Let's Talk About "Do You Believe?" · 4:50am Jan 21st, 2015
Time to dive back into the topic of religious films. Nearly a year ago, I made a post in which I gave my thoughts about the trailer for God's Not Dead. To refresh your memories, I thought the trailer was not that good (to put it nicely) and the film looked like a cheesy Christian film with an over-the-top Atheist antagonist. Now, the creators of God's Not Dead have returned to bring us Do You Believe? I only just found out about this film today when I went to the theater to see Selma (which was fantastic, by the way) and the trailer for this film was shown. You can check out said trailer right here:
What are my thoughts? In all honesty...I think this is a step in the right direction. Sure, the trailer is filled to the brim with that cheesy pro-religious feeling you expect to see in films such as this...but, for me, it was almost a sort of heartwarming type of cheese. Unlike God's Not Dead, which seemed to exist only to further stretch the egos of Christians while simultaneously mocking Atheists, this film looks like it's more of a celebration of the joy and fulfillment a person can feel from believing in something. A lot of Atheists like to make the wide and vague claim that the world would be a better and happier place without religion; but, if the execution is done right, this film could provide an interesting argument to the contrary in showing how religion can actually improve someone's life. It also helps that this film appears to have more diversity in its characters; such as a pastor, a homeless mom and her daughter, a drug addict, a cop, some thugs, and so on. And, speaking of diversity, the cast isn't all white this time! Based on what's seen in this trailer, we have a whopping two black people in this film! I know, black people in a pro-Christian religious movie. I'm as shocked as the rest of you.
So, overall, I enjoyed this trailer. I don't think this film will be anything Oscar-worthy or something like that but I definitely see it as a step in the right direction for these filmmakers. Hopefully, it'll turn out better than God's Not Dead did...
Please don't take this the wrong way, but you're looking at these movies, especially God's Not Dead, in the wrong way. You're simply judging the trailer. Now, while I do this myself at times, you can't judge just on a trailer. God's Not Dead, I admit had an extremely corny trailer, but when I actually sat down and watched it, it was so much better than I thought it would be. I highly recommend you sit down and watch it, not as someone just sitting and watching a movie, but as a reviewer. Then give your thoughts.
Based on the trailer as well as the subject matter it is not something I would see. I didn't see Passion of the Christ for the same reason I didn't see Noah, or for that matter God's not Dead. They're all forms of religious propaganda. As much as they may want to frame themselves in a different light, they do not treat the subject in a non-bias manner, and because of this, movies like the one above fail outright when attempting to explore "belief."
But, hell, if their intent was to make a Christian movie for Christians than well done; they may have a successful film on their hands. As for me, I'm sick of doublethink.
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That's a fair point. I'll admit that I did write off God's Not Dead based on its trailer as well as what I've read what others have had to say about it. But, yeah, that's not a fair way to go about this. I guess I'll give God's Not Dead a fair chance and see if it really was more than the trailer advertised it to be.
As an atheist I can say that I don't mind these movies as long as they are entertainment. Many would see them as religious propaganda and that is there choice. But the purpose of any film is to entertain the audience. And I found God's Not Dead to be such a bore. The premise could have been an interesting idea, but the execution was poor and the acting wasn't the best for a movie trying to be philosophical. The idea's weren't explored very well and fell upon the predictable. I could open my philosophy textbook and find better arguments that are explored.
The story was luke warm and the characters were paper cut outs. God's Not Dead is a boring film that I hope this film can make up for.
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In relation to Noah, Darren Aronofsky attempted to create an alternate version of the story through his vision. There was actually a lot of behind the scenes drama because of his deviations from the original story. That film, at the very least, was more of Aronofsky creating his own version of the story of Noah's Arc rather than basic religious propaganda.
In my opinion, there is plenty of material within the Bible that has the potential to be adapted into interesting movies that anyone could enjoy in spite of them being of religious origins. I mean, look at The Ten Commandments and The Prince of Egypt. Both are based on the Bible story of Moses but both have been acclaimed and enjoyed by many because they are simply great films. A story about God and/or from the Bible can be made to appeal to people of different beliefs if the film focuses more on telling an interesting story.