While on vacation last week, I went to see Evan Almighty. It was supposed to be some father-son bonding time. While we both enjoyed the movie, there wasn't a lot of bonding (a subject for another time).
The movie was impressive. Not one that you walk away from and say "MAN, I'm glad I saw that", but one that rather one that you say "I enjoyed that". Very subtle enjoyment.
Throughout the movie I kept being bothered by how they would handle the issue of God breaking his promise. After all, God promised He would never flood the earth again, yet here He kept telling Evan there was going to be a flood. How could God break this promise? I knew I was going to be upset.
Without spoiling the movie, just let me say that God is true to His word and as usual does what He says. If you've seen the previews, you know there's a flood. God manages to keep his promise and flood the earth at the same time. Even this conservative, literal minded fundamentalist was not upset.
The thing that impressed me the most in the movie was the use of signs. God doesn't speak to me in a still small voice, He knows I'm way to slow for that. Instead, He speaks to me through signs. Not just one sign, when He wants to get my attention, He sends a bunch of signs and usually smacks me in the head with them. Evan had the same problem I did. When he received a direct word from God, he still didn't believe it. So God smacked him in the head with signs, over and over. Eventually, even Evan got the sign.
Another impressive thing was the way God dealt with prayer. In the movie, God didn't just answer prayer like a magic genie released from a bottle, instead He made people work for the answers to their prayers. I think He does this in real life, in order to make us grow. As I left and revisited the movie in my mind, I was very impressed with God (both movie character and real life).
Overall, a good movie. I highly recommend it. I also suggest you see it with a friend and talk about it afterwards. Ask what they thought about it. How do they think it plays out in real life? Use it as a starting point for discussion.
3 comments:
Good summary, thanks for the commentary. That is different than I expected.
I hadn't heard from anyone who has seen it. I was uncomfortable that too many Christian groups were on board with advertising and such, because I think it is confusing and counterproductive to imply that such a movie is an authentic Biblical reproduction.
But it sounds like they did a good job with several issues.
I wouldn't say it was "an authentic Biblical reproduction". It isn't intended to talk about the original Flood (is that word supposed to be capitalized?) It's set in modern day and only lightly references the original.
I was disappointed that there was no rainbow at the end, but there was a dove. I think Morgan Fairchild's role is very good and even us conservatives can enjoy the movie.
Let me know if you see it.
This is the first good review I've seen of the film just about anywhere.
I think I will wait for the film to hit Blockbuster.
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