[yasr_overall_rating]
An investigative journalist and self-proclaimed atheist sets out to disprove the existence of God after his wife becomes a Christian.
“The Case for Christ” is a movie about finding faith, based on a true story. Unlike other Christian movies, the budget for this hit was high enough to create a worthwhile film from an ascetics point of view. Mike Vogel and Erika Christensen manage to create a perfect balance of tension and unconditional love. I felt like I was watching a major motion picture instead of a made for TV movie on the Hallmark channel. I cannot understand why Pureflix did not utilize the media to spread the word about this movie to the whole nation. I didn’t hear about “The Case for Christ” until the film had been in the theater for three weeks. Here is the premise:
Lee was a celebrated investigative journalist working at the Chicago Tribune back in the ’80s, while his heavily pregnant wife Leslie stays home with their young daughter, Alison. When out celebrating a new promotion for Lee, Alison gets a gumball and chokes on the candy. A nearby nurse manages to force the gum out, saving the young girl’s life. Before leaving, nurse Alfie tells Leslie she had meant to go to a different restaurant, but God made her go to this one because He wanted her there, and now she knows why: to save Alison and reach Leslie’s heart. Alfie’s confession leads Leslie to try and understand God’s love, which is often the case under trial or pressure.
Leslie attends church with Alfie before making a commitment accepting Jesus as her savior. When she attempts to talk to her husband about her decision to follow Christ, Lee becomes enraged by this new dynamic interrupting their marriage and lives. No longer is he the only man in her life, but he has to share the spotlight with a man whose validity is unproven in Lee’s mind. Feeling his wife slip away from their comfortable non-theistic world, Lee sets out to save her from the uneducated and grave mistake of accepting Jesus as her savior by proving God is not real. With the help of a Christian coworker, Lee decides to tackle, proving the validity of Jesus’s resurrection, which if he proves, would dismantle the entire Christian foundation. Meanwhile, he follows a case about a man accused of shooting a cop. Lee finds some dirt on James Hicks, the cop shooter, and accuses him of being both an informant before seeking to put the man behind bars. As an investigative reporter, facts and truth are always more realistic and provoking than faith, which this article he works on sets out to prove.
Meanwhile, tensions rise between Leslie and Lee as she leaves reminders of her new faith around the house, and Lee is constantly drinking or pulling away from the family. Having spent all his free time researching the resurrection, Lee has little time to spend with his family or focusing on his job. His obsession to prove Jesus as a fairytale hero leads him to archaeologists, doctors, psychologists, priests, and other experts on the materials available from two thousand years ago about Jesus and his miraculous resurrection.
When their son is born, Leslie and Lee manage to come together to celebrate. Leslie even manages to drag Lee to church, where he tries to convince Alfie not to continue brainwashing his family. When his parents come over to see their new grandson Kyle, the rocky relationship between Lee and his father is cast into light showing why he needs so much attention from his family. Not long after, Lee is forced to come to terms with the relationship with his father, while learning what he thought he saw was not the complete truth. His research also leads him down unexpected roads, and answers, as he seeks to keep his family intact on his terms, and not on God’s terms. The problem with his research is it proves him wrong, no matter how many theories he comes up with to prove God is a giant fairytale spreading from one generation to the next to make people feel comfortable.
The evidence gathered by Lee to sway atheists and agnostics is compelling. The script manages to avoid theatrics and overacting and just presents the facts of the Strobel family, and of God. No convoluted theories as to why God would offer His Son as a sacrifice, or why Jesus would be willing; no over-telling or exaggerated emotions to play with the hearts of the audience. Just a simple story of a man seeking the truth while maintaining the relationships he holds so dear. The simplicity of the plot and allowing the facts to be strong enough on their own, is the beauty of this film. Solid acting and a true story, not overly-embellished will make this movie a timeless classic, which will hopefully achieve its goal: helping people to look at the evidence before denying Christ. “The Case for Christ” is a must watch and is available in theaters now.
Now playing in select theaters
