The place of opinions and facts can be very tricky, especially when sensitive variables like religion are trapped in-between the tiny space in humanity’s badly congested reality. I saw the Breath of Life movie recently and also came across different reviews on the movie. The particular opinion that mostly had me ruminating was that of The Starlwart Lovers couple on Instagram. See them in the following slides:
When I read opinion threads that interest me on social media, I usually linger longer in the comment section to see other positions. So I went into the comments and saw takes, and further responses from The Stalwart Lovers to people’s comments. In next slides are comments and responses that smoked me out of my initial position of just wanting to observe and savour. Please kindly read through each.
There were numerous comments and responses. I can’t post them all. But see below the one that capped it all for me.
As you just saw, The Stalwart Lovers made a response to @omolabiomodayo’s comment about her “letting it slide” position on the Breath of Life movie. More precisely, their comment went like ‘…They had no business making a movie about Christians and misrepresenting us…’ This statement obviously stems from their stance on what they understand about what should and shouldn’t be ‘Christian-like’.
However, I find such assertive statement a bit far-fetched, and this premise forms the bedrock of my position regarding this movie.
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Firstly, their backing insinuation that Islam is ‘untouchable’ when it comes to movies with forms of Islam ‘misrepresentation’, is arguably INCORRECT. Here’s an instance – Muslims generally refer to Islam as a religion of peace, however, there are a thousand and one movies portraying Islam as a terror-riddled/founded religion. And nothing has happened to the producers or actors of such movies.
Therefore, the pretext of ‘Muslim intolerance’ in such context is dead on arrival. As long as those extremists keep flagging horrific causes behind Islamic masks, debates will continue to ensue on why the religion is usually portrayed as an element of terrorism and banditry against how/why it isn’t a religion of horror. And thus, more movies.
In other words, a lot of these movies are simply simulations of our realities with our religious and spiritual inclinations actively in the mix.
Should we talk about the number of raunchy movies on the internet depicting women in muslim Hijabs as sexual perverts and whores? The Hijab which is largely a symbol of decency in Islam? How many of those movies have been clamoured to be brought down? Have their actors or producers been canceled/killed/mobbed by the insinuated “Muslim intolerance”?
Now let’s move further…
While folks may argue what should be Christlike or not, for this situation, there’s a poignant need to first understand that the Breath of Life movie is a SECULAR one and is PRIMARILY designed for entertainment and NOT evangelism. Although, connotatively, the latter could be a byproduct for some spectators considering the adoption of a Christian ambience in the movie.
Nevertheless, engaging Christianity as a costume to present Pastor Timi and Elijah’s characters was NOT out of place as The Stalwart Lovers submitted. The human intricacies of these christian characters were only more pronounced, and that’s just right, because that part constitutes a significant cluster of our existence. Saliently, the story captures the vulnerability that every ‘STANDING CHRISTIAN’ is susceptible to.
David loved God but fell into temptation. A seed from his sinful path became God’s chosen one to become King. Solomon kept a deluge of women as wives and concubines, wrote some of the most erotic parts of the bible, yet, he somehow had God’s heart. Prophet Hosea was instructed to marry a renowned harlot. The Bible tells us God was actually in support of Samson marrying the Philistine lady because God needed Samson to penetrate the Philistines to save the Israelites. Another funny arguable fact is that from the way the Bible recorded the story of Samson, he would likely have died with his Superman Character undented if he didn’t reveal the source of his power to Delilah or any other person, because not at any point did the Bible rebuke Samson for his gambling, Casanova or philandering vices. He was seemingly untouchable until the unfortunate revelation to Delilah.
These are God ordained ‘biblical standard’ characters with RELATABLE flaws. As such, why can’t Elijah or Pastor Timi be portrayed in the similar light?
The Stalwart Lovers mentioned Elijah wanting to be with Anna, who wasn’t ‘saved’. But Anna wasn’t a pagan either, and we can evidently relate her character to many ‘church members’ today.
So would you say someone who’s a good person, genuinely lovable, decent, brilliant, supportive, shows conspicuous signs of malleability, and obviously identifies with the same religion as them, but not yet on the same ‘spiritual pedestal’ with them, isn’t worth being married or being courted simply because of something improvable? I’m pretty sure the Bible’s ‘Do not be unequally yoked…’ wasn’t for such context.
Nothing justifies wrong deeds, but the falters of even biblical characters only show how mortal we still are even when we choose to follow God’s ways. Peter denied Jesus 3 good times. Moses angrily struck the rock. They were just being humans.
Therefore, an absolute discredit of the portrayal of christianity from a SECULAR movie like Breathe of Life leaves so much loopholes, because truly, strong Christians do fall into temptations and turn rebels.
