Review of Machine Gun Preacher (2011) by Roy Hector K — 02 Nov 2012

First, be forewarned: This is a relatively long movie at 2 hours, 40 minutes of running time. The first 40 minutes deal with Sam Childer's life starting from his release from prison. Pacing here is a bit slow, and to make matter worst, it tries to cram a couple of years worth of Childer's life into those 40 minutes.

The movie picks up though when he finally gets to Sudan, and sustains a good pace to the end of the movie. The movie is important because it shows the struggles of the Sudanese people in their decades-long civil war, with the children bearing the full brunt of the war, suffering atrocities that are almost unimaginable, making Sudan a pretty close approximation of hell, with LRA leader Joseph Kony (responsible for these atrocities) as Satan himself.

The movie also deals with how Childers was affected by the war, and the contrasts between the hellish life in Sudan to the more mundane concerns of the first world. Characterization of the main character is pretty good, but the not the rest of the cast. But this is mainly due to trying to cram as much details about Childer's life in Sudan into a single movie. There just isn't enough time to do so. If this were a mini-series, maybe, but not with a movie.

Overall, still a pretty good movie to watch, if only for the message it brings and the decent storytelling done to relay that message. Very highly recommended.