Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I watched this movie, trying my best to give it the benefit of the doubt as it relied more and more on loathsome false cliches and rhetoric to make its twisted point. As a Christian who grew up in India surrounded by many friends of strong faith in non-Christian traditions, and then (as an adult in the U.S.) attending a Jesuit university which had mandatory theology courses, I have had an exposure to religious discussion at its best and at its most ignorant all through my life. This seemed like it might be good when I read the premise, but the film makes several mistakes which I find unforgivable in this day and age. One thing I found galling was the portrayal of Muslim faith. There was so much they could have done to make Ayisha's conversion meaningful with some real examination of the different beliefs between the two religions. Instead they focused on the Hijab, and pretended that "traditional" Muslim faith is violent and that any exploration of Christian beliefs will cause a parent to disown his child and throw her into the street. I grew up in an apartment complex that housed Christian, Muslim and Hindu families. My friends and I spent holidays in each others homes, learning traditions and sharing stories of our own religions. One of my friends had a Christian mother and a Hindu father, which is even stranger than a Muslim-Christian marriage. At least Islam and Christianity share the same origins and belief in one God, with Islam even considering Jesus a prophet born of the virgin Mary. If the movie had focused on how Ayisha had come to believe that Jesus was divine, and not just one of the great prophets, it would have made for a far more convincing and powerful movie. Strike one. The movie spent some time following Josh and his girlfriend being lovey-dovey and cute as they walked through campus, and that raised a red flag in my brain. Sure enough, when the conflict arose, she was painted as a villain and the feminist in me retched. My girlfriend and I started dating in youth group when we were in high school and had she been watching this with me, I'm pretty sure she'd have kicked a hole in the T.V. In real life, I have never met a Christian couple (or even a couple with one Christian) that had such a poor dynamic. Most couples I've met are extremely supportive of each others decisions and struggles. The fact that this film chose to make the girlfriend an antagonist, and that she would end the relationship when his choice threatened her idea of what their hypothetical future should be... it was unrealistic. As with Ayisha's story, there were so many other choices in how to portray the story that would have been so much better. Strike two. My third criticism was Professor Radisson's reasons for antagonizing believers. It was a cliche among cliches. It was the farcical A-Few-Good-Men style showdown in the classroom between Wheaton and Radisson that made me give up on any hope of a redeeming factor that would allow me to give this movie anything but the lowest rating. I was an atheist for a while too before I learned to see God's work in people's lives. I understand why people can attribute everything to science and believe in their heart that there is no God. If Radisson's belief was simply intellectual I would have had far more respect for this movie, but the screenwriter just had to destroy it by making him sound like an angsty teenager blaming God for all his problems. I paused the movie for a day when I got to that point because I couldn't bear to watch it any longer, and I finished it only to write this review. I wish I hadn't. The two key moments of the last 27 minutes were the class's unanimous agreement that God is not dead (even in Theology class at a Jesuit university, it would be impossible to get that response, and my professors were considerably more convincing than Wheaton) and Radisson's death scene. Believe in Christ kids, or you'll get hit by a car! Blech. In reading other reviews, I get the impression that many of this movie's critics are Christians, and most of its supporters are Christian too. I feel like that says something about the failings of this movie; something truly powerful would draw a more diverse crowd and better discussion. I turned back to Christianity only after learning more about my Grandfather's life, and I feel like any single chapter from the book he wrote would make a more convincing case for Christianity than the entirety of this movie. I wish there were movies that portrayed faith more intelligently.