MACHINE GUN PREACHER (2011)

Genre: Drama/Biography/Action
Director: Marc Forster
Cast: Gerard Butler, Michelle Monaghan, Michael Shannon, Kathy Baker, Madeline Carroll, Souleymane Sy Savane
RunTime: 2 hrs 9 mins
Rating: M18 (Some Violence, Drug Use & Coarse Language)
Released By:  Encore Films & GV
Official Website: http://www.encorefilms.com/preacher/

Opening Day:  5 January 2012

Synopsis: Machine Gun Preacher is the inspirational true story of Sam Childers, a former drug-dealing criminal who undergoes an astonishing transformation and finds an unexpected calling as the saviour of hundreds of kidnapped and orphaned children. Gerard Butler (300) delivers a searing performance as Childers, the impassioned founder of the Angels of East Africa rescue organization in Golden Globe-nominated director Marc Forster's (Monster's Ball, Finding Neverland, The Kite Runner & Quantum of Solace) moving story of violence and redemption. When ex-biker-gang member Sam Childers (Butler) makes the life-changing decision to go to East Africa to help repair homes destroyed by civil war, he is outraged by the unspeakable horrors faced by the region's vulnerable populace, especially the children. Ignoring the warnings of more experienced aide workers, Sam breaks ground for an orphanage where it's most needed-in the middle of territory controlled by the brutal Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a renegade militia that forces youngsters to become soldiers before they even reach their teens. But for Sam, it is not enough to shelter the LRA's intended victims. Determined to save as many as possible, he leads armed missions deep into enemy territory to retrieve kidnapped children, restoring peace to their lives-and eventually his own. The explosive, real-life tale of a man who has rescued over a thousand orphans from tarvation, disease and enslavement.

Movie Review:

There is a fascinating tale at the heart of ‘Machine Gun Preacher’, based on the true story of a hell-raising biker Sam Childers who found God and discovered his true calling upon visiting the civil war-torn region of Sudan. While other men of the cloth may have assisted in more diplomatic fashion, Sam did not hesitate to take up arms and fight against the ruthless guerrilla faction called the Lord’s Resistance Army that were notorious for recruiting male child soldiers into its militia and abducting young females into its sex trade.

Unfortunately, this adaptation by the once-acclaimed Marc Forster hardly does justice to Sam’s life story, glossing over many of the intriguing aspects that could have been so much more in the hands of a more capable director. Forster’s missteps begin right at the start of the movie, bungling up Sam’s staggering transformation from his drug-addled, rage-fuelled, and alcohol-guzzling life to a man touched by the healing faith of Jesus Christ. At first upset that Christianity has led to his wife quitting her well-paying job as a stripper, Sam quite suddenly embraces the very same faith after he and his junkie best friend Donnie (Michael Shannon) beat up a hitchhiker to within an inch of his life.

Baptism frees his conscience on his first visit to church, with no mention of any atonement for his past actions- and this oversight may prove to be disturbing for some Christians. One may argue that his conversion is simply tangential to the story, which wastes little time in transporting him to Northern Uganda and southern Sudan. Sam’s first visit is on a spontaneous mission trip, where he wonders outside the circuit to witness the reign of terror inflicted by Joseph Kony and his ostensibly Christian militia. It doesn’t take long before Sam decides to build an orphanage for the homeless, and when that is attacked by rebels, to personally become a soldier of war or ‘African Rambo’ as he is affectionately known.

The very notion of a man of God resorting to violence to fight evil is an interesting moral dilemma, but one that is only explored scantly by both first-time writer Jason Keller and Forster. Only too late and still too fleetingly does a character echo our disturbing thought of how Sam would probably better be known as a mercenary than as a preacher (even as Forster emphasises how Sam refuses to shoot a bunch of armed underage soldiers), and her subsequent death is representative of how quickly the film dismisses any in-depth exploration of its lead character’s ethical complexities, as if flummoxed by how best to portray them onscreen.

Forster fares slightly better when he turns Sam’s religious fervour into fanaticism, believing so indignantly at the work he is doing that it takes its toll not only on his finances but also on the wellbeing of his family. There is a certain madness to his obsession, and a scene where a consumed Sam stands in front of his congregation and preaches about how God needs ‘wolves, not sheep’ is simultaneously disquieting and riveting at the same time. The message that one can get lost from God even while doing God’s work is a compelling one, and brought across forcefully by Gerard Butler’s tour-de-force performance.

Yes, Butler is the star and the producer of this movie, and in more ways than one, he owns the entire film. His Sam is in almost every scene, the intimacy and the closeness by which Forster frames the movie around him allowing audiences to appreciate his solid turn as the complex hero. Butler’s dominating physical presence suits his character well, and his machismo is tempered alternately with stoic determination and raw vulnerability. Other than Butler, only Souleymane Sy Savane (who plays Sam’s local guide) manages to stand out- while supporting actors like Michelle Monaghan, Kathy Baker and even the always reliable Michael Shannon are given short shrift.

The fact that ‘Machine Gun Preacher’ remains a gripping watch- despite Forster’s missteps- is testament to the power of this true story. Nonetheless, this portrait of a larger-than-life hero could also have been so much more- a social debate of the application of religion to the fight of evil in the real world; a personal exploration of how religion can inspire dramatic change in an individual; and a cautionary tale of how losing one’s faith can be as easy as finding it. All these elements are expressed to varying degrees of success in a blunt and often clumsily directed movie, but this flawed morality tale still deserves a watch. 

Movie Rating:

(Flawed but no less gripping exploration of the meaning of mission and the means of missionary in a morally complex world)

Review by Gabriel Chong