DAVID ADAMS watches ‘Jesus Revolution’…
Jesus Revolution (AU-M/US-PG-13)
In a Word: Uplifting
Jonathan Roumie as Lonnie Frisbee and Kelsey Grammer as Chuck Smith in Jesus Revolution. PICTURE: Dan Anderson
A biopic – based on a memoir of the same name – which tells the coming-to-faith story of Greg Laurie – now the pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship and known for his large rallies, set against the broader backdrop of a Christian revival which began among the counter-culture of southern California in the late 1960s and early 1970s (and from which the film takes its title – after a TIME magazine cover).
“As a film, it’s a satisfying, if not perfect, portrayal of some of the events which took place during the Jesus Movement.”
Laurie, played by Joel Courtney, is being brought up by his alcoholic mother Charlene (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) and reluctantly attending a military academy, when, in pursuit of a girl, Cathe (Anna Grace Barlow), who later becomes his wife, he encounters the unusually-monikered hippie street preacher Lonnie Frisbee (played by Jonathan Roumie, known for his depiction of Jesus in The Chosen series).
It’s an encounter that starts to change the course of his life. Frisbee, meanwhile, has already started to turn things upside-down for strait-laced pastor Chuck Smith (Kelsey Grammar) when Smith’s daughter Janette (Ally Ioannides) invites the unorthodox man of faith into Smith’s home.
The pastor, faced with a declining, aging congregation, sees something in Frisbee’s passion for the Lord and invites Frisbee into his church – Calvary Chapel. While Frisbee’s presence ruffles the feathers of some in the church, the congregation soon becomes a hub for a revival among young seekers looking for answers.
While there’s been some criticism that the film puts an overly glossy shine on events, Jesus Revolution – which is co-directed by Jon Erwin (of I Can Only Imagine fame) and Brent McCorkle (Unconditional) – does depict some of the bumps along the road – particularly around the fractures in the relationship between Frisbee and Smith – and the issues the rising numbers coming to Smith’s church bring with them.
As a film, it’s a satisfying, if not perfect, portrayal of some of the events which took place during what’s known as the Jesus Movement. The use of a journalist to frame events – linking to the TIME cover – is a conceit that doesn’t really work as well as it could – after all, we don’t really get to know the journalist at all.
But that aside, it provides a strong sense of what happened during those heady days without being overly heavy-handed in attempts to persuade the audience of its truths.
Courtney, Grammar and Roumie all deliver authentic performances around which the story is built and the film is well-contextualised in the times, as they are a changin’.
All in all, it’s a fascinating look at events that helped shape a generation of young Christians in southern California and which played a key role in shaping evangelical Christianity in that area of the US and beyond as we know it today. It will stir memories for those who were around at the time as well as introduce younger generations to a story which may help provide some context to today’s evangelical landscape in the US.
