In response to SandmanJazz’s 30 Day Film Challenge today, to wit, a film that inspired you, I like his repartee to the prompt: “Inspired me to what?🤣”
Exactly.
Inspired me to what?
And that made me think of a movie I saw just in the last month on Amazon Prime: Healing River (2020), written & directed by Mitch Teemley. It’s a religious drama borne out of sudden tragedy. I hesitate to call it “religious” because that brings to mind the Hallmark pablum variety. This is more of a drama in the vein of Mike Nichols’s directorial debut, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966). Although it’s no black comedy, Healing River socks it to you with its fluid cinematography, character psychology, acerbic, no-holds barred dialogue and – here’s where the inspiration comes from – brutal honesty about what it means to be a Christian.
It’s the confrontation of belief and reality that hooks into you and holds you long after the movie fades. And it does inspire me. As a Christian I believe as Samuel Davies who wrote in the 18th c.:
Great God of wonders! All Thy ways
Are matchless, Godlike and divine;
But the fair glories of Thy grace
More godlike and unrivaled shine,
More godlike and unrivaled shine.Crimes of such horror to forgive,
Such guilty, daring worms to spare;
This is Thy grand prerogative,
And none shall in the honor share,Who is a pardoning God like Thee?
Or who has grace so rich and free?
Or who has grace so rich and free?
Yet even as in faith I am a forgiven sinner, it is demanded of me that I forgive as freely as the God who has forgiven me, living in the light of His grace, His love shed abroad in my heart.
Not such an easy thing to do in this world, in the flesh, without the constant, undying divine help of God when we turn to him in the agony of our pain, our disbelief, our shame, and our guilt.
And did I mention that as in the Nichols film, the acting deserves an IMHO-ten-star movie rating? It does. Even Billy Chace, who plays the baliff & gets just a few minutes of screen time, delivers a memorable comedic performance. And yes, there’s more than a few smiles in this masterful film. 👍
This Jolly Beggar 
I’m honored, Dorah, and appreciate your insights, as well. I’ll probably reblog this sometime soon, if that’s OK with you.
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P.S. Just noticed you spell Dora both with and without an H, but it appears you usually skip the H. Right?
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When I spell it with an “h” it’s just whimsy, really, jamming my middle initial with my first name! I answer to both 🙂
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Of course! 😊 It’s a truly wonderful movie and I’m glad to have every opportunity to encourage folks to see it. I should also warn them to bring a tissue or two 😉
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Aw, thank you! Btw, it was great getting to know your husband (and favorite novelist ;>) on the phone the other day.
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He’s the light of my life and he was so happy to make your acquaintance! Thank you!
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Reblogged this on Mitch Teemley and commented:
My Featured Blogger this week is Dora A.K. of The Jolly Beggar and its sister site Dreams From a Pilgrim. I only recently began following Dora, but already both of her sites are among my favorites. In Beggar, Dora writes about more current topics (but always with an eye to the eternal). And in Pilgrim she writes a bit more about her own spiritual journey. She never fails to make me ruminate on things that matter, and never fails to hold my attention. The woman writes well!
In this case, I admit, she’s written on a subject close to my heart, my own recently-released feature film Healing River, so, I admit, this a bit of twofer. But she was due to be Featured anyway.
Visit both of her blog sites and you’ll see why!
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Thank you, Mitch. Your words mean a lot to me. 😊
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The honor is mine, Dora!
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Thanks for reblogging this Mitch. That’s how I got to see it.
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Well done Dora. Thank you for your effort on this post.
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So sweet of you! God bless.
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I loved this movie, too. You did a great job of summing up the uniqueness and appeal of it. It is an unapologetic Christian witness, but with real power and relevance. Thanks, Mitch, for introducing us to Dora.
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Thank you so much, Rev. Russ. It’s easy to write about the things you like and I really got into this movie. So many things to chew on and I don’t just mean the popcorn 🍿😃
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