Hacksaw Ridge is proof that Christian movies don't have to be terrible. (Spoilers)

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Hacksaw Ridge worked as a Christian film because it wasn't preechy. It showed a man with those strong beliefs, but didn't tell the audience that they should have the same beliefs
Takyon said:
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Also gud
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Soooo underrated
 
I found the end scene before storming the Ridge to be wonderful and powerful in a very human way: Desmond's brothers in arms were motivated by and found strength in their belief in Desmond and his conviction, not Desmond's specific beliefs. There was no sudden mass conversion to Desmond's particular belief system or a more obvious generalized born-again embrace of Christianity that led to victory over the enemy. It felt like the strength came from a belief in humanity, not the religious or supernatural.

But that's just my own perspective and perhaps what I want the scene to be.
 
Back-In-Black said:
I don't believe that movie carried such a message, it was simply about on man's faith being put to the test. Even Desmond doesn't seem to be against using violence, he rather would personally not ever resort to it after what happened between him and his father. Violence was necessary to stop the Axis powers.
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I don't know anything about that version of Christianity, but doesn't this make the religion hypocritical? Because presumably he, or other Seventh Day Adventists, benefit from violence performed on their behalf by other Americans.
 
Hacksaw Ridge is by all accounts the most historically accurate thing Mel Gibson has ever made, so just be glad they didn't fight Germans in Japan.
 
Mango Madness said:
There's this small movie called "Ben-Hur" that won 11 Oscars.

Ten Commandments is pretty good too.

Christian movies were literally epic 70mm affairs at one point, with gorgeous sets, costumes, and cinematography.
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Ten Commandments isn't really a Christian movie. Not just Christian, anyway. Some good epic filmmaking there.

"His god is god." - Yul Brynner as Ramses
 
firehawk12 said:
I don't know anything about that version of Christianity, but doesn't this make the religion hypocritical? Because presumably he, or other Seventh Day Adventists, benefit from violence performed on their behalf by other Americans.
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All of religion is hypocritical. What's your point? Jesus said to turn the other cheek but presumably forgot about all those times God specifically commanded the Hebrews to wipe out his enemies.
 
zeemumu said:
Weren't most of the Christian films released in the past few years made by the same 1 or 2 studios?
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The theatrically released films tend to come from either Pure Flix Entertainment or Affirm Films. The latter is interesting as it's a Sony-owned studio, and I believe it's the only faith-based production studio that's owned by a major.
 
Ridley327 said:
The theatrically released films tend to come from either Pure Flix Entertainment or Affirm Films. The latter is interesting as it's a Sony-owned studio, and I believe it's the only faith-based production studio that's owned by a major.
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Yeah I thought so because I can't tell the movies apart.


I don't think good Christian movies are uncommon, I just think we've been bombarded with so many that weren't really focused on actually being good movies all at once that it seems that way.
 
I loved the first half as well tbh. It was cheesy but in an earnest way like a lot of the Hollywood movies in the 40s and 50s. Loved this movie. Garfield was fantastic and man that second half is a damn effective anti-war movie in that it does not shy away from how horrifying that scenario would be

Edit: calvary is great. Also Malick and Bergman have made some damn good faith based films as well. I think you're missing out on a lot if you ignore all movies with religious context
 
firehawk12 said:
I think the point that's been made about how the film is supposed to preach this anti-violence message and then almost ironically gives you the standard WW2 battle sequences for the second half of the game is an apt one though.

Funny enough, it reminded me of how absurd Daredevil is, since the character as depicted on the show is supposedly super Catholic and also rants against violence and killing, but goes around basically crippling everyone he fights against.
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It's like people never watch the damn films, but give this shit after a trailer.

Doss did still cause the death of several of the Japanese. He even stated he was for the war and understood the need for it. It's just his beliefs prevented him from killing. Rather, he felt like he could save a few lives while still supporting the war. This is the paradox of his character. It's not an anti violence film at all when the lead supports the need for the war....
 
It's an incredible story and it's probably impossible to tell Desmond's story well or in the length of a feature film. I didn't care for Hacksaw Ridge as it felt really disjointed. It's not bad and I appreciate it for turning me onto his story but I don't think I'd ever watch it again.

Speaking of bad Christian movies, I really love Kirk Cameron's movies because they are off the charts on the unintentional comedy scale.
 
shintoki said:
It's like people never watch the damn films, but give this shit after a trailer.

Doss did still cause the death of several of the Japanese. He even stated he was for the war and understood the need for it. It's just his beliefs prevented him from killing. Rather, he felt like he could save a few lives while still supporting the war. This is the paradox of his character. It's not an anti violence film at all when the lead supports the need for the war....
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I mean he
kicks the grenade at the end
, but the whole big conflict of the first half of the film is his insistence on not
handling a weapon of any kind, even for a training exercise. They beat him, jail him, separate him from his wife, and he doesn't respond because he believes he should be able to serve but in a completely non-combat capacity, even to the point where he won't defend himself - and this is all born out of his secret desire to kill his father and the guilt he has over that
. If that's not anti-violence, then I'm not sure what it is.
 
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funny coincidence i watched this last night.. crazy ass movie

starts off like a sleazy 90s cinemax movie and then goes batshit from there
 
Does the movie send a positive message?

That's all I care about.

Mel can do what Dr. Seuss did and 'apologize' for his past racism by making amazing tales with positive messages and inspiring stories.
 
Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments, and the Prince of Egypt are all phenomenal pieces of cinema that also are Christian works. I feel like a general audience could appreciate those movies on the cinematography, music, and acting alone. It's a shame most modern Christian movies fail to understand what makes those movies work.
 
