Directed by Jon Erwin, Brent McCorkle
Starring Joel Courtney, Jonathan Roumie, Kelsey Grammer
(Minor spoilers ahead)
Jesus Revolution is a film about the Jesus Movement as it occurred in Southern California from the late 1960s to early 1970s. The story focuses on Chuck Smith (Kelsey Grammer), a pastor who was leading a small, aging congregation at the time, and the hippie preacher Lonnie Frisbee (Jonathan Roumie), who along with Smith were instrumental in the revival movement. The film also serves as a biopic of Greg Laurie (Joel Courtney), who came to faith through the ministry of Smith and Frisbee, and is presently the pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship.
There’s much good about the movie that signals a step up in production within Christian cinema. For one, the film stars Kelsey Grammer, known for his titular role in the 1990s sitcom, Fraiser (as well as Sideshow Bob in The Simpsons), and Jonathan Roumie, known for his role as Jesus in The Chosen. Both actors offer convincing portrayals of their characters. As the movie opens, the audience is treated to a beautiful sequence of cuts, including a shot of the scenic California coastline, all accompanied by music that you would expect from the late 1960s. The opening makes you feel like you’re about to watch a real movie! The film is also noteworthy for not holding back on some of the tensions within the Jesus Movement, refusing to show only the positive aspects of it. It doesn’t hide, for example, the conflict between Smith and Frisbee, nor does it hide Frisbee’s marital strife. Such is welcome honesty in an industry where you might come to expect cheap triumphalism.
The movie, though, does suffer from other flaws that you might expect from a Christian movie, such as a script that’s awkward at times and disobedience to the commandment, “Thou shalt not tell, but show.” Apart from these, I’d like to offer more substantive criticism in a couple respects. Firstly, some of the musical choices are quite poor. At several points in the movie, certain lines are accompanied by music that basically sounds like contemporary worship. Just from an aesthetic point of view, in stark contrast to the generally timely soundtrack (think classic rock), the sound of ambient synth swells feels very anachronistic in a movie set in the late ’60s. More importantly, the use of ambient worship music is such a banal way of emphasizing a message, and it can get very annoying. Not everything that’s important needs to be accompanied by music (worship leaders, take note!). If the message is true, the writing beautiful, and the actor skilled, then you can let the lines for themselves. Relative silence in such cases can make the spoken lines more effective, whereas the addition of such trite music can distract from the message and work against the emotional impact that you’re trying to achieve.
Secondly, the lack of focus and depth holds the movie back from being a great movie. The movie involves two plotlines, with the majority of the story focusing on a young Greg Laurie. It was a bit of a disappointment, since the impression I got from the trailer was that the movie would centre on the story of Smith and Frisbee, and their roles in the Jesus Movement revival. To be sure, the film could have done worse in this respect,1 but I think it was a missed opportunity to develop certain themes emphasized in the story of Smith and Frisbee. For instance, in their first meeting together, Frisbee tells Smith that what hippies are really longing for is God. The idea is profound, that ultimately the satisfaction of our deepest desires is found in the God of the Bible. It reminds me of St. Augustine who wrote in his Confessions, “For Thou hast made us for Thyself and our hearts are restless till they rest in Thee.” Developing this theme further could have made for a much deeper movie. How is it, for example, that beneath the drug use, sex, and music is a desire for the God of truth and beauty? And how is it that beneath the opposition to government and traditional norms is a search for the only good God? Touching on these questions could have been an opportunity to provide insight, or at least provoke more thought, regarding human desires and evangelistic strategy. Had the movie been more focused on the story of Smith and Frisbee, it could have elaborated on this and other ideas in a more penetrating way.2
Overall, though, Jesus Revolution is a step forward in Christian cinema, and I would encourage people to watch it.3 From a pragmatic perspective, by paying to see the film, the hope is that future productions will have access to more substantial budgets which can go toward making better movies. Still, given its own merits, it’s worth a watch. While I tend to avoid Christian forms of entertainment, I can at least say that for a Christian movie, Jesus Revolution is actually pretty good.
1 If I remember correctly, the (in)famous God’s Not Dead involves three or four subplots unrelated to each other except for the fact that all the characters go to the same Newsboys concert in the end. At least in Jesus Revolution there are only two subplots, both relevant to the other, since Greg Laurie himself participated in the revival movement.
2 Another theme that I think could have been developed better is that of legalism and how it’s detrimental to church growth. Christians often condemn legalism in their churches (rightly so), and the film shows some of its petty manifestations. I wonder, though, whether a more plausible form of legalism could have been shown, one that has some semblance of truth and reason, and that isn’t so easily dismissed. Perhaps some of the perils of hippie culture could have been brought to bear in this regard, in order to make the complaints of the stuffier congregants more credible. This would have been very interesting to see, and it could have made the tension between Smith and Frisbee more challenging as well, given that their conflict sprang from concerns regarding how revival services should be run.
3 I say this while also acknowledging some of the more controversial aspects of the Jesus Movement, such as charismatic theology and Lonnie Frisbee himself.