I am not one for Christian movies as they too often have two-dimensional characters and trite plot lines.
In several ways, War Room (top box office sales last weekend) is guilty of this. But rather than focus on its short comings I thought I would mention what I did like.
- The heart of the movie’s message is about a prayer-relationship with God. I give the movie a thumbs up for keeping the spiritual encounters out of the walls of the church and into the closet of a personal relationship with God.
- The acting was better than average… well… for a Christian movie. I hate to put it like that, but it is true.
- The movie focused on one-on-one mentoring and personal discipling as the primary element for personal growth to take place. The plot line did a decent job of exploring the relationship between the older woman-mentor and the younger wife in need of personal transformation. This emphasis helped me buy into the changes that took place albeit within a two hour movie-time slot. I appreciated that small groups and one-on-one relationships were seen as key catalyzers of spiritual growth.
- The need to pass the mentoring relationship on to others was an excellent side-note for the movie. Intentionally asking God for people to reach out to and disciple was shown to be vital, organic, relational, and reproducible. Impressive.
- (Spoiler alert!) Finally, I appreciated that the renewed husband, in re-focusing his life toward Christ, became involved in community outreach with an outward focus rather than simply becoming one more church attender.
All in all, The War Room, has its shortcomings for sure, but it also has enough credible inspiration that it is worth the look.
Note a CNN article on the movie's unexpected success.
Your comments if you have seen it?
