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War Room: My Movie Review
The Friday feature of the Worldly Saints blog is an opportunity for blogging about anything. Unlike the other days of prescribed themes, this day is for blogging about an issue that I couldn’t fit anywhere else or couldn’t wait until next week to write.
On Wednesday night, my wife Andrea and I, the other three elders from our church and their spouses all went to see War Room. Our decision to see the movie came mostly from a recommendation by one of our elders that we educate ourselves on its content so that we can speak intelligently about what it teaches Christians and especially if any from our own congregation inquire about it.
I have to say my general reaction to the movie can be summed up in two words: “pleasantly surprised.” A number of non-doctrinal things were encouraging to see:
Religious movies are becoming far less cheesy.
The acting in this movie was not average, but good, and in some places very good.
The humor wasn’t dumb; it was smart and very well placed.
Most religious movies I’ve seen I’ve either not enjoyed or have really regretted seeing. But this movie doesn’t fall into either of those categories. I’m thankful to have had the opportunity to see this movie, and I’d like to share with you a brief review of its content.
The Plot
Quoting directly from the movie’s website, we read, “Tony and Elizabeth Jordan have it all—great jobs, a beautiful daughter, and their dream house. But appearances can be deceiving. Tony and Elizabeth Jordan’s world is actually crumbling under the strain of a failing marriage. While Tony basks in his professional success and flirts with temptation, Elizabeth resigns herself to increasing bitterness. But their lives take an unexpected turn when Elizabeth meets her newest client, Miss Clara, and is challenged to establish a “war room” and a battle plan of prayer for her family. As Elizabeth tries to fight for her family, Tony’s hidden struggles come to light. Tony must decide if he will make amends to his family and prove Miss Clara’s wisdom that victories don’t come by accident.”
The Good
Marriage Reconciliation – My favorite part of the movie was not as much about the effectiveness of prayer, but this powerful story of marriage reconciliation and the importance of staying faithful to one’s spouse. At times, I quickly forgot about the backdrop of prayer in the movie and was so “zoned in” on the submission Elizabeth displayed towards Tony, despite how Tony treated Elizabeth, and how God used Elizabeth’s godly attitude to help soften Tony’s heart. I found myself thanking God for intervening when Tony was considering cheating on Elizabeth and prompting him to walk away from the temptation. At the beginning of the movie, Tony and Elizabeth were quickly on their way to an ugly divorce, but by engaging of God in prayer and a multitude of selfless decisions by Elizabeth, God drew this couple back together. If there was a moment when I could have gotten emotional during the movie, it was when Tony was broken before Elizabeth, begging her to forgive him, having been won over by the undeserved grace she’d shown him. How encouraging to see!
Prayer and Spiritual Warfare – The central theme of the movie is about the power of prayer and its place in spiritual warfare. And what was so helpful to see was how Miss Clara, and then later, Elizabeth, would show us the laboring nature of prayer. They struggled. They fought. They wrestled with God’s will. There was transparency. There was honesty. There were no formula-type prayers. There was no praying other words written out for you. It was a serious communion of a hurting soul before a sovereign God. I enjoyed seeing what prayer often looks like and the level of seriousness that prayer was given as a means of grace by which God teaches us to wait on Him and trust Him. Prayer and spiritual warfare is a battle and it is serious and the movie does an excellent job of communicating that.
Earthly to Spiritual Conversation Lessons – On a very minor note, it was encouraging to see tangible examples of spiritual people taking earthly conversation and turning it into intentional spiritual conversation. For a Christian looking for some examples of how to turn a conversation into a spiritual one (whether that be with a Christian or not), Miss Clara very helpfully showed us ways that can be done.
Discipleship – One encouraging scene found Miss Clara sitting down with her disciple Elizabeth and encouraging her to find a young woman to mentor. Instead of taking the lessons that Elizabeth received from Miss Clara and keeping them to herself, Elizabeth was exhorted to live in the spirit of II Timothy 2:2 and Titus 2:3-5. How often do you see an exhortation to disciple others in a Christian movie?
The Bad
Power over Satan? During a very dramatic and important “hinge” in the movie, Elizabeth is meditating on James 4:7, which says, “Submit to God; resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Elizabeth draws the conclusion (on her own, I might add), that she needs to cast out the devil from her home. Elizabeth then proceeds to walk through her house and into her backyard, telling Satan to leave her house and her marriage and that she was going to take it back from the Devil and give it to Christ. What is bothersome about her conclusion is two-fold:
First, we have no power over the devil. There is not a single verse in Scripture that tells us the devil has anything to fear in us. He is supernatural; we are natural. He has been preying on this world for thousands of years. Who are we to think that he would be intimated by us? We don’t even have the authority to bind him in any way. We can resist him by submitting to God, but we should not dare to rebuke him. Why would Michael, the archangel, refuse to rebuke Satan (Jude 9) if we are given that liberty?
Second, Satan is not omnipresent. How would we even know he is there? What would make someone like Elizabeth believe that, of all the places that the Devil could be tormenting or influencing, he would decide to focus on a well-to-do suburban family with marital difficulties? Why would he pour out his energies there? It is naïve to even think that. In fact, I think it can be perceived as borderline prideful to think you are important enough or threatening enough to think Satan is primarily concerned about you
2. Probably my biggest concern in the movie is that Elizabeth gets everything she prays for. While she doesn’t pray for inappropriate things, it is still very misleading to expect that God will always give us what we want. He is not a genie waiting to give us 3 wishes or a vending machine giving us whatever we choose. Elizabeth prays or asks for some important things (e.g., the heart of her husband to change) and them asks for smaller things like ice cream sundaes. Prayer is never a guarantee that God functions this way. And I can’t help but wonder, given the denominational background of some of the characters in the movie and the production team if some of this comes from the Word Faith baggage.
My Recommendation
I have no problem recommending the movie, because the essence of what most people will gain from the movie can be encouraging and can be edifying. I can see a couple struggling with their communication or their roles in the marriage being stirred to renew their vows to one another. I can see a Christian who fails to engage in prayer often or enough being reminded that prayer is, as Charles Spurgeon says, the means by which we “move the muscles of omnipotence.”
The only disclaimer I would have about this movie is that I’d hesitate to recommend the movie to a young or immature believer. Someone who hasn’t had the opportunity to develop godly discernment and wisdom may come away from this film believing in some of the above-mentioned concerns; they could develop some misconceptions of prayer and their relationship to Satan.
If I knew someone who fit this category of immaturity (for whatever reason), I wouldn’t send them to see the movie. But I probably would go with them to see it, and then I’d spend some time afterwards helping them to identify the biblical inconsistencies and then elaborating on the helpful lessons to be learned from it.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, I would dare say this is one of the best religious movies I’ve seen in a while. The cheesy storylines, the bad acting, the boring humor, and the unhelpful or misguided plots aren’t present here as they were in previous Christian movies. If you choose to see the movie, I believe you will be glad you went, and I think you’ll enjoy the profitable conversation that’ll come afterwards.
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