Jesus Revolution

Part history lesson, part biopic, this faith-based drama is likely to have wide appeal, even for secular viewers. It takes place in the five years between two Time magazine cover stories: The 1966 "Is God Dead?" issue, which investigated the abandonment of religion in America, and the 1972 "The Jesus Revolution" article about hippies whose pursuit of peace and love transformed into a higher love with Christ, as they took to the streets to spread "the good news" and got baptized in droves. Adapted from Greg Laurie's same-named autobiographical novel, it begins with the point of view of the skeptical reporter writing the second article, who is astounded at how a generation of young people who disengaged from society and were considered the outcasts of American culture wound up finding fellowship with the most buttoned-up conservatives of the country. And the way the Erwin brothers (producer Andrew and writer-director Jon) -- the faith industry's dream team -- lay it out, the situation is both knock-you-over-with-a-feather surprising and makes-total-sense affirming.

This drama is almost certain to energize and inspire the Christian crowd, but it's also likely to captivate those who tend to avoid films about religion. That's both because it's very well made and because there's an honesty and accountability here. Jesus Revolution depicts real people and real things that happened. It shows us church leaders who weren't making good decisions, who were in over their heads, who had the will but not the skill, who thought too much of themselves, who were imperfect. And the filmmakers take their own community to task, showing what occurred decades ago to suggest that similar mistakes are being made in the present. But the film also suggests that similar success can happen again if we follow the Bible's No. 1 directive to "love one another." Without anyone in the film ever saying it, viewers will still get the message that the only way to heal deep cultural and political divisions is to stop judging and start loving because, yep, that's what Jesus would do.