I never dreamt of surfing. As much as I might love frolicking in the beach or pool, I hate swimming – because I never learned how. It's a long story. Instead, let me tell you about Bethany Hamilton, the protagonist of Soul Surfer.
For starters, the actress who played her role was hot.
(Hahahaha! I bet 80% of you guys who read this is already convinced enough to watch this movie ASAP!)
NOW focusing on the movie, it was really based on a REAL Bethany Hamilton. I won't go into details on that, but if you really want to know the real deal, you can check out her story out on Youtube, visit her website, or simply look her up on Facebook!
Okay, enough plugging.
While I wasn't that excited to watch this movie compared to all the big blockbusters lined up until next year, it was only this month that I got to see a good copy of it on the torrents (SORRY! I COULDN'T FIND IT ON ANY STORE HERE! *whimper*). And like the big wave, it was worth the wait. (But I'll really try to buy a legitimate copy when I see one around here!)
Watching the entire film, I could feel the challenging dilemma of the producers and directors: how do you tiptoe between making it into an interesting movie, while staying true to the message of both Bethany and the Gospel? Though a lot of scenes and dialogues felt a bit forced, thankfully the focus on God's hope without being too preachy somehow earned the movie a good 50% rating from RottenTomatoes. This is a huge progress compared to Facing the Giants' 13% rating and Fireproof's 40% rating, and To Save A Life's 32% rating. This significantly shows that stories with strong Christian foundations are slowly improving in terms of reaching out and appealing to the general viewers.*
I'm truly grateful that for the past decades, Christian values have been evident in many of the good movies. In fact, I've read somewhere that a lot of the most acclaimed movies were inspired by the Gospel. Unfortunately, not all 'Christian' movies fare well in the industry.
I wonder how Christian blogs and our contemporary Christian literature will fare in this generation?
*Data accessed on July 22, 2011 12:15AM
Haven't seen this one, but i definitely want to read it.
ReplyDeleteAs for contemporary Christian lit, there are lots that OMF lit produces now actually. One of the books i like is the illustra-novela The Dopple Ganger Chronicles. (blogged about it too). So hindi naman kailangan maging corny para maghatid ng message of the Gospel. diba? :)
Yup! However, we still need to strive more if we want our message and the Gospel to reach a bigger audience :( I mean, Tolkien and Lewis did it with their masterpieces! We should dream of having worthwhile Christian literature that can compete with Twilight & Harry Potter (ESPECIALLY TWILIGHT! GAAAA! I HATE THAT SAGA!!!)
ReplyDeleteBack to SOUL SURFER, YOU MUST WATCH IT!!! :D