Review of Machine Gun Preacher (2011) by Dawdlingpoet — 27 Nov 2021

This film is a fairly standard action film, only with a moral angle to it and I felt a bit torn about how sincere it was, or wanted to be viewed. I have nothing against the main character, played by Gerard Butler, he certainly seems to have his heart in the right place and it was, if anything, I suppose, reassuring to see someone with a chequered past care so much about the children forced to be in the middle of a violent/bloody conflict in Africa but I couldn't help but feel that somehow it still was a bit disingenuous. Of course I must mention that its based on a true story, that of Sam Childers, who was a former armed drug dealer in America and who became religious and ended up in Africa wanting to protect the kids, which is a nice story I suppose. I guess it comes down to the age old saying 'truth is stranger than fiction' but then also the saying, as noted (I beloeve) in the Bible 'No one is beyond redemption' also applies. Its an optimistic and nice message, sure enough and the film is certainly watchable - a fairly gripping watch at times and entertaining but the dichotomy between the scenes set in church with sermons being spoken and the bloody action/war/violence scenes, it felt a little uncomfortable I suppose. Thats not to say I don't give money to charity, generally at certain times of the year and after natural disasters and the like but it just felt perhaps a little uncomfortable viewing - a bit tacky somehow, even though its an important story to be told and its an important message.

Butler does give a particularly good portrayal as Sam Childers, coming across as passionate about the Sudanese. Michelle Monaghan also does a good job portraying his wife, Lynn. Its a good film, an interesting story and its worth seeing but if the story doesn't appeal then, obviously, it wouldn't be for you - i.e. if you think organised religion is a complete con or if you believe that we in the west should stay out of the issues in other continents (i.e. Africa) and that sort of thing then this won't be for you but that sort of thing aside, its a good watch. A thought provoking film I'd somewhat cautiously recommend, yes.