There's no way to give a warning on this.....but I kind of wish that I had one all the same. The film only has a two day showing....two days ago.....Thursday....and today. So it's too late now....but if it does come back....I would give this warning.....prepare to be shredded....in your innermost Christian being. It is that powerful! It is a two and a half hour film.....of a play....staged in front of an audience.....in Nashville.
There is something about theater....about the stage....that a film cannot duplicate....unless it's a film of a stage play....on the wide screen....then you have an enhanced stage play....not in all respects....but in certain respects....such as a closeup of a face that is twice the size of your body.
Any Christian of a few decades or more.....hopefully less....but probably not....is familiar with Corrie Ten Boom. This was 1980s Christianity folks....before we got so smart....but it is also Ephesus.....and that of our first love....that we must go back to!
Many of us still have the DVD somewhere in the house of the 1975 Billy Graham film of the same name....The Hiding Place....with Arthur O'Connell as the father Ten Boom....and Julie Harris as Betsie....and Jeannette Clift as Corrie. I have the VHS....which my wife....the President of the Worldwide Anti-hoarders fanatics....is only aware of as of now in reading this. She'll never find it.
Whoever this A. S. Peterson is.....(I don't expect any offers to write movie reviews)....it was a masterful job of screenwriting! The directing of Laura Matula was also exceptional. Everything was exceptional. Here is a piece of trivia for you....trivia with a message of grace. Relating this does not bring back good memories to me....in fact quite the opposite. My buddies took me to see the 1970 hit film....M*A*S*H...the day before I boarded a plane for Oakland, Ca....the departure base for Vietnam. I think that I then must have purposely tried to live that debauched life of the men of the Swamp....it took me years to....by God's grace alone....pull myself out of that slop and as if crawl to the Father. Anyway...the man who played the dentist in that film....who is now recognised to be the first person to use the F-word in a major studio film....that man....John Schuck....also known as playing klingon characters....and police sergeant Enright on McMillen & Wife....that man gave in this film....The Hiding Place....one of the most moving and soul-searching performances of an older Christian man....with wisdom and love.....that you will ever witness!
Now....if this was just a very good film....I would not be posting on it only hours after leaving the theater....but it portrayed the Bible....God's Word to us....in a way that we terribly need to see! It portrayed love....as depicted in God's Word....and not sentimentality. It will tear you apart as it handles the concept of forgiveness! It shows us....if we will but watch....the primary 'marching orders' of a Christian soldier. By the time that the concentration camp scenes were concluding....I was a mess....turning to my right side so that no one could see....(as if anyone might care anyway)....as I wiped tears off of my cheeks with my little finger.
I wish I had some more information for you as to if this film will come back to theaters in the future. That has to be a possibility....but as for now....it has an international showing on August 16....(eleven days from now)....and if you feel led....you might join me in praying for God to bless this showing....of a situation that we ourselves are not that far away from experiencing!
Note: I changed the title to this post after I remembered the words spoken in the play/film by Betsie Ten Boom..
