Normally a movie review would be an analysis of the plot and a critique of its technical achievements but documentaries such as this that have a strong agenda are more difficult to review in that sense because the technical aspects shouldn't have to bother you (at least that much) if the body of content is otherwise solid. But since everything has to start somewhere, I'll start with the technicalities.
This film gives out a terribly cheap impression. Ah, the fake beards, which I am not the first one to notice. The wardrobe looks like it is borrowed from the local theater. The props borrowed from your Comic-Con-attending cos-playing geek friend circulate from one actor to another. Ze acting wiz ze accents is ach zo terrible, with awkward lines and pauses of silences leaving the actors just swaying and staring. The score is heavy-handed, non- nuanced and annoying, consisting of pretty much a sequence of computer- assisted (Kontakt, EWQL, yay!) cheap orchestral instrumental songs without any theme or thought process behind it. The sound effects and visual effects are repetitive and dated. The few places where foley sound is actually used, they stand out and not in a good way.
The basic premise of this film is that the reformation gave us a perverted gospel. The reformers, being products of their time and culture, were anti- Semites and failed to break Christianity free from it's heritage of anti- semitism. The body of Christ is in a state of spiritual inferiority, deceived by Satan the devil himself, unless it recognizes that the modern state of Israel is a continuation of the old testament nation of Israel and that there is a corporate salvation plan (in contrast to the Christian individual salvation in having personal faith in Jesus) that applies to the Jews as if that had been the case in the Old Testament. The resulting low state of the church is the reason for the apparent decline of Christianity. All this is the result of a history study by the film's narrator Derek Frank, who was prompted to study these issues by an alleged revelation from God.
The film states for instance that since the effects of the reformation did not last in Geneva for more than 150 years, it was because of the anti- semitism. Perhaps we can discount the Apostles and God himself too on that very basis. The church is also rebuked for "gentilizing" names of biblical characters, such as Yeshua as Jesus. Towards the end Jonathan Bernis and Mark Biltz totally ignore how Jesus applies Isaiah 49:6 to himself in John 8:12.
Thus if you can not see how a totally secular nation, whose existence is not built upon the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, is the light to the world, you are blinded by the devil and all of this is true because of some vision. Right.
The film so wants to be big, epic, grandiose, influential and the next big thing. The pompous tone itself is enough to discount the whole premise of the film. In that sense I am relieved, because a traditional documentary film with expert interviews and a transparent narrator would have communicated so much more believably a stance which I do not hold as biblical. Heresy is fine by me as long as the style of presentation is as laughable as this.
That being said, I sense that (unless I live in a bubble, which may very well be) if this had been the mega success the producers had hoped it to be, I would have heard of it earlier. Still, I am expecting this to surface in Finland at some point. It will probably be broadcasted via TV7, the Finnish TBN equivalent. At that point everybody and everybody's best friend will be raving about how insightful this sorry excuse of a theological study is, because in Finland every believer is expected to be an Israel nut. Thus my life as the (probably) only Calvinist in my home town is going to get harder.
This film gives out a terribly cheap impression. Ah, the fake beards, which I am not the first one to notice. The wardrobe looks like it is borrowed from the local theater. The props borrowed from your Comic-Con-attending cos-playing geek friend circulate from one actor to another. Ze acting wiz ze accents is ach zo terrible, with awkward lines and pauses of silences leaving the actors just swaying and staring. The score is heavy-handed, non- nuanced and annoying, consisting of pretty much a sequence of computer- assisted (Kontakt, EWQL, yay!) cheap orchestral instrumental songs without any theme or thought process behind it. The sound effects and visual effects are repetitive and dated. The few places where foley sound is actually used, they stand out and not in a good way.
The basic premise of this film is that the reformation gave us a perverted gospel. The reformers, being products of their time and culture, were anti- Semites and failed to break Christianity free from it's heritage of anti- semitism. The body of Christ is in a state of spiritual inferiority, deceived by Satan the devil himself, unless it recognizes that the modern state of Israel is a continuation of the old testament nation of Israel and that there is a corporate salvation plan (in contrast to the Christian individual salvation in having personal faith in Jesus) that applies to the Jews as if that had been the case in the Old Testament. The resulting low state of the church is the reason for the apparent decline of Christianity. All this is the result of a history study by the film's narrator Derek Frank, who was prompted to study these issues by an alleged revelation from God.
The film states for instance that since the effects of the reformation did not last in Geneva for more than 150 years, it was because of the anti- semitism. Perhaps we can discount the Apostles and God himself too on that very basis. The church is also rebuked for "gentilizing" names of biblical characters, such as Yeshua as Jesus. Towards the end Jonathan Bernis and Mark Biltz totally ignore how Jesus applies Isaiah 49:6 to himself in John 8:12.
Thus if you can not see how a totally secular nation, whose existence is not built upon the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, is the light to the world, you are blinded by the devil and all of this is true because of some vision. Right.
The film so wants to be big, epic, grandiose, influential and the next big thing. The pompous tone itself is enough to discount the whole premise of the film. In that sense I am relieved, because a traditional documentary film with expert interviews and a transparent narrator would have communicated so much more believably a stance which I do not hold as biblical. Heresy is fine by me as long as the style of presentation is as laughable as this.
That being said, I sense that (unless I live in a bubble, which may very well be) if this had been the mega success the producers had hoped it to be, I would have heard of it earlier. Still, I am expecting this to surface in Finland at some point. It will probably be broadcasted via TV7, the Finnish TBN equivalent. At that point everybody and everybody's best friend will be raving about how insightful this sorry excuse of a theological study is, because in Finland every believer is expected to be an Israel nut. Thus my life as the (probably) only Calvinist in my home town is going to get harder.