The idea of Christian cinema has always tended to confuse me a little bit. I can never figure out whether its purpose is to provide wholesome entertainment for Christians, or to minister to unbelievers and invite them to take a second look at what Christianity professes. I think that often times, most faith-based moviemakers are trying to do both at the same time. Not that aiming for both is necessarily a bad thing, but I think that having more than one goal in mind can often confuse a writer who wants to tell a great story — and I know from experience, seeing as when I’m not blurting my thoughts out on my blog I’m probably trying to write the next great American screenplay that will win an Oscar and sell out tickets at Comic-Con. (I can dream, can’t I?)
So when I sat down in a theatre to see The Song, created in Louisville KY (practically within spitting distance of my family and spectacular college), I wasn’t really sure which lens to view it through. Just before the projectors rolled, I was informed that it was a modern-day telling of the story of Solomon. I thought that was pretty cool. Solomon is often times a bit overlooked as far as Bible characters go, but he really figured out the human condition. A lot of his writings really helped me get through angst and questioning doubts in high school, because he — like me — wondered what the point of it all was. And I think he managed to do that because he had, unlike his subjects, pretty much what we western moviegoers all have now: an education, and a life where we can pursue our own hobbies and recreational delights since we don’t have to slave day and night for the meals on our plates. But Solomon was racy, too; can anyone say, seven-hundred wives?
And so the film began. The first ten minutes were hard to swallow, with a mystic voice-over (which continues throughout the film, I might add) and a montage about a musician named David King and the scandal that led to the birth of his son, Jed. That entire story could have been a phenomenal movie in and of itself, actually. But I could barely focus on that, because for a while… it felt like another round of the usual “Catch the Bible Reference!” game that most Christian movies are known for. Seriously: they offered free t-shirts afterwards to anybody who could name one.
The main character (who was not named Saul, for some reason that I still can’t fathom since every other name was beyond mere innuendo) is simply living his life professing a faith he doesn’t seem to cling to. He meets a sweet girl that is obviously going to be his love interest, so she therefore needs no more personality other than “sweet” and can get away with growing up in the Kentucky countryside and yet somehow know nothing about country music or skipping stones. Smitten, Jed immediately sweeps her off her feet by mocking her over-the-top-obviously-evil ex-boyfriend, and then acting so vaguely honorable and charming that the girl has no choice but to eventually marry him. His love for her inspires a new wave of songs, which rocket him to stardom and happiness in five years (or for us, five seconds). But then, we suddenly learn that his marriage is growing strained thanks to the long tours away from home, and a cigarette-smoking soprano named Shelby has joined his gang of musicians with mascara-laden eyes only for him.
What follows is perhaps inevitable, but still portrayed realistically enough that I did start to feel a little empathy for most of the characters the first few times they backslide. Jed’s choices finally carry weight and he finally becomes his own person, instead of living in the shadow of his father (or his role as a Biblical allegory). However, that ‘own person’ has some serious issues… and don’t we all? We’re all wondering what the point of life is, what purpose we have if we were not made, all of that.
But while this movie does a great job of asking the same question as all mankind… it doesn’t provide a convincing answer the way that it professed it would. I mean, evidently we’re supposed to stay faithful to our spouses and put our families first and make good choices because everything else under the sun is meaningless… but The Song doesn’t actually give any convincing evidence that suggests why these choices might be beneficial. We go straight from the first date to the honeymoon to the whispered fights once the child is in bed. We go straight from the love poetry to the barbed words, which are slung between two people who seem to have never actually bothered to communicate with each other about anything. If their marriage ever was really happy and fulfilling and transparently honest, it’s never shown to us.
So as far as a message meant to reach out to unbelievers (or even believers), The Song leaves a little to be desired, really. It’s a touch stiff at some points, especially in the beginning, but thank goodness it’s at least self-aware enough to mock those points only seconds later. It's definitely starting to take a step forward in the genre of Christian cinema, daring to face facts and really wrestle in the dark with real-life issues. Nonetheless, the story feels incomplete… like perhaps the third or fourth draft of what may need a couple more rewrites if it wants to really wow its audience, and make a faithful married life actually seem appealing.
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