Rich Mullins relentlessly pursued Jesus in his own life, of which fact this movie is not ashamed. However, the movie does not portray Rich as larger than life. Rather, we meet an enigmatic man who wrestled with rejection from his father and from the love of his life. While striving to live in obedience to the commands of Christ, he struggled with sin and often confused those closest to him. His struggles did not subside but rather were compounded by his own musical success as he lived with the emptiness that still remained. Unlike in many Christian movies, sin and rejection are not something that an unsaved person or lapsed Christian is ceremoniously delivered from, but are an expected part of living in this world.
Overall, I would give the acting an 8/10; it's not Hollywood, but it's not bad either. I would give the writing a 7/10, as the dialog seems contrived and heavy-handed in a few places. Fortunately, this happens seldom and the writing is overall pretty believable. For production and cinematography, I would give it 8/10; again, this isn't Hollywood, but it's great for an indie film. From a historical accuracy standpoint, I would give it 7/10. There are a few occasions where locations of events and names of people (even those closest to Rich) were changed, but overall it seems pretty accurate. Other reviews have also mentioned one particular anachronism, i.e. that musical instruments/equipment are seen years before they were invented; the reason for this is that the concert scenes in the movie were filmed live at Mitch McVicker concerts in 2012. Having a limited budget, this movie had to make do with what it could get. As for the accuracy of the details of Rich's life: Given that many of those working on the movie were close to Rich (such as Mitch McVicker, and his brother David Mullins), I have no reason to doubt overall account of his personal life.
Rich's music features prominently into this movie, and Michael Koch (himself a musician by trade, not an actor) does a pretty good job of approximating Rich's voice and re-creating his songs. Don't be disappointed if your favorite Mullins song is not featured, though; it's only a two-hour fifteen-minute movie!
****Spoilers Ahead****
This film is quite open about Rich's faults: His struggle with alcoholism, his chain-smoking habit, his struggle to be accepted by his father, his hapless pursuit of his love interest, and his highly dependent relationship with Beaker (whose name was changed in the film). Twice in the movie he chides Beaker for leaving his vicinity for mere minutes to perform mundane tasks (such as getting a cup of coffee from the hotel lobby). One gets the sense that Rich, for all of his shameless demonstration of the love of Jesus on many occasions, was excessively dependent on those closest to him. It is also interesting what the film chooses to focus on and chooses to ignore. For example, while the Order of the Kid Brothers of Saint Frank is described, the Ragamuffin Band doesn't get a mention. Also conspicuously absent are the details of Rich's experience on the reservation and his interest in Catholicism. But this movie does focus well on the aspects of Rich's life that it chooses to explore.
In the end, this is a story about a man who is deeply enveloped in loneliness and rejection, but who finds his solace and comfort in learning to love and obey the God who made him. As he is ignored by his fiancée' in the midst of his burgeoning success,telephone calls home seeking comfort are welcomed by a tender mother but dismissed by a calloused father. One turning point for Rich in this story is his friendship with fellow alcoholic and ragamuffin author Brennan Manning. When Rich learns of the death of his father, with whom he was never really reconciled, he is devastated. Frequent flashbacks to the paternal castigation of Rich's childhood days still haunt the grown-up Rich, who feels like he never measured up in his father's eyes. He still has trouble viewing God as father, since his own father was so hard on him. Brennan leads Rich on a mini-retreat in which Rich writes a letter to himself from his father, and comes to realize that his father did truly love him, but that he had difficulty expressing that love verbally.
The movie is also careful not to pit Rich Mullins as the hero against the Big Bad Christian Music Industry (as tempting as that might be). In one poignant scene, Rich gets in an argument with one of his producers at the record label. Although Rich seems to have some pretty valid points in the argument, the producer points out that Rich is being proud and disrespectful. In a subsequent scene, Rich begins mowing the producer's lawn early one morning as an act of reconciliation.
This movie did a good job of helping to understand the man who wrote the music. It totally makes sense to me that the man who wrote "Hold Me Jesus" and "Hard to Get" would be the same guy who showed up drunk to a friend's funeral, threw a phone through a phone booth window when he learned of his ex-fiancée's engagement to another man, and struggled with deep-seated loneliness (Sadly, in some circles of Christian piety, admitting that one is lonely brings forth accusations that one does not have a close walk with God, or that one may not even know Christ at all). Although some might lose faith in Rich upon learning these facts, I think Rich would have been okay with that. He would have wanted us to put our faith in Jesus instead. Rich often alluded to his own struggles with sin and temptation in his concerts. While not going into a lot of personal detail, he never pretended to be anything other than a ragamuffin in God's Kingdom.
