“WHO IS JESUS?”
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
THE GOD MAN is a documentary by Christian filmmaker Darren Wilson. He travels to Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Alaska, Rio de Janeiro, Mozambique, and Honduras with other Christian friends and his daughter. They talk to Non-Christians, Christian missionaries, poor people, and persecuted Christians about the nature and character of Jesus and how a personal relationship with Him can transform people’s lives. The movie inserts interviews with Christian theologians and pastors. There’s also an ongoing interview with Darren’s daughter, who helped her father and his crew shoot the movie. She describes how the journey helped her regain and strengthen her own Christian faith.
THE GOD MAN is an inspiring, absorbing movie. It’s told from a charismatic perspective, but it’s filled with great biblical references and excellent evangelical, apologetics information and theology about Jesus, the Apostles and the Gospel. The movie isn’t just an emotional experience. It also has lots of strong Christocentric theology to stimulate the mind. THE GOD MAN has some references to drug addiction, alcohol addiction, violent persecution, and a fear of physical assault. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for preteen children.
CONTENT:
(CCC, BBB, O, L, V, S, AA, DD, M):
Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:
Very strong Christian, biblical, moral evangelical worldview with a charismatic perspective in documentary where film crew travels to Las Vegas, Alaska, Rio de Janeiro, Mozambique, and Honduras to talk to Non-Christians, Christian missionaries, persecuted Christians, poverty-stricken Christians, and others about Jesus, the Gospel, repentance, forgiveness, salvation, following Jesus, and ministering to other people, with many Bible citations, including insightful and inspiring discussions, plus some references to demonic harassment
Foul Language:
One “h” word
Violence:
No depicted violence, but young woman speaks of her fear of being raped in a third world country to which she’s traveling, there’s mention during an interview with another young woman where she was sexually abused in the past, and a sequence mentions Muslims physically assaulting, killing and beheading Christians, with images of the inside of a church on fire while a young Muslim screams about the attack on the church and its people, in which he apparently participated
Sex:
No sex scenes but young woman speaks of her fear about being raped and it’s mentioned that another young woman was sexually abused before she found Jesus and then went to Bible college
Nudity:
No nudity
Alcohol Use:
Man is said to be addicted to alcohol
Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:
Brief shots of teenage girl smoking marijuana to show how far she was from God until she regained her faith, a man is said to be addicted to drugs, and a man during the end credits says he was addicted to drugs before he found Jesus; and,
Miscellaneous Immorality:
Talk about people being kidnapped by Muslims in Mozambique.
MORE DETAIL:
THE GOD MAN is a documentary by Christian filmmaker Darren Wilson who travels to Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Alaska, Rio de Janeiro, Mozambique, and Honduras with other Christian friends and his daughter to talk to Non-Christians, Christian missionaries, poor people, and persecuted Christians about the nature and character of Jesus and how a personal relationship with Him can transform people’s lives. THE GOD MAN is an inspiring movie that’s told from a charismatic perspective and is filled with great biblical references and excellent evangelical, apologetics information about Jesus, the Apostles and the Gospel.
The movie begins with Darren introducing the documentary’s purpose, to show people who Jesus really is. He says the movie was inspired by a series of “dreams, chance encounters and impossible timing.” He adds that Jesus spiritually took control of the movie, which ended up showing how Jesus is actively involved in the world. The journey took Darren, several friends and his daughter, Serenity, to Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Alaska, Rio de Janeiro, Mozambique, and an island off the coast of Honduras.
The crew first went to Las Vegas, where they interviewed people on the street about who they think Jesus is. Clips of interviews with a Hindu, a Muslim, a New Age believer, and several other people mention several unorthodox, Non-Christian ways that people view Jesus. An interview with Messianic Rabbi Jason Sobel contradicts their statements by citing biblical passages like John 10:22-39, especially Verses 30-33, and Luke 5:17-25. Another theologian says that Jesus was Fully God and Fully Man, and a third theologian explains the significance of what the other two were saying by citing John 1:1-14.
In Minneapolis, two weeks after the death of George Floyd, who died during an encounter with police, Darren talks to a husband and wife team of street preachers trying to bring healing to the riot-torn city. For example, Charles Karuku tells a crowd how God ordered him and his brother to reach out to the 90-year-old man who had killed their father years ago, when Charles was still in his mother’s womb. They forgave the man, and the man forgave them for the hate they had long harbored toward him for their father’s death. The result is that they all became the best of friends.
God inspires Darren and two friends to travel to Hope, a small town in the Alaskan wilderness. There, they witness to three people about Jesus, succeeding in converting them.
In Rio de Janeiro, Darren and his crew visit a slum where a missionary couple witness to the people there about Jesus. The missionaries and their converts say Jesus has helped them rise above the squalor and deprivation around them. In Mozambique, they show clips of a Christian missionary who ministers to Christians fleeing from ultra-violent Muslim persecution. The stories told in this visit are simply heartbreaking. Even so, the Christians who survived the Islamofascist persecution have immense joy, despite many friends and family members being murdered.
Finally, in Honduras, a dream Darren has about meeting some triplets there sends him and two friends to a Christian missionary, who leads them to a restaurant. There, they meet a Christian waiter who says he works with three men who are triplets. They set up a meeting with the three men, but they are an hour late. It turns out that the men can’t really speak much English at all. However, just as they entered, a bilingual security guard appeared, and he agrees to translate for Darren and his two friends. God’s timing allows them to talk to the three men and the security guard about Jesus. It turns out the security guard is a Christian who’s disillusioned with the church, but Darren and his friends encourage him to start using his faith to evangelize and disciple other people.
Inserted throughout these trips are studio interviews with theologians and pastors, who discuss the Christocentric themes and appropriate biblical passages that illustrate what happened during the trips. There’s also an ongoing interview with Darren’s daughter, Serenity, who, while working with her father on shooting the movie, goes from a backsliding, marijuana-using Christian to an on-fire believer renewed by Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit.
THE GOD MAN is an inspiring, absorbing movie that’s told from a charismatic perspective. Some early scenes featuring a man making a Christian lantern from some clay he found in a stream run a little bit long. However, the redemptive meaning of those segments becomes clear at the end. Also, as the interviews with the Christian missionaries, theologians and pastors proceed, the time passes quickly.
Of course, THE GOD MAN has a strong Christian worldview. Director Darren Wilson fulfills his premise showing Jesus active in the world today, bringing people to faith, strengthening their faith and filling them with peace, joy and love. Multiple, pertinent biblical passages are discussed by multiple people, or cited on title cards, during the movie. Though Wilson and his friends come from a charismatic perspective, the movie has lots of strong Christocentric theology for the mind. THE GOD MAN has some references to drug addiction, alcohol addiction, violent persecution, and a fear of physical assault. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for preteen children. However, the movie ends on a moving piece of imagery, capped by an important verse about Jesus from 1 Timothy 2:4
