“After watching The Apostle I walked out of the theater amazed that Duvall, an admitted outsider, had worked so hard to get our culture right–and he very nearly succeeded.”

This comment made me begin thinking about the problem of subculture. Like it or not, American Christians live in a subculture that is getting increasingly marginalized. (I can’t speak for believers elsewhere in the world. Sorry, this post is going to be rather USA-centric.) When we address this topic at all, it is either with dismissive contempt [...]

After watching The Apostle I walked out of the theater amazed that Duvall, an admitted outsider, had worked so hard to get our culture right–and he very nearly succeeded. In several points in the movie, I think he did succeed. And as much as I find the “Elmer Gantrification” of Pentecostal preachers distatesful, the same trashy moral examples could be found literally anywhere.

Yet when I walked away from Jesus Camp I was amazed that some outsiders who had clearly spent significant time with Penteocostal had simply not gotten it right. And this was the less-fictional of the two films!

I loved the preachers shown in The Apostle, I understand they were the “real deal,” Pentecostal preachers who agreed to cameo in the film. And the choir absolutey rocked.

I think, when Duvall films the little Pentecostal church having church, they were really having church. I felt the moment was genuine and authentic.

Sure, there’s a lot to criticize in the film, and you hit some other great points. But, like you, I think it’s a worthwhile addition to the DVD rack.

Rich
BlogRodent

- I don’t know if I’d call it “Southern” preaching as opposed to “Pentecostal” style preaching. I have been to Northern Pentecostal churches and they do their fair share of shouting and praising. Maybe it’s just that I’m sensitive to my adopted land too! I liked how Sonny got things rolling at that radio station.

- Not only was Sonny still married, but the woman he was chasing was also married (estranged) at the time, making it a possible double adultery.

- When he hit that guy upside the head with the baseball bat he was also drunk. He should have known better and just stayed away from the whole situation. He repeats over and over how much he loved his babies, his jewels, yet does not turn away from things that threatened his babies from being taken away from him (though he may have felt like it was going to happen no matter what he did). The fistfight with the guy (Billy Bob Bad Santa!) outside of church was righteous, as he was led to communicate the Gospel at that guy’s level.

- While I agree that he made a mistake by fleeing his responsibility for assault charges, he was not attempting to escape his misery with his “work” afterwards. He could have very easily disappeared and remained a nameless short order cook/mechanic. He went back into his ministry partly because it was in his blood and he may have been looking at salvation (or forgiveness?) by works.

When you reviewed “Jesus Camp” and talked about the indoctrination, my mind first flashed to “The Apostle” and the scene where they showed a few of the pastor’s meetings that resembled Nazi meetings. While there was some ugliness in “The Apostle”, there was also some beauty: the anonymous delivery of grocery boxes, his befriending/mentoring of the car mechanic, his working with the retired pastor to start a church.

I also liked how he adapted and flourished in his circumstances, and it makes me wonder if I could do the same if I fall on hard times. My main problem with the movie, believe it or not, came with his “self-baptism”. Jesus modeled baptism as a cleansing, a symbolic act of readiness for ministry, and even He had another’s help. There is something very wrong with baptizing yourself, but I just don’t feel like getting into it at this juncture (wouldn’t be prudent!).

It’s been awhile since I’ve watched the movie, so maybe I’ll view it in the next week.