MovieChat Forums > Flywheel (2003) Discussion > Sorry

Sorry

posted 14 years ago by crawl-8
10 replies | jump to latest

Much of the praise here is more "preaching to the choir". I don't share the Christian enthusiasm, and as such, I think I have a bit more critical eye than most of the admirers seem to have here.
As a movie, this is bad. Don't mistake what I'm saying as criticism of the message. The movie is just plain hard to watch. It's a bit like community theater where you toss aside the imperfections to support your neighbor. The acting is poor, at best. The sterotypes can't be overcome.

As an American, I believe honest people should be allowed to believe what they do as long as long as they keep don't try to force themselves onto others. As a person outside the Christian faith I believe I can say this: it is difficult for some of you to see how unduly arrogant the message you send out really is.
I'm not going to argue here, as I believe, that a true Christian can't be a capitalist, and that my readings of Jesus lead me to believe he was anything but a capitalist, but the message here simply is: turn your life over to God and you aren't responsible for anything from that point forward or before.
I beg to differ. The hurt you caused others doesn't go away. My father had a very adept quote: "He PRAYED with his neighbors on Sunday and PREYED on his neighbors the rest of the week". When you hurt someone, simply saying I'm sorry and begging forgiveness doesn't change the hurt. You can make repairs, but simply saying "I'm sorry" isn't enough. Ever. And saying "Big Brother" above will forgive you doesn't change that either.
This movie could have had an even better story...reaching out to people who don't share your brand of Christianity...if the overt preaching had been toned down to share some of the common good points: cheating people is bad, regardless of religion. The people closest to you deserve you as a whole person, not a selfish-minded individual.
Honestly, I had to turn it off.
I sincerely hope you can see what I'm seeing...that this was closer to a piece of propaganda than to anything inspirational. I will not work to stop your showing of excitement about this film, but I didn't enjoy it.

[–] jstewart01 14 years ago

"The message here simply is: turn your life over to God and you aren't responsible for anything from that point forward or before."

No, that's not true. Jay was still very much responsible for all the hurt that he caused to people. Remember when he returned the money to the black lady at the end, and she started rebuking him and yelling at him? Also, what about when one of Jay's workers quit because Jay started being honest and truthful?

[–] MrAwesom-O 14 years ago

Unfortunately, I think you shot yourself in the foot here. The whole point of this movie is aimed at Christian families that wanted Christian entertainment. As you're not, I understand why the overall plot won't make sense to you. And like you said, that's cool. Have your own opinions, but if you turned it off early it's no wonder you didn't like it.

As an indie film, a lot of your minor complaints are going to exist. They aren't professional actors, they didn't have a big budget.. etc.

I actually agreed with a lot of what you were saying, the only problem is you didn't finish it. That's like saying a Stephen King book wasn't good because it was too scary.

All I'm saying is, if you're biggest complaint is the movie's largest selling point, then I think you are just determined to not gain anything from this movie. A real shame though, God loves you more than you could possibly imagine. He has nothing but the best intentions for you, if only you open your heart.

[–] SonOfEvermore 14 years ago

Hah! Families that want Christian entertainment?

Read your kids some rape or genocide passages from the bible. It'll do their intelligence a world of good.

[–] strangenstein (683) 4 years ago

Wow, 2000+ years and Jesus is still intimidating people.

[–] Jinx (3040) 4 years ago

Jesus was wonderful, his dad was just a jerk.

[–] strangenstein (683) 4 years ago

Well, since they’re one and the same, you may need to rephrase that.

[–] Jinx (3040) 4 years ago

God must be Jesus' evil side then.

[–] Rapturegal 13 years ago

"my readings of Jesus lead me to believe he was anything but a capitalist,"

Well, He sure wasn't a Communist which unsaved people often say due to their lack of Bible knowledge. Jesus came to earth to redeem us from our sins....not to lecture on matters of commerce. He was not opposed to earning a living, starting businesses or having nice things ... but He was mainly concerned about our hearts.

The Lord did encourage His followers to share all things with each other whenever possible so the Gospel could be spread faster with a minimum of complications. But He also told believers to "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's" meaning pay your taxes like a good citizen and don't squawk about it.

".....regardless of religion."

There is only One Judge and He holds all the cards. It won't be Allah, Buddha, or any other figment of human imagination you'll be facing .... it'll be Jesus Christ, the 2nd Person of the Trinity. Are you sure you want to gamble with your eternal destination by insisting any "religion" is OK after ALL the proof God has provided of His identity?

Don't deny the One who can free you.:)

[–] BlueMonday17 10 years ago

"It won't be Allah, Buddha, or any other figment of human imagination you'll be facing"

...You do realize that the Buddha was actually a person from history, right? I mean, it's quite possible that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed a real person, but Siddhartha Gautama absolutely was. Please educate yourself before lecturing others.

[–] tavdaniels 8 years ago

All films preach to the choir; the only thing that changes is the make-up of the choir.

That said, I'd agree this isn't a great film. But, it's a very first effort that had memorable moments of uplift and some genuine humor. What it lacked in filmmaking nuance and skill (which was sizable), it made up for with heart.

No interest in engaging your debate about what a "true" Christian is or isn't; at the end of the day, I believe God will sort that out. How do any of us truly know what is in the heart and soul of another?