Three films based on true stories are opening this weekend but the question you’ll have to ask yourself is what will you see. Are you looking for non-stop action in Killer Elite, an administrative game changing story in Moneyball, or a violent humanitarian flick called Machine Gun Preacher. I have no doubt that all three are worth seeing but from what I have seen, Machine Gun Preacher is probably the one that can appeal to the widest audience simply due to its subject matter and the way it is told (despite its R rating).
Machine Gun Preacher tells the story of Sam Childers (Gerard Butler), a violent, drug addicted hillbilly from Pennsylvania who, after murdering a man, is baptized and becomes born again. With a new outlook on life, Childers makes the decision to go to East Africa and rebuild homes. While on a weekend trip to war-torn Sudan to learn about the current situation, he see the despicable horrors that are occurring, especially to the children of the regio, and decides that he must do whatever he can to help. Making trips back and forth from Pennsylvania to Sudan, Sam not only builds a shelter to protect, feed and heal the abandoned or orphaned children, he also leads missions deep into enemy territory to find others who have been kidnapped by the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) and kills any that get in his way. This story chronicles the wild life of Sam Childers as he struggles to keep his family together, raise money for his humanitarian work, and stay alive while trying to protect and save the children of war torn Sudan.
Marc Forster’s latest endeavor is definitely a rollercoaster ride of a film. It was made with the purpose of highlighting the struggles of an emotionally torn man and his relationship with others. Tack on his forced responsibility of saving African children from being kidnapped and/or slaughtered and you’ve got yourself a man with pressure coming in from all different angles. Surprisingly, Gerard Butler delivers a solid performance as the white preacher, carrying much of the film on his own through his actions and powerful presence. He is nearly seamless when his attitude on life shifts from bad to good to judgmental and back to good again. This is a film that actually allowed him to act whereas his other films it wasn’t necessarily a requirement, since they were either romance based or strictly based on action.
As for the other actors of the film, Michelle Monaghan, Kathy Baker and Madeline Carroll did very well as the wife, mother and daughter respectively. Souleymane Sy Savane also did a good job as Deng, Childers partner in Africa, but in the end Michael Shannon steals the show whenever he is on the screen. The man plays Childers’ drug addicted best friend, Donnie, who also tries to clean himself up after Sam builds a church for misfits like himself.
When you look outside the main characters and soak in everything else about the film, it is safe to say that it is brutal and realistic. There are definitely a few Hollywood moments but other than that I feel this flick does a great job of bringing out the desperate nature of forgotten travesties that are occurring thousands of miles away. The opening scene is heart wrenching and there are other scenes that are just plain brutal and very graphic. Marc Forster doesn’t hold back much and that’s why the movie feels a little more authentic than one would expect.
The one aspect of the film that I wish was explored more, and it needed to be, was Childers’ relationship with his wife and daughter. It is clear that he loves them but when he starts focusing more on the children of Africa than his own family, we only get bits and pieces of how their relationships are changing, especially as Childers grows angrier and more violent. Also, a deeper understanding of his relationship with Donnie could have provided a bit more insight into Donnie’s own struggles.
If you ask me, Sam Childers is an inspiration to us all. He is the kind of guy that I believe many of us want to be but are too afraid to take the plunge and sacrifice ourselves and our way of life. Machine Gun Preacher gives us an idea of what to expect if we decide to take that plunge but it also shows us that in the end, the benefits significantly outweigh any cons you can think of. It may not be the best film becasue of its inability to fully engage the audience, but Machine Gun Preacher is a film worth seeing merely to learn about a remarkable individual who changed his life and helped save hundreds of others.
Rating: An honest and inspiring tale with decent storytelling and pretty good performances (5.7/10)
P.S. Be sure to watch the real life footage in the credits, it’s pretty amazing to see the Sam Childers in action
P.S.S. Chris Cornell wrote a song for the film called The Keeper. You can listen to it below as it’s a pretty good song.
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