How to measure a movie’s impact? Box office receipts determine popularity, but attendance does not always equal enduring impact. Surely, youth ministry is more than a numbers game. Making disciples is a process that requires patience and perseverance. The same is true with many of the finest movies.
Twilight’s devoted fans made the film a hit, but left many faithful readers disappointed. Stephenie Meyer’s vampire novels offer a timely meditation on sex and abstinence, fear and risk. In the movie, the romance between Bella and Edward was undercut by bad makeup and stilted dialogue. The big screen drained the blood out of Twilight.
The Boy in Striped Pajamas offers a much more powerful, thoughtful literary adaptation. It presents the Holocaust through a child’s eyes. How do we train our students to be more perceptive, to see through the guises that hide horrific actions? The Boy in the Striped Pajamas puts a human face on genocide, challenging us to walk in others’ tattered shoes.
The Academy Awards enshrined Slumdog Millionaire as the most enduring film of 2008. A game show provides a fresh way into a vexing problem: How do kids fend for themselves in urban slums, such as Mumbai, India? While Slumdog provides an uplifting finale, the images of struggle and exploitation are often quite disturbing. It is about chance, coincidence and hard choices. Slumdog may even inspire students to serve the poor.
Can a movie change a life? Seven Pounds chronicles the efforts of one man to atone for his sins. Will Smith eschews superhero style roles for a muted meditation on guilt and self sacrifice. Critics resisted the poetic thoughts of my screenwriting colleague (and devoted Christian) Grant Nieporte, but youth leaders may come to embrace this thoughtful redemption story on DVD.
Marley & Me celebrates the impact of a pet, specifically a Labrador retriever. While advertised as a comedy, Marley & Me contains touching scenes of marital strife and haunting grief. For youth workers struggling to balance adult responsibilities with a job rooted in adolescence, Marley & Me may prove surprisingly relevant. Even the toughest guys may shed a tear.
Relationships also are tested in Not Easily Broken. Bishop T.D. Jakes produced this gritty portrait of a marriage on the rocks, but Not Easily Broken reverses the usual straying man story. Instead, Morris Chestnut plays a faithful husband to a wandering wife, (Taraji P. Henson). It contains relevant echoes of the biblical account of Hosea and Gomer. We are called to faithfulness even when those we love disappoint us.
