Nicolosi Slays “Giants”

Last updated on: January 25, 2013 at 11:59 am by Jeffrey Overstreet

Nicolosi Slays “Giants” 2013-01-25T11:59:29-07:00 Jeffrey Overstreet

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Buckle up.

Barbara Nicolosi is a little late to the game with her views on Facing the Giants, but her new blog entry was worth the wait.

Here are some excerpts:

A while back when I screened the film, I wrote a brief post that it should never have gotten a PG rating, and also that clearly, the folks who made the film, had every right to make it. I assumed the project was so bad as entertainment that it would just kind of disappear, and there was no reason to get involved smearing something that bad. It would be like jeering at a junior high talent show. What’s the point?

That was before the FOX Faith announcement and the small success of Facing the Giants at the box office, which has all of us Able Christians (as in Cain and Able) in Hollywood scared to death that Facing the Giants will be the prototype of the movies that all the new divisions geared to “creating product for Christians” will be seeking out and producing.

She goes on to describe the mission of Christian artists in Hollywood, and how that mission involves crafting excellent art and entertainment… something that is quite different from what we see in Facing the Giants.

In contrast to this movement of Christian artists, are the ones who are yearning to replicate the Christian Contemporary Music model in Hollywood with a Christian Contemporary Cinema. The goal of these folks seems to be to create fantasy movies for Christians, made by Christians, and paid for by Christians.

Facing the Giants from any serious perspective is a fantasy film. Its message is very dangerous for Christians, and scandalous for pagans. Adult Evangelical Christians watching Facing the Giants is like sex addicts watching the Spice Channel. (Nope. Not going to take it back.)

We are going to leave alone the fact that the film is badly acted, terribly written, completely lacking in imagery, and directed and shot without any style or evident skill. Let’s skip all that and just talkabout the content problem.

So then, she talks about “the content problem”:

The film tells the story of a poverty-stricken, generally disdained, losing football coach who drives a broken down truck and goes home at night to a devastatedly infertile wife. Incited by no particular plot point, the coach reads the Bible one day and then kneels down in a field (Why the hell is it always a field? Is that like in Zecharaiah somewhere?) and gives his life to Jesus. In short order after he utters the Evangelical commitment formula aloud, he wins back the esteem of his fellow townspeople, he turns around his terrible team so that they win the championship, somebody gives him a brand new shiny red truck, AND his infertile wife becomes pregnant!

WOW! Give me some of THAT Jesus-stuff!

Absolute fantasy stuff. The kind of thing that makes Christians puff out their chests proud to be on the winning team! This film fumbles deep, deep in the prosperity Gospel end zone. It is icky to tell people that they should be Christian because of the career and health benefits. We have the problem on the team of that embarrassingly unsuccessful crucified coach of ours.

And she’s just getting started…

What would the filmmakers of Facing the Giants say about this?

Barbara says:

Another friend told me a couple days ago that he knows the fellows who made the film, and that their philosophy (apologies to philosophers everywhere…) of filmmaking is that entertainment should be idealistic and not mirror the world as it is, but as it should be.

WRONG!

WRONG.

And then, she gets serious…

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Barbara Nicolosi

Facing the Giants

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