Summary
Summary
A High School Basketball coach at a struggling private Christian high school is forced to coach the Cross Country team as well as adjust his understanding of success, meaning, and faith.
Context
If you frequent True Myth Media then you know that I am not a fan of Christian films. Well, a certain brand of Christian film. One of my areas of interest is to see Christian film get better and grow into a legitimate art form rather than co-opted into a glorified gospel tract or propaganda.
Whenever I sit down to one of these movies, I brace myself because I know what I may be getting myself in for but I also hope that I may be about to see one of those rare exceptions where a Christian film actually gets it right.
The Film
If you just glance at the star rating I gave this film, you might assume that this film is a classic example of the gospel-tract Christian wish fulfillment fantasy genre I referred to above. You would be right. Sort of.
I expect your average reviewer would see it the same way but if they’ve watched as many of these Kendrick Brother, PureFlix, and church funded productions as I have, they would have to admit that this film is a step ahead of the pack.
On its surface, this movie seems like standard Christian Film fare. To be sure it has more than its share of conversion or prayer scenes and conversations which amount to mini-sermons but as I watched it, I found something I didn’t expect.
The principle protagonist of this film is a basketball coach named John (Alex Kendrick, “Courageous”). His team is primed to take the championship next year when the local manufacturing plant shuts down leaving many of the parents of his players without work. As his team is whittled away, by families moving, his championship dreams crumble and his cries for sympathy fall on deaf ears as the community and private Christian school he works at struggle to weather the financial storm themselves.
During this time of leaning out the school, John is forced to begin coaching the Girls Cross Country Team despite the fact that there is only one runner on the team. This seems like a waste of time to John but after a chance encounter with an aging runner, he gets some pointers and decides to do his best to help the student.
I spend so much time focusing on John in this review because I expect people watching this movie would not care for this protagonist for several reasons. The first is that he is a privileged white male who no one wants to listen to. Not very sympathetic, right? The second is that both the student he is coaching and the aging runner he meets are African American. Nothing like a movie about a white savior saving a black girl by using knowledge he got from the wise old black man, right? Ooof. What a double whammy of insensitive.
Thing is, by the end of the movie I didn’t mind. In fact, I think this is one of the strengths of this film. This movie is made for Christians and has a real feel of the midwest to it. There aren’t a ton of African Americans in it but since he works at a well off Christian private school, that sort of makes sense. Also, over the course of the movie, anyone watching this film would see this white guy pouting about his team, not wanting to help a student, and eventually use his privilege to help those same characters remove barriers in their lives, not by fixing the problem, but allowing the solution to flow around himself and be the work of others.
In some ways, this is an anti-white savior film. This is not to say that it is well written. It is horribly written and acted on almost every level. I kept saying to myself, “I think I might actually like this movie” at points but then I’d have to walk back that statement within a few seconds because of some heavy handed dialogue. At one point I almost believed that the film was going to end without wrapping everything with a ‘they-all-got-saved-and-lived-happily-ever-after’ bow. Alas, that is how it ends.
As much as this movie disappointed me, however, it also surpassed my expectations. I found myself thinking of the audience for a movie like “God’s Not Dead” and couldn’t help hoping that some of those people would see this movie. They would find a film that encouraged them to not cling to their privilege and use it, instead, to help others, even those who are different than the people they were imagining they would end up helping.
On top of that, this film speaks their language. It speaks of Christ’s work to give us identity that is deeper than our identity as a coach, a teacher, or even American. It encourages people to not be so hung up on their own assessments of people’s value and see them as Christ does. This is the impetus for change in “Overcomer.” I can think of so many people from my past that I would not be sad at all to show this movie to in the hopes that they would see the need that many people have for advocates who are willing to go above and beyond to help others not because it is going to get them a championship ring or some free coaching advice but because they are people and God loves all people.
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