Also watched a Netflix movie called The Reliant. I recall seeing reactions to this film’s marketing last year from more liberal outlets who were alternatively laughing at it and incensed it would attack Black Lives Matter groups. So I watched it out of curiosity… to see if it was this Right-Wing Conservative hit job on the left…
The film is about an America where the dollar has collapsed and local governments are under threat from Protesters. What kind of protesters and what are they protesting is never explained (other than they are definitely not Black Lives Matter). If anything, the protesters seem like right-wing gun nuts. But that’s ok because Kevin Sorbo is the head of a self-reliant (hey, the movie’s title!), Second Amendment religion family who see the chaos arriving in their small Ohio town (Zanesville!) and decide to pack up the guns, the bug-out bags, and head for the hills.
So this is kind of/sort of reminiscent of the movie Red Dawn (which was also fairly right-wing according to its critics). But instead of an invasion of Russians (and Cubans) or North Koreans (in the remake), it’s America tearing itself apart and one family who has to survive on their own.
This is definitely a religious/Christian-themed film with a dog in the hunt when it comes to guns and the second amendment. It is a little preachy and the more liberal audience members will be incensed by the love of guns and, you know, teaching a ten year old how to use an assault rifle. The movie itself doesn’t have a problem with any of this and, hey, at least the film is about something. It has the courage of its convictions, even if you disagree (or agree) with its stance.
The flick is clearly fairly low budget and the actors aren’t always at the top of their game (some are good… some less so). It’s filmed largely in the woods and does what it can with what clearly was never going to be a movie to get high financing from Hollywood. It’s a little dodgy on that production value but not incompetently or unwatchably so.
The film is certainly violent as one would expect from a movie with a plot like this. And that’s the funny thing about it… it’s pro-gun for the good guys but doesn’t shy away from the looters and bandits also loving their guns just as much. It’s an argument both for and against guns… or, more precisely, the idea that a good guy with a gun is the only protection from a bad guy with a gun. But the film is certainly pro-Christian too in a way that will bother some people but will be certainly right at home for others.
So, hey, this is a movie about something. It’s a Christian movie that doesn’t feel like all the other faith-based films on the market. It’s not a Liberal Hit Piece… it just takes a certain mindset of the Right-Wing and tells its own story without actually attacking another ideology. I certainly didn’t expect that and there’s part of me that respects the audacity of the film. As a piece of basic film making, it’s a little wobbly but solid enough to entertain, if you aren’t instantly turned off by the politics.
Score: 76