Do You Believe? (2015). Film Review
Director: Jonathan M. Gunn.
Screenplay writers: Chuck Konzelman, Cary Solomon.
Cast: Ted McGinley, Mira Sorvino, Andrea Logan White, Lee Majors, Alexa PenaVega, Sean Astin, Madison Pettis, Cybill Shepherd, Brian Bosworth.
Country of origin: USA.
Release date: March 20, 2015.
Do You Believe? is coming to the American movie theaters this Friday, March 20, 2015. It the next inspiring work by the team that presented ‘God’s not Dead’ last year. Winged with its success the director Johnathan M. Gunn is now back with a different kind of film work. It probably touches the most sincere, most vulnerable and the most inner personal and spiritual part of every human’s life.
Althought the symbol of the story is the Cross, the movie in its essence is not limited to Christians and the Christian religion. It encompasses a more broad, universal theme of faith. Faith in the One who sends us challenges along with the strength to overcome the hurdles, who makes us understand the real value of life and people around us, who takes and gives, who invisibly teaches us compassion, who teaches us to be more kind and understanding to each other. And these lessons are priceless.
Plot
Do You Believe? unites together twelve seemingly different fates, people, their lifestyles and values, achievements and loses, aspirations and disillusions:
1. Local pastor Mathew.
2-3. Samantha and her little daughter Lily who are left without home and have to spend nights in the car.
4. Cancer-suffering Joe who helps Samantha out and finds a shelter for her and her daughter.
5. Firefighter-paramedic Bobby who can’t save a man’s life having done all he could medically.
6. Workaholic Doctor Farell who is fed up of God’s-miracles stories.
7. A couples, JD and Terri, whose only daughter died but the parent continue to grieve and cannot move on with their life.
8-9. Young criminal PB (‘Pretty Boy’) and his brother ‘Kriminal’
10-11. Lacey and Carlos who deeply believe and the suicide is the only way out to kill the demons inside them.
12. A teenage homeless pregnant girl who at the last moment gave up the idea to cancel her pregnancy with abortion.
The development starts when the faith of the local pastor Matthew (Ted McGinley) is challenged by an old street preacher (Delroy Lindo). Two simple questions “Do you believe in the Cross of the Christ?” and “If yes, then what are you going to do about it?” forever change the life the pastor. From now on he is charged with the idea to put the great power of faith into every human’s soul.
On the way we get acquainted with different characters. All of them are experiencing hard times and the only salvation for them is to believe and sympathize. The film shows how ultimately important becomes the faith. Modern world, where money has gained people’s hearts and made them firm life stones, is now in need of sincerity and simple human support to each other. Faith is that common pure feeling that unites us and make us stronger so we can create together a better happier world.
Eventually, all these different lives interweave and are brought together by their common faith in the Cross of Christ.
Message and impression
Do You Beleive? shows the most of our life. Skillful cinematography, complete characters, true stories and feelings create the spiritual soul in the film. It has a lot of touching scenes. Tension is only relieved by some humourous episodes which arenperfectly spotted in the event line.
The message conveying in this undoubtedly inspirational work says that we all should unite and live friendly in peace and happiness under the coat-of-arms of the One who watches us from the tranquil heavens and makes the best of our lives with its invisible hand.