Where I Watched It: Netflix

English Audio Description?: No

I’m certain that audiences of faith based films don’t care what critics have to say. rarely do the audiences really ever, unless something looks sketchy and is getting either dreadful reviews, or if something is just beloved by everyone who has seen it. I have seen faith based cinema that is a steaming pile of dog shit just asking for money to be thrown at it, and using people’s religion as a way to make a buck, and some attempts at rather decent storytelling. Jesus Revolution is surprisingly the latter of the the two, though I’ll tell you my grade is still going to be one that won’t impress you. But my grade is based on something completely different.

First off, kudos to the kid from Super 8 for continuing his film career, even if he does feel somewhat pointless. Also, nice to see Kimberly Williams Paisley again. Soon, she should be able to do her own Father of The Bride as I’m sure her kids would be getting married by now. But, I really enjoyed Kelsey Grammer here, who despite the fact that I know we disagree on politics a lot, is still someone I love when they are on screen, much like Tim Allen. Grammer brings a lot of gravitas to the role of a pastor who sees the times, they are a changing, and at the perfect moment in his life comes Lonnie Frisbee (played by Jesus).

The thing here that I’d like to say to those who expect me to bash this film is we have to always go based on the merits. i have no desire to see Sound of Freedom, and while the audience is obnoxiously running around social media like every word that happened was true, it’s not. But that’s OK. I wish both sides could see that. I’ve seen similar criticism of the character of Lonnie Frisbee here not being correctly portrayed as historically accurate. No one ever is. We only ever seem to attack the films that are made by people we don’t like, and that’s not a fair comparison.

Do you remember the adorable and critically acclaimed film Fly Away home? it was based on a true story as well, and even adapted from the novel called Father Goose. The film starred Jeff Daniels and Anna Paquin as a father daughter duo who created this light flying craft that would help these Canadian geese migrate. The problem? Anna Paquin’s character doesn’t exist. They just wanted to make it a family friendly story so they added a child protagonist. Films that are not made by Christian or Right Wing filmmakers manipulate the true story ALL THE TIME. This is not some new phenomenon. At least be consistent, and make a hundred YouTube videos tearing apart every single inaccuracy in every “based on A True Story”.

This film is surprisingly fine. It wasn’t any more or less than something like Heaven is For Real or Miracles From Heaven or Breakthrough. It’s not overly preachy, and it is well made. However, it also lacks audio description, which directly impacts my ability to fully embrace this, or even understand the whole project. There are several scenes with sparse dialogue or none at all, and some action type scenes where I wasn’t sure what happened. I also would have really appreciated description of how people looked, because my favorite part was when the hippies start coming to church, and the stuffy people want them thrown out because of what they’re wearing. In my personal life, it’s that kind of BS that keeps me away from religion altogether, because it seems like once too many people get together to talk about a supreme power, they end up deciding on things like what that supreme power wants us to wear. Silly.

If you are sighted, and you enjoyed the more mainstream faith based films I already listed, i see no reason you would not enjoy this. It is not underfunded, the acting is solid, and from what I can guess, I’d probably land it around a B. Sadly, Netflix is running this exclusively right now and without audio description.

Final Grade: unwatchable