "How Could a Loving God...?"

Anyway, back to "Real"...

Conclusion
All in all, this is a wonderful movie. I recommend it if it is watched with a parent, discretion, and a Biblical worldview. (Oh yes, and **** stars. :))

I encourage you to read the Dove review of this movie contains a full synopsis (without being extremely spoiler-filled) and list of violences, language and other "objectionable content".

"Klarabelle