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Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus
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MPAA Rating: PG
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Entertainment: +1 1/2
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Content: +2 1/2
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This documentary of life in southern U.S. follows the trail of a Country singer named Alt (singer Jim White) as he journeys across the Deep South. Alt tries to rediscover the land where he grew up. He buys a statue of Jesus and caries it in the trunk of a 1970 Chevy as he makes his way across the land. His first stop is a southern prison where men locked in a dormitory-style cell share their stories of drugs, alcohol and abandonment. Many of these men blame their fate on a deficiency of church attendance during their childhood. So, Alt then travels to a couple of churches for the next segment of his journey. At a Pentecostal church, Alt finds the service more interesting than traditional churches as people freely worship God in many individual styles. The journey ends as Alt removes the statue of Jesus from his trunk, places it in the road, and professes hope to the statue and to the viewers that he will find what he is looking for.
Though church is given high priority in this documentary, tour guide Alt considers it important only because it endears Southern culture, neglecting the fellowship that it offers the family of God. One man shares how God rescued him from a life of drugs and alcohol, and a woman is shown being baptized in a lake. Most of this documentary reflects the poorer side of Christianity. As a man unenthusiastically shares the need for repentance to guests at a local tavern, his audience scoffs at him and does not acknowledge the truth of his words. According to the theology presented throughout this film, a person can buy favor from God through penance, flesh is equated with sin, and people can choose their divinity. Preview gives this film a positive rating since it lacks objectionable content like bad language, sex and violence. But for any who might base their theology on the opinions of others rather than on what they read in the Bible, this documentary could be a stumbling block.
Preview Reviewer: Peggy Misura
Distributor: Shadow Distribution
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Summary
The following categories contain objective listings of film content which contribute to the subjective numeric Content ratings posted to the left and on the Home page.
Crude Language: Once strong (-ss 1)
Obscene Language: None
Profanity: Once moderate (good L)
Violence: Few times mild (a man shoots at a stop sign, a prisoner tells that he broke into a house)
Sex: None
Nudity: None
Sexual Dialogue/Gesture: Few times mild (a man tells of his friend who was having sex with his wife while driving and had a bad accident, girls shown dancing in a bar while camera focuses on hips)
Drugs: Few times mild (a few scenes of men and women smoking; prisoners say, I smoked weed and drank and all); moderate (We was drinking and smoking pot got into drugs ecstasy, cocaine, meth )
Other: God is portrayed properly/positively and poorly/negatively; man shares a two-sentence testimony of how he is free from drugs; Scripture is quoted correctly, Bible says you must be born again; The rapture will come. It doesnt matter if you went to church all your life. You must be born again.; No one is perfect. And if anyone tells you theyre perfect, theyre a liar. And the truth is not in him.; Everything was made by the Creator.; numerous signs are displayed that say Jesus saves, etc.; a woman is baptized; a man mechanically speaks to people in a bar of their need to repent; a woman says, God is nothing. You need the devil for God to make any sense.; a man says, The Bible says when you backslide you must find your first words sober.; a man describes why he loves the southern states, Its like Ive chosen my divinity instead of my divinity choosing me.; a man says, The have-nots run to their crucibles and bury their power.; a man who left his wife in a coma after a car accident, that was caused by his having sex with her while driving, decides that he will make amends with God by never touching another woman; a mans excuse for avoiding church is because everyone who goes to church is bad in one way or another
Running Time: 82 minutes
Intended Audience: All ages
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