... people make movies!
What do you do when God tells you to do something? You obey! Right? Of course! That's what Abraham did. And that's what Pastor Richard Gazowsky does. And God talks to him quite a bit. Of course, it doesn't matter how weird the orders
seem, or how impossible the task
seems. God has His reasons, and He will make a way.
Right? Of course! What alternative is there, anyway? Disobey? What, are you crazy? Disobey orders from
God Himself?
It's not clear to me what form Pastor G's marching orders took. I'd guess probably not certified mail, postmarked "Heaven". Maybe an audible voice. Maybe it was an interpetation to a message in tongues. Maybe a still small voice (which, to me, is hard to distinguish from random thoughts and daydreams... which happen to me a lot. Hmm. Maybe God
does want me to play Blackjack for a living... But I digress). Whatever the medium, RG somehow knows it's genuine.
And I mean
knows! Why else would he sell his house to finance the miracle? Or expect his followers to give generously? Or allow a documentary to be made about the whole thing?
Oh yeah. The documentary. On with the review.
The directing debut of Mike Jacobs, "Audience of One", is very well done. The treatment of the subject was quite even-handed, in my opinion. Pastor G calls his movie company "Christian WYSIWYG Filmworks". What You See is What You Get. What we
see is a rag tag bunch of people, many of them with no experience at all, jumping head first into a project of Biblical proportions. The divinely ordained project is a film, "Gravity: The Shadow of Joseph". (They describe it as "Star Wars meets The Ten Commandments".) And comedy ensues.
And Pastor Gazowsky speaks for himself, many times throughout. We get to hear about the incredible vision he has, as he presents it to his congregation. We see the genuine excitement and the enthusiasm. We see his church cheering him on. We can't help but admire him for his dedication!
But, as with all God-given visions (so I've heard from many sermons, over the years), there is a testing period. It seems that this particular vision has been nothing
but a testing period. Budget problems. Camera jams. Eviction. But when God speaks, none of that matters. You want to pass the "test". You keep on keeping on, and He will make a way. In "His time".
They've completed two shots, so far. If a day is like a thousand years, well, none of us will still be alive when God's time arrives for "Gravity" to be released. Which is too bad. I would really like to see it. But, if by some miracle I do see it (in this life), I'll be sure to give you a full report!
We hear RG explain why he would not meet with people from the City of San Francisco (their landlords) on the issue of unpaid rent: God told him not to go. We see prayer warriors, doing battle against the forces of Satan, who are working so hard to jam cameras, telling city officials to kick WYSIWYG out of their studio on Treasure Island, making the investors back out of the project, and so on. (Sadly, not everyone involved has the same vision that our hero does.)
But God is hard at work, too! Like when they found a farmer in Italy (where they were filming -- this is a big budget film!) who gave them a bunch of stuff to use as props. He
gave it to them! It's a miracle! And like when they were able to unjam the camera in just a few hours! (With God's help, of course.)
If this doesn't sound very "even-handed", I'm not even sure this documentary
could have been slanted in RG's direction. It could have been slanted away much more! What you see is what you get. We see the director (Pastor G himself) at work, and we hear his and the crew's own words. The project tells its own story. There was very little editorial comment. Some updates written on screen, and, if it even counts as editorial, a few questions posed off camera. Pastor G handled them well enough. "If God told you to stop, would you?" The response was, essentially, of course he would stop, but God wouldn't do that. Of course.
There was no shortage of jaw-dropping moments. But the most mind-boggling scene of all had to be of Pastor G presenting to the church the latest message from God, with the help of Powerpoint. Yes, Richard has received more orders. They even have a catchy name: "Eight Arrows Smite Ground". God just never lets up, does He? That church, "Voice of Pentecost", has got its work cut out for it. They are going to produce many more films. There will be film festivals. They will have cable TV and satellite networks. Man, you just can't out-dream God, can you? Hang on to your seats. The biggest arrow of all is about to smite: The Voice of Pentecost, get this, is going to be the first, I kid you not, group of people, you ready for this?, to
colonize outer space! Glowraaaaay!
I highly recommend this movie. It's entertaining. Enlightening. Depressing. Oops! Did I say depressing? Well, it actually doesn't need to be. Only if you reflect on the things you've seen a bit too much, wondering how the folks in the congregation feel about all this, when they're not on camera. Are they wondering how many of the arrows will smite their checkbooks, again and again? Wondering how many more messages from God their pastor will be getting? Next time, they might ask to see a certified letter. I would, if I were them.
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