Review of Come Sunday (2018) by John D — 29 Apr 2018

This is a hard movie to recommend without reservation. Casual viewers, and especially people with no investment in religious faith, may find it difficult to locate the dramatic resonance. But as a progressive Christian and a member of the LGBTQ community I rejoice in the message of this film.

Its most striking quality is its fairness. No party in the central debate is needlessly demonized. This gives the narrative a potent and visceral truth. Ejiofor in particular depicts an inner wrestling, an interiority, that draws the viewer in.

The (true) story deals with a well known African American Pentecostal preacher who puts his life and his ministry on the line when he decides to reject the doctrine of Hell. Later, he confronts a number of other long-held beliefs, including the proscription of gay relations.

Without Netflix I don't know how this film would have managed to find an audience, but here it is: a nuanced exploration of faith that transcends our current cultural ravings over religion. The real Bishop Pearson is a vocal critic of our pseudo-evangelical 45th president, a man who is functionally an atheist by every measure, yet who is embraced by the figures that declared Pearson a heretic.

Pearson, as depicted here, has a pathological need for popularity almost as acute as the current leader of the free world, but unlike that individual Pearson has an overriding interest in truth that renders the former obsolete.

The film ends with a quiet baptism, a moment of grace well earned by all that precedes it.