Faith-based films have recently experienced something of a renaissance, gaining ground not only in terms of commercial viability, but also in terms of artistic credibility. Certainly, the bar was low. Most of these films still aren’t great; they’re just better than we expected.
Unfortunately, the latest holiday film in the religious genre sets the genre back in a big way. Trip to Bethlehem could still find an audience, in part because of low competition due to the ongoing actors’ strike. But even for the public looking for a friendly family meal at the multiplex, Journey will probably be disappointing. And for critics like me who have long called for more confessional entertainment that doesn’t leave the audience cringing, Journey is not only disappointing; it’s demoralizing.
“High School Musical” meets the director
It’s easy to imagine the pitch meeting for Trip to Bethlehem (distributed by Sony Affirm films):
Imagine the Nativity story done in the teen musical style of Joy Or High school musical. There’s romance, family tension, a flashy villain, visits from supernatural angels, comic relief (a sort of three-man rendition of the Magi), and song and dance numbers. spectacularly choreographed! It’s a “Christmas musical adventure for the whole family.”
The story of Christmas being already so linked in our cultural imagination to music and theatrical performances (Christmas carol concerts, extravagantly produced church cantatas), the green light for a new musical interpretation of the birth of Jesus is not difficult to understand.
Journey also has other marketing advantages. The film’s cast includes CCM stars in the lead roles (rapper Lecrae plays the angel Gabriel, and For king and countryby Joel Smallbone plays Antipater, Herod’s eldest son). An Oscar nominee plays Herod (Antonio Banderas). The film is directed and co-written by Adam Anders, a Grammy-nominated music producer who has worked as executive music producer for Joy. His co-writer is Peter Barsocchini, who wrote the screenplays for High school musical movies.
The narrative and musical brains of High school musical And Joy plus some big names from CCM and the greatest source of all time (the Bible). With a recipe like this, what could go wrong?
Jesus and Jazz Hands
JourneyThe problem is the same one that plagues the over-the-top church Christmas parties that abound at megachurches in December.
Often, the addition of dramatic green and red lighting, ornate choreography, theatrical maximalism, and Bob Fosse brilliance does not enhance the wondrous mystery of Christ’s incarnation; this diminishes it. This well-intentioned outreach to invite people to experience biblical history through spectacular entertainment often has the negative effect of undermining an expansive, world-shaking, mind-blowing, mystery magnum to just another fun “content” to comfortably consume (and perhaps be vaguely inspired by) during the holiday season, between eggnog lattes and The Great British Pastry Show.
A truly meaningful “trip” to Bethlehem should shock us away from the hustle and bustle of the holiday, in all its noisy consumerism and overloaded reverie, taking us to a more contemplative place outside of time, away from the familiar and beyond. above the daily plan. disorder and kitsch.
Cinema has the power to do this, and faith-based filmmakers are right to pursue this transcendental potential. But Journey does not offer audiences an escape from the noise of contemporary culture for an encounter with sacred truth. If anything, it adds to the noise – and at high decibels.
Anachronisms and dull obscurity
Aside from the period costumes and sets and the audience’s vague awareness that the story unfolding on screen would take place 2,000 years ago, largely in Journey has repercussions on Western values of the 21st century.
I doubt there were any female soldiers guarding Herod’s royal palace, for example, but there are in this movie. Because representation matters! And I doubt that Jewish girls in first century Palestine would have said things like “Faith is believing what you know in your heart to be true,” but they say things like that in this movie. Because follow your heart!
Journey does not offer audiences an escape from the noise of contemporary culture for an encounter with sacred truth. If anything, it adds to the noise – and at high decibels.
In the same way as the anachronistic pop music in the films of Baz Luhrmann (Elvis, Moulin Rouge) reflexively reinforces the film’s artifice – essentially excusing the film (and the audience) from any commitment to historical verisimilitude – the anachronistic feeling of Journey distances us from the true biblical events it ostensibly describes.
