DAVID ADAMS watches the US-produced documentary Holy Ghost…
Holy Ghost (no Australian rating was available at time of publication)
In a word: Challenging
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“A slice – certainly not the whole cake – of how the Holy Spirit is moving in the world today, this is a great film to engage with, whether you know the Holy Spirit or not. Does it provide ‘proof’ of the Holy Spirit? That remains a decision for each of those who view it.” |
The latest of US film-maker Darren Wilson’s documentaries, Holy Ghost opens with a narration in which Wilson says he wants to show people something “they’ve never seen before”: “Some say He’s dead. Some say He’s silent. Some say He’s a figment of my imagination. But the Holy Spirit is real and I’m going to prove it.”
It’s with that premise in mind that Wilson sets off on journey that’s all about taking a risk and allowing the Holy Spirit to be his guide (there’s “no script, no plan”), in showing how He (the Holy Spirit) is moving in the world today.
The crowd-source funded film kicks off in Salt Lake City – the “heart of Mormon country” – where we follow Christians Jamie Galloway and Will Hart as they pray for people they encounter – including a cessationist Christian street preacher – before we scoot across the world to Monte Carlo where a rainstorm leads US evangelist Todd White to pray for a woman on a yacht.
Then it’s back to the US where White joins with Korn’s Brian ‘Head’ Welch and Reginald ‘Fieldy’ Arvizu in evangelising among those queuing up to go into a concert by the band before we finally head to the Hindu city of Varanasi in India – the “oldest city in the world” – where US-based singer Jake Hamilton and Northern Ireland-based evangelist Mark Marx, accompanied by a man Ramesh – described as a ‘radical Hindu’ and high priest of a couple of Hindu temples, introduce people to the Holy Spirit.
The film is sprinkled with famous faces reflecting on the Holy Spirit with musician Lenny Kravitz, theologian RT Kendall and Bill Johnson, senior pastor of California’s Bethel Church, among those interviewed. While these reflections are thought provoking, they do tend to come with a particular US evangelical bent and it would have been nice to see some reflections from other streams of Christianity included. Clearly Wilson wasn’t prompted to do that.
It’s an interesting visual journey as well – particularly some of the scenes from India – although the film ends up running longer than it needs to and could have done with some sharper editing, particularly in the latter parts of the movie.
This is a powerful film and, while some may not be surprised by the way in which the Holy Spirit moves in the film, it may prove challenging or even confronting to others (and it may be the style of the approach taken by some in the film toward the Holy Spirit rather than the move of the Holy Spirit itself which they find so). This is not passive viewing – it’s a film that demands a response.
A slice – certainly not the whole cake – of how the Holy Spirit is moving in the world today, this is a great film to engage with, whether you know the Holy Spirit or not. Does it provide ‘proof’ of the Holy Spirit? That remains a decision for each of those who view it.
But perhaps the last word goes to pastor Will Hart – one of the two pastors shown in the early part of the film – who quotes Jesus: “Ask and you’ll receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you If you want an encounter with the Holy Spirit: Ask…and then wait for it because when it comes you’ll know it’s Him. And it will change everything”.