Overall, I would give the acting an 8/10; it's not Hollywood, but it's not bad either. I would give the writing a 7/10, as the dialog seems contrived and heavy-handed in a few places. Fortunately, this happens seldom and the writing is overall pretty believable. For production and cinematography, I would give it 8/10; again, this isn't Hollywood, but it's great for an indie film. From a historical accuracy standpoint, I would give it 7/10. There are a few occasions where locations of events and names of people (even those closest to Rich) were changed, but overall it seems pretty accurate. Other reviews have also mentioned one particular anachronism, i.e. that musical instruments/equipment are seen years before they were invented; the reason for this is that the concert scenes in the movie were filmed live at Mitch McVicker concerts in 2012. Having a limited budget, this movie had to make do with what it could get. As for the accuracy of the details of Rich's life: Given that many of those working on the movie were close to Rich (such as Mitch McVicker, and his brother David Mullins), I have no reason to doubt overall account of his personal life.
Rich's music features prominently into this movie, and Michael Koch (himself a musician by trade, not an actor) does a pretty good job of approximating Rich's voice and re-creating his songs. Don't be disappointed if your favorite Mullins song is not featured, though; it's only a two-hour fifteen-minute movie!
****Spoilers Ahead****
This film is quite open about Rich's faults: His struggle with alcoholism, his chain-smoking habit, his struggle to be accepted by his father, his hapless pursuit of his love interest, and his highly dependent relationship with Beaker (whose name was changed in the film). Twice in the movie he chides Beaker for leaving his vicinity for mere minutes to perform mundane tasks (such as getting a cup of coffee from the hotel lobby). One gets the sense that Rich, for all of his shameless demonstration of the love of Jesus on many occasions, was excessively dependent on those closest to him. It is also interesting what the film chooses to focus on and chooses to ignore. For example, while the Order of the Kid Brothers of Saint Frank is described, the Ragamuffin Band doesn't get a mention. Also conspicuously absent are the details of Rich's experience on the reservation and his interest in Catholicism. But this movie does focus well on the aspects of Rich's life that it chooses to explore.
In the end, this is a story about a man who is deeply enveloped in loneliness and rejection, but who finds his solace and comfort in learning to love and obey the God who made him. As he is ignored by his fiancée' in the midst of his burgeoning success,telephone calls home seeking comfort are welcomed by a tender mother but dismissed by a calloused father. One turning point for Rich in this story is his friendship with fellow alcoholic and ragamuffin author Brennan Manning. When Rich learns of the death of his father, with whom he was never really reconciled, he is devastated. Frequent flashbacks to the paternal castigation of Rich's childhood days still haunt the grown-up Rich, who feels like he never measured up in his father's eyes. He still has trouble viewing God as father, since his own father was so hard on him. Brennan leads Rich on a mini-retreat in which Rich writes a letter to himself from his father, and comes to realize that his father did truly love him, but that he had difficulty expressing that love verbally.
The movie is also careful not to pit Rich Mullins as the hero against the Big Bad Christian Music Industry (as tempting as that might be). In one poignant scene, Rich gets in an argument with one of his producers at the record label. Although Rich seems to have some pretty valid points in the argument, the producer points out that Rich is being proud and disrespectful. In a subsequent scene, Rich begins mowing the producer's lawn early one morning as an act of reconciliation.
This movie did a good job of helping to understand the man who wrote the music. It totally makes sense to me that the man who wrote "Hold Me Jesus" and "Hard to Get" would be the same guy who showed up drunk to a friend's funeral, threw a phone through a phone booth window when he learned of his ex-fiancée's engagement to another man, and struggled with deep-seated loneliness (Sadly, in some circles of Christian piety, admitting that one is lonely brings forth accusations that one does not have a close walk with God, or that one may not even know Christ at all). Although some might lose faith in Rich upon learning these facts, I think Rich would have been okay with that. He would have wanted us to put our faith in Jesus instead. Rich often alluded to his own struggles with sin and temptation in his concerts. While not going into a lot of personal detail, he never pretended to be anything other than a ragamuffin in God's Kingdom.