From their firstmeet-cute“scene in a street market to their required ballad ‘falling in love’ (“Can we make this work“) until they ride off into the sunset together, Mary and Joseph (played by Fiona Palomo and Milo Manheim) essentially follow a Hallmark holiday rom-com script. Their personal dreams and aspirations (Mary dreams of becoming a teacher, for example) are at odds with the realities that push them together into a union that will change the history they were not seeking. Yet they find love and embrace an unforeseen future together, in a sweet, crowd-pleasing way.
Speaking of pleasing the audience, the film omits a key element of the Nativity story that is decidedly not family-friendly: Herod’s slaughter of the innocents (Matt. 2:16-18). We see Mary, Joseph, and Jesus leaving in a chariot at the end, but they are bathed in the light of a golden hour with smiles on their faces. We’re left with the catchy, heart-pounding lyrics of a feel-good finale song, “A whole new life“, at the end of the film. We are far from “refugee king» drama and “great mourning” which characterize the story of the Gospel of Matthew (2: 13-18).
Yes, the Nativity story is hopeful, joyful and uplifting. But it is a hope and a joy that uplifts us because the starting point is so dark. Hope is all the more exciting as the world is weary. The light shines so brightly because it shines in the darkness (John 1:5).
Light that shines in deep darkness
The darkness is quite attenuated Trip to Bethlehem. The film is joyous and bright from start to finish (even Herod’s anthem of wicked power, “It’s good to be king“, is a fun and flamboyant adventure), so that the arrival of Christ seems less like a shocking intrusion of light into the terrible darkness and more like a dimmer turning up a little brightness in an already lit room.
Glittery Christmas glasses like Journey remind me why one of my usual December disappointments is the Christmas Eve candlelight service in a church that takes place with the house lights still on, but dimmed. The beauty of a candlelight moment is that the starting point is complete, frightening darkness, so that lighting the first candle – and then all the candles in the room – visually dramatizes the light overcoming the darkness. The power of imagery is lost when the starting point is an already lit room.
The same goes for Christian art, whether music, films, novels, or visual works. If the goal is to give audiences a glimpse of the unprecedented hope of Christ and the overflowing abundance of God’s love, it is difficult to do so in a limited register of warm tones, major chords and good vibes only.
If the goal is to give audiences a glimpse of the unprecedented hope of Christ and the overflowing abundance of God’s love, it is difficult to do so in a limited register of warm tones, major chords and good vibes only.
The torrent of abundance is most glorious when we have felt the scourge of scarcity. If we are trying to communicate the message of a bright and sudden intrusion of great light into darkness (Isaiah 9:2), it is difficult to do so in an environment where darkness is minimized or confined to the safety of a Disney movie. -Caricature style villain.
Is the movie musical a genre like this? Not necessarily. There are many examples that honestly tackle real darkness and the gravest human suffering, while entertaining and inspiring the audience to hope (e.g. Wretched). But it’s difficult to achieve, and a Christian artist who adapts the Bible into the form of a theatrical musical must exercise caution.
Support and message
Beyond films like Trip to Bethlehemit is always valuable for Christians to remember how vital it is AVERAGE is in the effective communication of a message. We see this in the various “messages” given to the characters in the biblical Nativity story. God’s message to Mary in Luke 1:26-38 would have been different if He had chosen to communicate it through a human messenger rather than a supernatural messenger angel (Gabriel). The medium mattered.
Same with the shepherds in Luke 2:8-20. If God had simply sent another shepherd with the message of “good news of great joy,” it might not have been taken seriously. God’s chosen medium – a fearsome angel and “a multitude of the heavenly host” – mattered. And of course, the incarnation he himself proves it. God did not take the form of a ghostly apparition or some sort of alien creature. He took the form of a human man – the Word made flesh (John 1:14). The medium mattered.
In the same way, let’s consider the medium when approaching ministry and Christian storytelling. Is a smartphone app an acceptable medium for a religious service? Is Twitter a fruitful medium for theological discourse? Is the musical an effective genre for communicating biblical truth? While it may be an exaggeration to say that the answer is a definitive no in each of these examples, it is not it’s a stretch to say we should at least ask the questions.