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From a critical literary and theological perspective, we could highlight the total collapse of Elijah’s lungs at the verge of compromise as an immediate smack/punishment from God to show condemnation for fornication. Because why was it at that point that his Inhaler didn’t work? From another point of view, we could call that occurrence a ‘brutal’ and literal answer from God to the popular Christian prayer that goes, ‘Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil…’ God literally saved them and, albeit painfully, steered them to become a married couple the right way.
Moreover, from the submissions of The Stalwart Lovers, they are definitely against kissing in Christian relationships. And that is a VERY VALID position.
In the movie, Elijah and Anna ‘indiscriminately’ kissed each other. It was usually their first act of affection expression after sighting each other and sharing a hug. However, that was the most ‘intimate’ Elijah and Anna ever were.
But The Stalwart Lovers singled that act to influence their evaluation of the total movie.
In discourses like this, it’s very important to truthfully and blatantly point out that NOWHERE in the Bible is kissing or sharing a hug with someone you love considered sinful. However, kissing is a subconscious and stealthy path to sexual intimacy/intercourse, and that’s why in Christendom it’s been long-popularly conscripted as part of the ‘Don’ts’ for unmarried folks. And I Strongly agree because kissing makes you want more. Even Elijah, despite observing restraint, confessed to it when speaking with Pastor Timi. Therefore I strongly agree it’s a valid mode of protection for single Christians in the strife for chastity.
Furthermore, in trying to buttress their opinion, they mentioned in a response to someone that nowhere in the movie showed Elijah praying, even when he needed intervention for the church issue. Again, this is a total neglect of the FACT that this is a SECULAR movie that is interested in amplifying details of/for entertainment.
Dwelling on a detail such as multiple prayer scenes would be better in place in a typical Christian movie. Also, from Elijah’s character development, you could easily guess that he prayed, and apart from praying, he put in the work to avert the demolition by seeking donations, and all (which we saw). The latter were more consequential scenes to display because they involved his lover (Anna), who actively joined him in the money search which formed the buildingup to their eventual romantic conflict.
Additionally, activities such as the Bible studies, character development of Elijah and Timi, and other Christian nuances, were enough ‘elements of spiritualization’ to sanely, truthfully, and respectfully deploy Christianity in such a SECULAR movie.
Also, I noticed a comment where The Stalwart lovers mentioned that the storyline could have been more ‘Christian-like’ if Timi had returned to God, repented and instead prayed to God to heal Elijah. For the umpteenth, let me state it again that, this is a SECULAR movie. Also, that suggestion is actually a bit too pedestrian for a resolution, and pretty typical of a conventional ‘Christian movie’.
But funny enough, Pastor Timi returning into the church to acknowledge God’s reason for sparing his life and then going on to ask God to take his life for Elijah’s use BECAUSE he (Pastor Timi) wanted to be with his dead family again, is pretty interesting. And this is because it is more Bible-inclined than people are probably noticing. It’s a perfect allusion to Samson’s situation after losing his hair, strength, and eyes for years.
The first time Samson prayed again after a very long time in captivity, what did he pray for? Forgiveness? NO. He implicitly acknowledged God’s existence, and asked for his strength one more time for REVENGE and SUICIDE. And God did heed him, and Samson went down right there with his enemies. So what are we saying?
Is what Samson did good? No. But he was someone ordained by God and was simply overridden by his mortality. Very keen similarity with Pastor Timi’s case.
No work of art is impeccable, no human character or conscience is impermeable, but we are definitely malleable to produce better versions of ourselves and off ourselves.
Breath of Life is a beautiful movie. And I maintain that nothing in the movie berates Christianity. It simply amplifies the human part of STANDING CHRISTIANS, and for a secular movie, it daintily and brilliantly does so.
The Breath of Life movie leaves more room for review based on projected situational and operational peculiarities. You can watch such a review of the Breath of Life movie on YouTube by one of the finest movie reviewers, Halimah The Bird.
But based on religious sentiments for a secular movie, you could be setting yourself up for self-inflicted intellectual legshots while trying to ‘defend’ your perception.
As The Stalwart Lovers submitted, the place of consciously and constantly cautioning and reviewing ourselves as Christians, especially with our media consumption, cannot be overemphasized. And in a world where media content is ridiculously democratized, we need to especially help kids interpret things in the right way.
But all these will remain lofty if we do not shun hypocrisy, stop consumption for unprovoked reprisal, and start digestion for constructive appraisal.
If you read this to the end, then you likely enjoyed reading even if you don’t want to agree with my stance (lol!). But I’ll like to tell you that other than writing, I do music too. And I tell you, I sing pretty well. I sing at weddings exclusively for the couple’s special dance. I am also the perfect fit for cameo musical interludes in your exclusive and exquisite events. You can experience more about me and my music, and also book me to come add grand sonic colours to your next event! I am The Musical Being.
Cheers.