In this hodgepodge of religion, violence, redemption, and American values, there's nothing really impressive beyond that self-righteous sense of superiority.
First of all, there is no foreshadowing of psychological changes, and the characters are masked. Although there is a "miracle" in religion, I think it is produced by the long-term edification of noble moral sentiments. Without long-term penance, where did the epiphany come from? However, there are many cultists who use some gods and spirits to fool people. In the film, SAM gives people the feeling of being a magician. After being reckless and hurting others, after being persuaded by his wife to go to church twice, to be baptized once, and to be able to reform his past wrongs and convert to God, it is a bit surprising. In the second half of SAM, he went completely into paranoia. A person who is treated rudely by family and friends, but devotes himself to the charity of the Sudanese people. This kind of person is greater than Che Guevara and can really win the "Moving the World" award.
Second, religious discrimination. Most of the differences in religion in Western movies are not positive, and the terrorists are almost always Islamic extremists. In this film, the Rebel Army of the Holy Spirit who believes in Islam slaughtered children, burned houses, and committed all kinds of evil, while our protagonist spread the gospel, built churches, rescued orphans, picked up guns and stopped violence when he couldn’t bear it, just like the messenger of God It fully demonstrates the superiority of the United States and the universal values it preaches. This logic is like the Crusades, in order to spread the "God's Gospel", violence can be used everywhere at will, because "infidels" are cruel and violent, and the root cause of the conflict in Sudan - colonial rule Not a word.
The most important point is to justify chauvinism. This movie, like a true lie, could have a big black and white duel, killing it heartily. However, the director insisted that the theme should be "raised one degree higher" and mixed into religion, charity, family, and politics. The price of his ambition is to draw a tiger and not become an anti-dog. He successfully created the role of SAM as a "world policeman": an American misstep Young people, under the inspiration of God, overcame family difficulties and financial pressures, and traveled thousands of miles to the other side of the world to spread the gospel for the charity of the Sudanese people, and then contact the current world situation, you know...
Although the director denied that this was A film of cultural chauvinism, but the clumsiness of this film cannot hide that. It is no secret that American movies are used as a tool to promote their ideology, but it is your fault to treat such a thing as a child.
Finally, I conclude with the words of Archbishop Tutu: "When the white missionaries first came to Africa, they had the Bible in their hands and we had the land. The missionaries said, let's pray! So we closed our eyes and prayed. When I opened my eyes, the situation was reversed: we had the Bible and they had the land."
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