Christian Movies!

It had been at least 10 years since I walked into the Family Christian bookstore around the corner from where I went to high school in Costa Mesa. I used to go there on weekdays in the lull between the end of the school day and the start of theater practice. I went there for music, and Tooth and Nail records was all the rage. With the exception of Wish For Eden and Everdown, I bought nearly everything that had the labels name on it, and Family was my Christian music dispensary of choice. Half the store was CD’s, and the rest of it could have been stocked with groceries for all I cared. It was my music place.

Revisiting Family Christian bookstore 10 years later was sort of disheartening. What used to be rows of CD’s was a sparse collection of music comprised of worship leaders and things they play on KFSH. Taking its place was the hot new Christian media – the DVD. Several aisles of colorful DVD’s, sitting right next to a DVD player that would censor out the naughty bits of whatever you were watching, which was certainly nothing carried on the shelves. In fact, they even have 30 dollar versions of your favorite secular movies, without any of the aforementioned corruptible content.

Recently, I spoke with filmmaker David DiSabatino for conversantlife.com (he made “Frisbee: Life and Death of A Hippie Preacher”) and our conversation reminded me of this visit. We were talking about the Jesus People movement. In his mind, the downfall to this remarkable movement of God came when the church stepped in and softened things, effectively changing the wine back to water. This soon led into a conversation about Christian music and Christian movies. Christian movies have an identity crisis on their hands, and all we need to do is go back a few years and learn again from what Christian music has been through. What started out great has with few exceptions continued to be a joke, with CD’s that I can’t help but think say the Lord’s name in vain more than Eminem’s latest album.

Now, taking the place of CD’s are colorful DVD’s. They are separated by genre such as comedy, drama, and other forms of Christian DVD’s that want to hang out with your wallet. Like music 10 years ago, the tools were there for independent artists to make music, but they were just out of reach. The tools to make Christian movies are so close, but still a bit far off in terms of what is needed in any form of accessibility. There’s no Guitar Center for filmmaking gear. By contrast, radio friendly tunes can be made in the living room or the studio by anyone with a half decent computer.

Movies are close, but the problem is money. We need money to make the media, and we need someone to hand it over. Said person wants to give you the money if they know that they will make more back. Problem is, once we start making movies for the faithful, we lose. Do you know anyone who isn’t a believer that was jonesing for the Left Behind trilogy on DVD? Haven’t we learned yet from Christian music?

The genre of “Christian film” is saturated with overly dramatic faith crisis’s that hinge on life and death decisions, the rapture, funeral services, and generally unrealistic depictions of humanity. These unrealistic depictions are most plain in the end of the film’s, which always promise a conversion sequence and canned “hope.” It’s as subtle as Lady Gaga. More so, it’s embarrassing. But the people with the money to finance these projects turned giddy when Mel Gibson opened up the heavens, and they want in. For them, if your movie can’t be shown at church and accompanied with a study guide for a few dollars more, it won’t see the light of day. And just what kind of a film will get shown in church on movie night? Check the racks at your local Christian retailer.

The opposite is certainly true – movies in general don’t get made unless they can make money back. I recognize the common sense aspect of this; we all have to make a living. And yes, content is often vulgar in movies and not suitable for families. I am not equivalating Forgetting Sarah Marshall with Toy Story. The difference is that we have a voice about the unseen, and in this time of uncertainty we should feel a Jeremiah like burn to open up our mouths and make art that means something. In a perfect world, we wouldn’t care about how much more money it could make back if we tweaked things to white bread absurdity. We should piss people off, rattle cages, and make people talk. It doesn’t have to have special effects, or labels on the cover like “Hollywood production values!” to make it worthwhile. It should simply mean something. Instead, we are so contented to sit next to what is safe and easy. Again, I reference the growing Christian movie genre as evidence.

Artsandfaith.com recently listed their top 100 films that combine…art and faith. Alongside Bresson, Tarkovsky, and Bergman sit one of a handful of modern day films that fits their perplexing choices (Punch Drunk Love is my favorite film of all time, but how it ended up as #85 is head scratching). The film is “Frisbee: Life and Death of A Hippie Preacher.” So, instead of picking up the next colorful DVD box with smiling white families or people who dress like white people, try something different. We don’t need Christian media – music, film, or otherwise. We need truth and beauty. If we can express that honestly, perhaps we will avoid repeating the past. Perhaps we will be taken seriously.