TheGreatDirector said:
Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments, and the Prince of Egypt are all phenomenal pieces of cinema that also are Christian works. I feel like a general audience could appreciate those movies on the cinematography, music, and acting alone. It's a shame most modern Christian movies fail to understand what makes those movies work.
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The Ten Commandments is fucking garbage.
 
Great write up, and it mirrors most of my thoughts with the movie as well when I came out of it, especially as someone who's been slapped around with Christian films growing up.
 
Really nice write-up and made be interested, I might watch that movie now. And didn't know Mel Gibson was involved, one of the greats in the industry in my opinion. And Lethal Weapons are the best action movies of all time, just like Braveheart is the best historical drama alongside Gladiator. Even the Patriot is good even though it's just Braveheart in a new (more boring) setting.

And there's more good Christian films out there, hard to find them though. Just like good Christian music. So much lackluster music but every once in a while you find something great. I have a few go-to Christian metal and punk bands that I listen alongside of AC/DC, FFDP and other greats.
 
aadiboy said:
Oh, it's a religious movie? I thought it was just an anti-war movie. Guess I'm not watching it then.
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It's not an anti-war movie imo. If anything, one of the major points of the movie is that this war is necessary. That's why Desmond joins up with the Army.

How you got that it's an anti-war movie is, frankly, frightening and depressing.

Netherscourge said:
Does the movie send a positive message?

That's all I care about.

Mel can do what Dr. Seuss did and 'apologize' for his past racism by making amazing tales with positive messages and inspiring stories.
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Yes.

It's a good movie. I'd even argue it's not a religious movie, it's just a true story about a man who is religious. If it weren't for the hammy end with how it's depicted as he's lowered from the ridge, I'd even argue it strenuously, but it can be argued either way.

Very glad I saw it and recommend others do, too.
 
I said the same thing to my wife when we walked out of the theater. Some bits of it were hammy, but overall it was a great film.
 
I liked the film, but I also thought it contradicts its main message, for entertainment's sake albeit, but still.

I mean, its the most fist-pumping and kickass film ever made about celebrating pacificm. I get that the battle scenes were supposed to be visceral (so many gibs) and even hellish, but many of the actions taken by the American side cross the line from 'rousing' to 'plain effing awesome'.

how I imagine Mel Gibson describing this... said:
Yeah, I mean, this Doss dude is great and all, but did you see that part where I had that guy mow down about a dozen dudes while using a corpse/human shield? Or when I had Doss pull a guy like he was on a toboggan and the injured man is still shooting it out with the [racial slur redacted]! Man, that was cool.
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I get the impression that Mel Gibson is a guy who's all about the violence and the spectacle of it. That's not to say that he can't make good films, but I suspect that he's incapable of prioritizing anything above putting as much and as awesome violence as possible on the screen, and that can tend to run counter to any other message that he wants to put out, no matter how sincere that desire may be. This does make him interesting as a filmmaker even as it severely limits him, but to be fair, he's really good at violent spectacle.
 
My dad and I went and saw this over the Thanksgiving break and we both came away impressed. Whoever said it had a sort of 40's or 50's vibe to it was right on. It feels like a movie from an earlier time, at least for the first half.

Once the fighting starts it could rival "Saving Private Ryan" for depictions of battlefield violence. Still, the main theme is Desmond Doss and his personal conviction not to take a life and how that plays out against the backdrop of being a soldier in the Pacific Theater in WWII.

It is a good film despite how you might feel about Christianity or faith and worth a watch.
 
Takyon said:
20140710014533Calvary_movieposter.jpg

Also gud
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John Kowalski said:
Great flick but i wouldn't call it a christian movie. It's about christianity, for sure (or... i don't know whatever it's called in ireland), but not of it.
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Just Catholicism I think, not sure if it gets more specific than that.

Thanks for the recommendation Takyon, watched it a couple days back and it was a fine film. I'd definitely say it's a film about Christianity though; it looks at what the faith means to people in the modern world, with a lot of focus on forgiveness. Plus with the concurrent theme of the protagonist being a shepard.
 
Insofar as a great deal of filmmakers are Christian and influenced at the very least by their upbringing even if they are not practitioners of a faith as creatives, there's tons of Christian movies that aren't terrible.

As stated in the OP, I think what separates the good from the bad is the bad set up a straw man to knock down, and whatever you think of religion that's just not good storytelling. It's designed not to tell a good story, or convey a viewpoint, but primarily to satisfy an audience's ideological biases. From a creative standpoint that's throwing you into the ocean with a millstone and telling people to make it to shore.

Speaking from my own personal background, I'm partially really interested in Silence because it seems like if there's a subject Hollywood is as terrible at depicting accurately as hacking in movies, it's probably Catholicism (the number of films where they can't even get a guy to perform the sign of the cross correctly is mind-boggling.)
 
Bizazedo said:
Yes.

It's a good movie. I'd even argue it's not a religious movie, it's just a true story about a man who is religious. If it weren't for the hammy end with how it's depicted as he's lowered from the ridge, I'd even argue it strenuously, but it can be argued either way.

Very glad I saw it and recommend others do, too.
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This. I wouldn never call this a religious movie, much like Malcom X isn't an Islam movie or Doubt isn't a Catholic movie. The protagonist is intensely religious, but the movie isn't trying to convert you or make you agree that yes, this is the right way and what you believe is wrong.
His beliefs are at the core of his struggle and conflict of the plot, but it isn't trying to force those beliefs on the audience
 
I still need to see this, but yeah there are good Christian movies, though I found a lot of the best ones are either based on true stories of faith, or biblical stories.

I remembered this one being good, but I haven't seen it in over a decade so don't quote me one it, it's got a decent-ish IMDB score.

China_cry_cover.jpg
 
I went in wanting a good war film but expecting Christian messages shoved in my face, but I left moved and inspired from what was a beautiful fucking film (that was also a good war film).
 
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