Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Religious Music & Entertainment
New Doc Beautifully Tells a Story of Tragedy and Forgiveness

New Doc Beautifully Tells a Story of Tragedy and Forgiveness

Last updated on: June 4, 2019 at 9:51 pm by Paul Asay

New Doc Beautifully Tells a Story of Tragedy and Forgiveness 2019-06-04T21:51:08-06:00 Paul Asay

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, from the trailer of Emanuel.

“Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” That’s what Jesus said, hanging on the cross, asking His Father to show mercy to His killers.

But what if they do know?

Emanuel, a new documentary in theaters June 17 and 19, tells us.

When Dylann Roof walked into Charleston’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church on June 17, 2015, he knew exactly what he intended to do. The white supremacist was determined to kill black people in the hopes, it was said, of trying to start a race war. In Emanuel, we see the 21-year-old man walk into the church. We’re told by eyewitnesses that he sat down, apparently ready to engage with an evening Bible study.

“He sat through the whole Bible study,” Felicia Sanders says in the movie. “And when we closed our eyes to pray, that’s when he lit up the room.”

Roof killed nine people that evening, including Clementa C. Pinckney—Emanuel’s pastor and a South Carolina state senator. Even in a country that has grown all-too-used to mass shootings, the slaughter at Emanuel felt particularly horrific. To gun down anyone is a terrible tragedy, of course. But to do it in a place of worship—to do it in the act of prayer—felt like an almost unimaginable violation.

Emanuel, by Drop Box director Brian Ivie (and produced in part by Oscar-winning actress Viola Davis and NBA superstar Steph Curry), is a riveting revisitation of that terrible tragedy and its stunning aftermath. The movie unpacks not just the personal stories tied to the massacre, but the story of the church itself. It explains the historical importance of traditionally African-American churches like Emanuel: How Christianity was, in the words of Southeastern University’s Dr. Walter Strickland, “that thing that allowed them to stand and go about week after week after week of the abuse.” How African-American churches like Emanuel were places where author A.R. Bernard said that “the black community had a sense of ownership.” How important Emanuel—one of the oldest and largest black churches in Charleston—was in a city in which slavery had historically been so important and, afterward, where racism was so entrenched.

The film doesn’t blink when it comes to those horrific events of June 17. Ivie focuses his camera on the survivors and grieving family members as they unspool their stories, letting those moments not only breathe on camera, but weep.

But when the movie turns to how these survivors responded afterward, Emanuel moves from an excellent study of the story to something more. Something far more challenging and, I think, inspiring.

“I forgive you,” Nadine Collier, who lost her mother in the attack, told Roof during court proceedings less than two days later. “You took something very precious from me. I will never talk to her again. I will never, ever hold her again. But I forgive you. And have mercy on your soul.”

She wasn’t the only one. Others stood up and, instead of directing understandable hatred and anger in Roof’s direction, they offered something else.

“Repent,” said Anthony Thompson, whose wife died in the attack. “Confess. Give your life to the one who matters most: Christ. He can change it, change your ways no matter what happened to you. And you’ll be OK.”

You’ll be OK. How is it possible to offer that sort of grace in the midst of such grief? I don’t know if I’d be able to do it. And other survivors weren’t. “Ain’t no way in the world I’m going to forgive him,” another survivor says in the movie. Other speakers and activists were angry with Nadine, Anthony and others, arguing that it short-circuited a much-needed conversation about race in Charleston.

I get that.

And yet, I think it’s exactly what Jesus would’ve done, too.

Forgive them, for they know not what they do.

On one level, Dylann Roof knew exactly what he was doing. But in the same way, so did Jesus’ accusers and executioners. They knew they were taking a life. They just didn’t know the real person whose life they were taking.

And neither, of course, did Dylann. He’d so de-humanized his victims that he ceased seeing them as real people—only as obstacles or, perhaps, as catalysts to the race war he hoped to ignite.

Instead of a race war, though, he found something very different, and very unexpected. We all did. And that coda helps turn this tragedy into something much more remarkable, even though it can’t erase the loss. Emanuel is a well-crafted and, in some ways, remarkable documentary, a story that never mitigates the tragedy, but points to something beautiful beyond.

Look for Emanuel in theaters June 17 and 19.

Previous Post

May 21, 2019

Storytelling is Not a Democracy.

Next Post

June 19, 2019 Why Are We Here? A Spork Has Some Thoughts About That.

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category books celebrities Editor's Choice games movies music news sports superheroes television Uncategorized

Select a Month May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 December 2025 October 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 September 2023 March 2023 February 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 December 2021 October 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 October 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who were the first two sons of Adam and Eve?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Cain and Abel Seth and Enosh Jacob and Esau Isaac and Ishmael

Books by This Author Books by Paul Asay

See All Titles »