But is it good? I’ll start by saying that if you’re a fan of faith-based pictures, you’re going to like My Brother’s Keeper. It remains filled with hope, even as it touches on PTSD and the military and addresses one of the toughest challenges to faith: needless tragedy. The message that God is greater than our tragedy comes across loud and clear. Christians will resonate with the story.
I have a very long history with faith-based movies. Faith-films as a genre has always been problematic for me, and My Brother’s Keeper is no different. Not much has changed in the genre since I became a Christian in the early 1980s, except for better equipment. The stories all take on a Hallmark and soap-opera quality, which falls short of the quality I want in feature films. Though it addresses dark topics, it cannot go dark enough because it has to remain family-friendly. The darkest My Brother’s Keeper gets is Travis’ attempted suicide.
“The message that God is greater than our tragedy comes across loud and clear.”
Also, the dialogue is very (what I used to call) church-i-nese. It’s full of Christian jargon, full of terms and phrases that Christians understand, and the unchurched might find unfamiliar or confusing. Also, conversations can feel like sermons and rely too much on “trust God” as a simple answer to life’s problems. Before I begin to sound like an atheist or backslidden Christian, I’m attracted to movies that dig deep into the human condition and challenge the easy answers. Life is hard, and I believe God can help us overcome even the worst of circumstances, but it’s rarely as easy as presented in stories like this. Finding light in life is a struggle, but it’s that struggle that makes us stronger as believers and people (sermon over). Again, it’s almost impossible to be authentic and remain family-friendly at the same time.
On the upside, My Brother’s Keeper maintains the independent filmmaker tradition of telling feature-length stories with very little or no budget. It’s a good-looking flick and employs many cost-cutting practices. If you’re trying to make a low-budget film, I always direct filmmakers to faith movies because that’s their bread and butter, and they do it well.
My Brother’s Keeper serves the faith-based genre well. If you’re looking for a message of faith and hope during the worst of times, you can’t lose.
"…serves the faith-based genre well."
