in the open space: God & culture

Here are some updates on several movies this blog’s been following as well as a new one I stumbled upon. First up, a film new to this blog: Amazing Grace . It has listed as one of its characters, John Newton (who wrote the hymn, Amazing Grace )—who is the subject to another upcoming film in pre-production currently under the project title Heart of Man . Amazing Grace , however, is slated for a Spring 2007 release (it’s in post-production). I found this summary on Walden Media’s web site for the film (the same company that gave us Chronicles of Narnia ): Script by Steven Knight (Dirty Pretty Things) will focus on Wilberforce's efforts as a member of Parliament in 18th-century England to end slavery and the slave trade in the British empire. Wilberforce was elected to the House of Commons at 21 and took on the issue of slavery, successfully assembling a diverse coalition that went up against the most powerful men of the time. I found this summary on Patricia Heaton’s web site (she...

It’s been an incredibly hectic couple of weeks so some of this info may be old to y’all, but here are some bits and pieces of news I’ve collected over the last several weeks about films with the potential to generate God-talk. First up, if you haven’t already, trip on over to Apple’s trailer site and see the full-length trailer for Apocalypto , Mel Gibson’s latest effort (for God-talk potential, see here ). Then head over to Bible Films Blog , where Matt reveals that South-African Jesus pic Jezile (aka Son of Man ) is getting wider distribution (and an official website ) as well as catching us up on Nativity , this time about the composer and its scheduled showing at the 2006 Heartland Film Festival . If you haven’t seen the Nativity trailer, go here (which also links to a couple of “behind the scenes” features). Reviews are trickling in for Amazing Grace (the William Wilberforce/John Newton abolition of slavery pic with potential modern applications ) which was shown at the To...

Amazing Grace (the William Wilberforce/John Newton abolition of slavery pic with potential modern applications ) is slated for release next month. If the trailer won't play, you can see it at YouTube , the film's website or IGN (hat tip to FilmChat , who also points to a Variety article on the film). For more on the film from this blog, see here .

Here’s some news on films this blog’s been following: Christian Today’s Kevin Donovan says the William Wilberforce Amazing Grace gets historical facts mostly right and Christian Today UK reports that some charities are linking with the film to raise awareness of slavery—something TSK talked about several months ago. (And, I finally figured out why Ioan Gruffudd is so darn familiar to me: he portrayed the namesake of those wonderful A&E Horatio Hornblower films .) This blog likes Asian martial arts epics not only for their visual presentation (often stunning) and good stories, but also for their potential to generate God-talk . Reviews are out for the latest (which wide-released last weekend), Curse of the Golden Flower . Rotten Tomatoes (which compiles mainstream critic reviews) has it at a 65% fresh rating with 60 positive reviews out of 92. I haven’t been able to locate any reviews from Christian media. Holler if you find some. I was glad to hear that Rocky Balboa did s...

Andrew Jones (a leading global voice in the emerging church conversation and culture) highlights film-this-blog’s-been-following Amazing Grace , a Walden Media production focusing on William Wilberforce, a 19th century British statesman and reformer and his 20-year fight to abolish the British slave trade and role in passing legislation to abolish slavery in the British colonies. Jones muses: I was talking to some CMS mission personnel who have seen a preview of the film and there is already discussion about how this movie could support their existing efforts in bringing Christ's freedom to those bound up in forms of slavery, like African Snow , a play about slavery in the 21st century, and Free for All, a youth theatre troupe that will tour the cathedrals of UK over the next year. According to Russell Price, who is heading up CMS theme of Setting Captives Free in this years Greenbelt Festival, Walden Media are steering the marketing away from their previous associations (disney...