Now here is an honest-to-goodness Christian movie, based on the best-selling book in the mid '90s by Fr. Joseph Girzone. This parable, I would think, would be a lot more effective evangelizing film than The Passion Of The Christ, only because this is so much more pleasant to watch. But it is no watered-down version, either. While Mel Gibson's film shows Christ's love in the incredibly- painful sacrifice he made, this movie shows the nature of His love in ordinary, everyday life with ordinary people.
This is a not a Second Coming story, rather just what Jesus might be like if he re-appeared and mingled with human beings today, in this case in a small southern town in the United States.
Here, "Joshua" (Tony Goldwyn) is pictured helping a diverse group of townspeople, ministering to them individually and helping them to come together as a community. He isn't arrogant or pushy about it; he just leads by example. A sub-plot involves his influence with two local priests: an older skeptical pharisee-like cleric (F. Murray Abraham) and his younger and personable assistant (Kurt Fuller).
It's nicely done, with good production values and some solid acting. It's not too heavy-handed for the unbelievers while at the same inspiring to believers. As one of the latter, this movie just made me feel good all the way through. This kind of movie isn't just unusual.....it's downright rare.
