This movie reverses the curse

I attended a screening of “The Passion of the Christ” where Mel Gibson mentioned that he didn’t know what the “curse” was on Christian films-why are they usually so bad?
A prominent movie producer once told me Christian films struggle because of the sheer amount of effort it takes just to make a movie in the first place.
I understand it must take an incredible amount of work to pull off any film-much less a good one. But I wondered, where is the passionate Christian filmmaker, the visionary, who won’t let a lack of budget and manpower stop him from achieving his dream?

His name is Steve Taylor.

Best known these days as a music producer, Taylor has helmed a film that not only looks good, and features top-notch acting, but has a thought-provoking message and will have moviegoers discussing it afterwards.
The Second Chance stars Michael W. Smith as Ethan Jenkins, an associate pastor at a wealthy predominantly white suburban church called The Rock. This is Smith’s first leading role in a motion picture, and he does a fine job. I talked with someone who said “I didn’t think of it as Michael W. Smith doing a good job acting, I just thought of it as good acting”. Well said. It may be hard for some to get past the fact that it’s “Smitty”, but he plays the role convincingly.

Newcomer jeff obafemi carr plays Pastor Jake Sanders, the leader of The Second Chance Community Church, an inner-city predominantly black congregation founded by Smith’s father years ago. In his first film role, carr (who uses lowercase for his name) shines and shows major star potential.
After Jenkins allows the visiting Jake to shoot off his mouth in the pulpit at The Rock one Sunday morning, the elders tell Jenkins he has to spend time at Second Chance to see what’s happening there. The Rock still pays the bills for The Second Chance.
This sets a fairly predictable, but thoroughly entertaining, story in motion as Jenkins begins to see how life in Pastor Jake’s “hood” differs from suburbia. And Taylor doesn’t shy away from many of the harsher realities, including unplanned pregnancy, gang violence, drug use, alcoholism, homelessness, etc. There are a handful of profanities in the movie as well, though most seem appropriate to the story.

One scene that takes place late in the film was surprisingly moving. It occurs when one of the members from The Second Chance shows the love of Jesus in a very literal way. I found myself (and heard many others) getting choked up.

Pastor Jake’s message is that the Church must do more for the poor than simply “roll down the window and throw a check out”. This is a message rarely told in church, and rarely ever in Christian film.

Many of the movie’s sub-plots involving the “hood” go unresolved, but maybe Taylor didn’t want to wrap things up nicely. I know after the film I found myself discussing those plots with others and, in turn, discussing larger issues as well. Good art can do that. The Second Chance does that. Go see it. And let’s hope this isn’t the last film we see from Taylor and the rest.