Acting is the Thing

Christians want to support good Christian films. They yearn for something to latch onto... a group of filmmakers like those at Sherwood Baptist church making films like Fireproof that extols the virtues of saving a marriage. Or movies like Bella, which extols the virtues of saving a child from abortion. Or even The Passion of the Christ, which tells a historically accurate representation of a Roman flogging on Jesus Christ and his subsequent sacrifice on the cross.

Christians want to support films that tell a story they want to see and one that flies in the face of the hedonism that rules the day in Hollywood. They're searching for entertainment that is not filled with sexual innuendo and showcases vices as virtues or lust as love.

If, as a filmmaker, you happen upon such a movement, its important that you have everything in place to ride that large, growing wave all the way to the shore.

Two recent Christian films could be considered case studies of potential Christian game changers, that, instead of the growing into a tidal wave, slowly dissipated into another wave among many due to the same fundamental reason.

Come What May and Pendragon are both independent Christian films that were ambitious and very successful in almost every way. Their approaches were timely and inventive and touched the core of Christian film audiences.

In a growing anti-Christian social and political climate, Come What May had the ingenious approach of attacking the legal case surrounding the Roe v. Wade abortion ruling by having a student in a Christian college tasked with arguing against the ruling in a moot court, which has real judges and/or retired judges in an arena that simulates Supreme Court proceedings. The lead character struggled with taking on the task of trying to overturn Roe v. Wade and was searching for a compromise solution. When forced to face the issue head on, he had to rely on his faith as well as overcome opposing viewpoints on the issue from his own parents.

The script was very well written and, for a Christian film, the production value was quite good. Having access to a relatively new, small Christian college that looked like a historic Ivy League school elevated the look of the film to higher than normal levels. The lead actors were good looking, wholesome young people which was appropriate for the characters.

Pendragon: Sword of His Father is an incredibly ambitious film from home school families that started small, but ended up being massively grand and epic in scale. The film takes place in 411 A.D. when the Romans left Britain and left a void of power that various groups tried to fill by attacking villages and acquiring slaves and wealth. Pendragon follows the son of a village leader that is killed by marauders who destroy his town. At first he is enslaved, then escapes, then leads a group of other fighters to defeat the marauders that killed his father. The film talks about the need to follow Christ's example and that God's plans last more than just one generation.

The film has tremendous production value, with special effects, swords, battles, explosions, etc. It has over 600 extras, full sized sets that look like real villages, chases on horse back and fisticuffs.

Both films were on the verge of being powerhouses. They both garnered tremendous press and support within the Christian film community. Come What May was a selected film of the American Family Association and was offered for sale via the AFA in a number of the AFA's email updates. Pendragon won numerous awards and was written up in a number of Christian film blogs and websites.

The problem that both films struggled with that kept them from being blockbusters was the basic and fundamental issue of acting. Both films had everything going for them, except one of the three fundamentals of film making. When people watch films they need to see it, hear it and believe it. Believing it comes from the writing and the acting. Both films have good scripts, but the acting completely undermines everything else.

It's just an example of how difficult it is to put together a completely successful film. And it also shows that some of the core items, acting, lighting, writing and directing, are at the root of a successful film experience.

In both films, Come What May and Pendragon, once the initial impressiveness of scope and approach wore off, you are still stuck with the core items. Once we grasp the amount of effort and time it took to make the world of Pendragon come alive, once we've accepted it as the reality of the film, the only thing that is left is the character journeys. And the believability and effectiveness of those journeys are fueled by the quality of the acting.

I hope we can, someday, put together a project that has reached some social and spiritual critical mass like these two films, where we can leverage the press and attention, growing one small ripple into a tidal wave of both critical and financial Christian film success.