It's no secret that as a young Christian, someone like me would be drawn into the story of "Machine Gun Preacher", which according to its Facebook tag line, is "a great story of human and redemption". However, my admiration for this real-life saint, this living legend wasn't enough to cushion the disappointment and confusion after seeing the movie.
On one hand, Mr. Childers' vision in saving children from battlefields is inspiring, especially worth a mention to Christians in peaceful countries who took peace and life prosperity for granted. The movie depicts him as being driven by this vision almost into the abyss of madness, which is beyond reasoning, beyond family commitments and even beyond his own faith in God. You can taste that the movie makers are tough and brave enough to show you the dark sides of a modern-day saint, which is kinda like the point of modern storytelling. It's as if they were totally expecting (or maybe even aiming for) controversy in the first place, that the depiction of Childers' religion reaches new heights of theatrical unconventional-ism. This is not a man who reach out to unfriendly fellow human-beings with a "turn the other cheek" attitude, but rather a man who strike out like a wolf without any fear to hold him back from executing an enemy. When Gerald Butler roared with AK-47 in hands, he was not shouting to the evil rebels who like to grab kids and brainwash them into killing machines, he was literally shouting out to people who are disconnected from the real cruelty which is happening every minute. If Childers ever want to laugh at us for being fat and useless, I would say he has every right to say so because
trying to defend yourself whether with mental cleanliness which you call "pacifism" or smart argument that we are too little too feeble to do anything substantial for those kids, there are those risking their lives on the front line for them.
On the other hand, the Christianity I know may not work like what the movie depicts. I know some dedicated Christians who work in rehab centers here in Thailand, who has to witness the addicts getting clean only by the grace of Jesus. That certain process is extremely painful, challenging and no less difficult than being born all over again. However the movie, to my disappointment, took the transformation for granted. In a way, I also wish this kind of "montage cleansing methodology" can be applied in real life, which would save so much time and strength. Unfortunately, I don't believe so. It seems to me that, as far as Childers' motivational sermons(speeches) go, he may have turned his church from a place of healing into a shooting gallery, with bullets made of religious terms. Although it seems more dramatic and scary on the big screen, but one has to confess that Christians can often do so without ever realizing it is exactly what Jesus hated so much about religious people in the 1st century. The movie itself also acknowledged this issue lightly, but indifferently marched on with Childers at the center of righteousness. Childers' donation collecting approach is more like "call yourself a bastard if you don't care", which is amusing since it reminds me of some Chinese advertisements and viral marketing methodology in which a curse is landed onto you if you don't act as required. I am also pretty sure that's not how Jesus preached in the Bible.
Whether it's for artistic reason or not, the story development in this movie, as some reviewers pointed out, is a bit inconsistent. Potentially it can cause many unnecessary confusions to those not familiar with Christian faith, in my opinion. For example, there was a scene in which Childers made a bad decision to leave dozens kids behind when there weren't enough room to move them back all at once. This led to those kids being slaughtered and burnt, which made Childers questioning his God, commenting that Mr. Almighty doesn't care or doesn't exist. So the scenario is, you did your best calculations and pulled out a long shot, which the "God Insurance Co.Ltd" didn't choose to cover, and you're so angry that you call God a fraud. How smart is that? Still, Jonas in the Bible did something similar, but Jonas' story ended on the note of God's reassuring words, unlike Mr. Childers' story which ended on Childers being "redeemed" by the little kid who was forced to kill his family, when the kid told him not to lose himself in catastrophes. So I guess the inconsistency of the story comes with the problem of redemption. Who was redeemed by whom from what? How's redemption ever possible? The movie started off establishing the power of the God's love as the ultimate answer, but gradually skewed towards humanism which finally sees Childers as the fleshed out hero, who's maybe one step away from claiming higher moral ground than God (which I surely hope the real-life Childers won't do).
