Review of Ragamuffin (2014) by Jon D — 16 Jun 2014

I didn't really start listening to Rich Mullins until The World as Best as I Remember It. Then suddenly I discovered I had a strange addiction to replaying these two albums (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2). I found myself lost in both his musical nuances as well as his lyrical poetry. And of particular note his delight in God's glory showing itself in Earth's simple yet beautiful nature rang both simplistic and delightful. As Rich released more albums I took note that he was really quite distracted by the blessedness of being broken man before a loving Abba father. The whole "ragamuffin" theme that showed up multiple albums strong with him and his "ragamuffin band" had me scratching my head, but eventually I studied the CD inserts and the lyrics and made some limited sense of it. This movie apparently aims to clarify. Rich was apparently a profoundly broken individual. And it's in that brokenness that God's love is found to be so profound.

What did I think of the movie? For the most part, it was what I expected it to be, based on the trailers and the other comments. I say "for the most part" because there were some surprises, most of which were a little disappointing. First of all I felt that the story was just painfully depressing. It was as if Rich had no sense of Spirit-given joy in his life whatsoever. But I know that's not true. I think this movie represented only one side of Rich that honestly paints an incomplete picture of how a real "hero"--a broken Christian--comes to fully discover and know and richly understand the wonder of God's love. For being about 30 minutes too long I felt, it seemed disappointing that Rich's problems and emotional pain took 90% of the movie.

I also had some frustrations with some of the technical issues. Being an amateur/hobbyist video editor, I noticed some bizarre warp stabilizer warping going on as soon as the movie began. There were also some darkly lit scenes that frankly should have been fully lit and made darker in post, or else use some other cameras. As characters moved around the screen in these dark scenes they'd leave a ghost trail almost like 80s VHS and CRT. This had me really surprised when I saw the "making of" video show them using Red cameras.

The acting was good, though. Not amazing. This is not a Hollylwood blockbuster movie with Hollywood greats on the set. But for a budget film, the acting was solid.

And for the most part, the story was solid, too. It made its point(s) well enough. There were a couple deleted scenes I'm not sure should have been deleted, but if you do buy this DVD you should watch the deleted scenes, that's all I can say. Overall, this is a very good story with a very good message that imperfect, broken people can relate to. And for once, this movie shows hope for the brokenness. Death in the end comes across like triumph. But then again, that's only because I know the backstory, and listened to the whole "When I go I want to go out like Elijah" song. Those who don't know, might miss it, and grieve in the end instead of celebrate.