Why Christian Movies Be Doing Too Much

I recently suffered the trauma of seeing the “Christian” movie “The Forge.” What I experienced was right wing propaganda with a wet noodle main character and a plot that bored me to death with a lack of motivation and no logical progression. I cannot believe that the Kendrick Brothers are actually getting lazier by the film. My gut reaction to this film was that Christian churches need to cut these guys off from our support. 

I used to be told that Christian films just need more money, but need I remind you this movie cost $5 Million, which is $1.7 Million more than Whiplash, a movie oozing with passion and effort by a director who was new to filmmaking. The Kendrick Brothers have  been at this game a while, and this film seems to show that they are actively getting less creative. 

Part 1: What is a character? 

A character needs a desire, conflict, and a growth or destruction arc. The main character of “The Forge” has none of this. He is kind of irresponsible. Then he’s not. Movie over. 

“The Forge” is categorized as a drama. There needs to be a dramatic reason for the character’s decisions. It could be silly, significant, or tragic. But it should make sense to the audience. 

There needs to be a dramatic reason for the character’s decisions. It could be silly, significant, or tragic. But it should make sense to the audience. 

I just finished watching School of Rock, which also had a slacker character needing to get a job. The filmmaker found a solution to revealing his problem by starting the film with someone telling him he needs a job or get kicked out. In “The Forge,” this impetus never appeared. I thought they could have tied it to the character’s love of video games, maybe by having his mom decide to sell his game console at the start of the story. We needed something to light a fire under the character to give any emotional stakes behind his decision. 

Part 2: What is a theme? 

 If I wanted to give this film a theme (the underlying one seeming to be “capitalism= good”), the charitable interpretation of the movie is that young men need mentors. The problem with the movie is that the mentorship feels stale and undramatic. The young man is barely disrespectful, and the mentor is too nice and perfect. Real Christians are real people, and putting their relationship in a real-world scenario would have made it more impactful. 

School of Rock is a brilliant example of great storytelling, where the main character is irresponsible and learns responsibility from taking care of the children, while the children learn to express themselves with music. In reality, a great mentorship story needs that. 

In “The Forge,” I would have had the mentor be the type of man who can’t stand young people and their attitudes, and the young man might be someone who questions all authority, so that the two of them could form a dynamic bond. The mentor would learn to find value in young people, and learn how to reach them, while the young man would learn how to form a relationship of mutual respect with a true mentor and father figure. 

Part 3: What is a Structure? 

Whiplash (which was made for much less money) is an example of perfect structure. Every scene feeds into the character’s arc. On my recent rewatch, I was shocked at how every scene moved us a step closer to the character’s arc in that showstopper of an ending. “The Forge” has an ending that has nothing to do with most of the scenes. You see, there are a lot of “characters” in the movie that have no personality, and these characters seemingly have nothing to do with the ending. 

If the goal is for the main character to learn from his mentorship, then, they should have shown how something his mentor taught him tied into how the ending worked. The ending showed him making a crew work a 16 hour shift so that a rich man could stay rich. The mentor had no role in that decision, and nothing he taught led to this. 

In Whiplash (spoilers for a good movie) the final show is the ultimate act of pettiness by Fletcher, which leads to Andrew asserting himself and proving to Fletcher who he really was. It showed a culmination of Andrew’s ambition eclipsing his humanity, as he and Fletcher were finally on the same crazy page. 

Is it unfair to compare a modern masterpiece to a Christian film? It is appropriate in this case because both films are similarly budgeted, are dramas, and both deal with mentor mentee relationships. As a Christian who wants to see well-done faith-filled content, I’m done with us using faith as an excuse to not make competent art. 

Part 4: What to do with this information? 

Finally, I have challenged myself to come up with an outline for what “The Forge” should have been. That is coming up soon, as well as a breakdown of my opinion on the odd relationship between capitalism and Christianity in “The Forge,” and how I believe it undercut the message of the movie.

Note: Not all members of the Famous Wolf team agree with this assessment of Christian films. We have varied tastes and varied political and social opinions. We work well together in spite of the things that could divide us. The main reason is because we have mutual respect for one another’s talents, and we also believe in one another’s genuine kindness. Keep that respect in the comments, please. Our moms have to read this stuff.

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