With this review, I hope that some bottom-line can be given to my fellow movie-goers who walked out of the theater confused, or even offended by the Christianity depicted in the movie. Also, I hope to know Mr. Childers in real life better, and will look forward to be inspired by his account of faith and redemption.
On one hand, Mr. Childers' vision in saving children from battlefields is inspiring, especially worth a mention to Christians in peaceful countries who took peace and life prosperity for granted. The movie depicts him as being driven by this vision almost into the abyss of madness, which is beyond reasoning, beyond family commitments and even beyond his own faith in God. You can taste that the movie makers are tough and brave enough to show you the dark sides of a modern-day saint, which is kinda like the point of modern storytelling. It's as if they were totally expecting (or maybe even aiming for) controversy in the first place, that the depiction of Childers' religion reaches new heights of theatrical unconventional-ism. This is not a man who reach out to unfriendly fellow human-beings with a "turn the other cheek" attitude, but rather a man who strike out like a wolf without any fear to hold him back from executing an enemy. When Gerald Butler roared with AK-47 in hands, he was not shouting to the evil rebels who like to grab kids and brainwash them into killing machines, he was literally shouting out to people who are disconnected from the real cruelty which is happening every minute. If Childers ever want to laugh at us for being fat and useless, I would say he has every right to say so because
trying to defend yourself whether with mental cleanliness which you call "pacifism" or smart argument that we are too little too feeble to do anything substantial for those kids, there are those risking their lives on the front line for them.
On the other hand, the Christianity I know may not work like what the movie depicts. I know some dedicated Christians who work in rehab centers here in Thailand, who has to witness the addicts getting clean only by the grace of Jesus. That certain process is extremely painful, challenging and no less difficult than being born all over again. However the movie, to my disappointment, took the transformation for granted. In a way, I also wish this kind of "montage cleansing methodology" can be applied in real life, which would save so much time and strength. Unfortunately, I don't believe so. It seems to me that, as far as Childers' motivational sermons(speeches) go, he may have turned his church from a place of healing into a shooting gallery, with bullets made of religious terms. Although it seems more dramatic and scary on the big screen, but one has to confess that Christians can often do so without ever realizing it is exactly what Jesus hated so much about religious people in the 1st century. The movie itself also acknowledged this issue lightly, but indifferently marched on with Childers at the center of righteousness. Childers' donation collecting approach is more like "call yourself a bastard if you don't care", which is amusing since it reminds me of some Chinese advertisements and viral marketing methodology in which a curse is landed onto you if you don't act as required. I am also pretty sure that's not how Jesus preached in the Bible.
Whether it's for artistic reason or not, the story development in this movie, as some reviewers pointed out, is a bit inconsistent. Potentially it can cause many unnecessary confusions to those not familiar with Christian faith, in my opinion. For example, there was a scene in which Childers made a bad decision to leave dozens kids behind when there weren't enough room to move them back all at once. This led to those kids being slaughtered and burnt, which made Childers questioning his God, commenting that Mr. Almighty doesn't care or doesn't exist. So the scenario is, you did your best calculations and pulled out a long shot, which the "God Insurance Co.Ltd" didn't choose to cover, and you're so angry that you call God a fraud. How smart is that? Still, Jonas in the Bible did something similar, but Jonas' story ended on the note of God's reassuring words, unlike Mr. Childers' story which ended on Childers being "redeemed" by the little kid who was forced to kill his family, when the kid told him not to lose himself in catastrophes. So I guess the inconsistency of the story comes with the problem of redemption. Who was redeemed by whom from what? How's redemption ever possible? The movie started off establishing the power of the God's love as the ultimate answer, but gradually skewed towards humanism which finally sees Childers as the fleshed out hero, who's maybe one step away from claiming higher moral ground than God (which I surely hope the real-life Childers won't do).
With this review, I hope that some bottom-line can be given to my fellow movie-goers who walked out of the theater confused, or even offended by the Christianity depicted in the movie. Also, I hope to know Mr. Childers in real life better, and will look forward to be inspired by his account of faith and redemption.