Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Reviewing a film like Machine Gun Preacher becomes a very complicated
 exercise for me. Religion is a huge hot button issue for me, and much 
like Mike Edwards had in his now legendary review of The Blind Side, 
I have an issue about the overly Christian nature of Machine Gun
 Preacher.

 What I am about to say here is incredibly politically incorrect. I 
really don’t want to incite any sort of hatred or religious debate, 
I’m merely stating my own point of view so that people can see where I’m 
coming from in this review.

I am a vehemently anti-religious person. I believe it to be a
 suppression of everything that makes us human; our individuality 
and ability to think freely and a crutch for people who are afraid 
that there is no purpose to life other than to live. People who do not
 want to take responsibility or face the fact that that horrible car
 crash that took your parents from you was just a random accident. Like
 extinguishing the flame of a candle, two complicated and involved lives 
snatched away into the ether. For no God damn reason.

There’s no master plan, how could there be? Senseless violence and pointless death that
 accomplishes nothing cannot be justified by the existence of a higher
 power. In fact, using that theory, it makes even less sense. 

Religion should be a tool of love and unity, but as often is the case 
with human nature it has been subverted to divide people and corrupt 
free thinking, to manipulate them into cooperating like sheep, all in
 “the name of God” when really it’s just a man in a fancy hat, or a man 
in a white collar telling you the way it is. There’s no message to 
hate homosexuals in the Bible. There’s nothing about the position
 women serve in Islam in the Koran. This was invented later by the 
subversion of the texts for the benefit of manipulative and aspiring 
men.

Now, here’s the really politically incorrect thing to say … If you look
 at religion frameworks like Christianity, Judaism and Islam closely, 
you may be surprised to discover that there really isn’t that much 
difference between them. They all worship the same deity, just give
 him a different name and they all believe in the Jesus Christ figure, 
though across them his origin is slightly different. In Islam he is a 
messenger, a prophet, but not a direct descendant of God. Then, if you
 trace it back you’ll see that a lot of the stories that run parallel
 across these religions are actually cribbed from a number of ancient
 sources and texts such as Egyptian and Greek mythology. This isn’t
 Religious Education, so there’s no need to spend thousands of words
 going into it. The point is, Christianity and Islam are actually not,
 fundamentally world’s apart as many people would be led to believe. 
This is why the war in Uganda and the Sudan is particularly
 despicable. It is a disgraceful and needless war. Two forces killing
 each other for little reason other than the hate in their leader’s
 malicious hearts and the manipulation of their own source materials.

Machine Gun Preacher had a chance to shed some interesting light on
 the conflict, but unfortunately it shies away from this potentially
 controversial opportunity. Machine Gun Preacher is based on a true
 story, the life of Sam Childers (Gerard Butler) an ex motorcycle gang 
criminal and man of excess (heroin, alcohol etc). The film begins with
 Sam’s release from a stint in prison and being picked up by his
 girlfriend (Michele Monaghan).

He goes home to his trailer in 
Pennsylvania and immediately immerses himself in the excesses of old.
 He is also furious that his girlfriend has got a “proper job” and
 is no longer a stripper at a seedy club he used to frequent. Needless
 to say she has “Found God”.

 Sam leaves in a rage and hooks up with his old gang buddy Donnie 
(Michael Shannon) and the two men proceed to punish their bodies as
 much as they can.

Strangely enough it’s the first opening twenty
 minutes where the film feels rather weak. Perhaps surprisingly Gerard
 Butler just isn’t convincing as the wild card, dangerous man, perhaps 
because he is too stoic and still of an actor. He isn’t the most
 expressive and when he attempts to unleash he comes across as a little
 hammy. Anger without pathos or reason. He looks angry, but you don’t 
feel the anger, it just feels forced.

For the most part, forced and contrived seems like a pretty apt
 descriptor for the entire film, with lots of scenes of happy, clappy
 chappies (to quote Craig Charles) in church singing about how God has
 saved them and all of this other nonsense. Now, I understand this is
 based on a true story and much like The Blind Side, there is some
 Christian content to be had. However, much like The Blind Side, this 
content is suffocating and intrusive. Everyone is entitled to their 
own beliefs of course, but there’s nothing I can’t stand more than having 
someone preach and force their beliefs on me. Through a lot of Machine 
Gun Preacher I felt cornered, with the figurative bible literally 
being forced down my throat and it left a particularly awful taste in 
my mouth.

Director Marc Forster, who started his career as such an interesting and
 intelligent director seems to have really lost his spark over the
 years. This is a film that I would have expected him to expose the 
inherent irony in having a man storm into an African country, a part
 of the world he doesn’t fully understand, and praise the wonders of
 Christianity to the South (who are predominantly Christian). Childers
 goes to Africa to build houses for children and villages, but ends up
 venturing deep into the war zone and seeing the atrocities that occur
on a daily basis he becomes obsessed with helping the children, 
building churches and orphanages and playgrounds and ultimately
 becoming their saviour.

That’ all well and good, but Forster happens
 to gloss over the fact that the reason this war is occurring is
 because of a difference in religion. The North are predominantly 
Islamic and are butchering people and enslaving children with
 difference in belief as their excuse. 

The irony is simple, just how much good can one white man, vengefully 
gunning down Northern rebels with ferocious anger, possibly help the 
conflict? If anything, by using Christianity as his backbone he is
only giving the enemy further reason to fight. Surely if Childers had
 expelled his religion and attempted to become Africa’s saviour without
 religion coming into it, it would be far more powerful? This is a 
question I was expecting the man behind the powerful Monster’s Ball to
 delve into, perhaps as a criticism. Instead, probably because Childers
 was involved with the film, it praises his actions in Africa and only 
makes him look bad in terms of the effects the obsession has on him
 momentarily and the neglect of his family for his African mission.

Of 
course this short stint of dangerous obsession is wrapped up in a 
pretty little contrived sentimental bow and nixed pretty quickly in
favour of just how awesome and inspiring he is. 

Yes, Sam Childers has accomplished a frankly monumental feat. He has
 saved the lives of nearly 3000 children. That is incalculable to most
 of us and certainly should not be forgotten or diminished. However,
 the way in which he has achieved this cannot help the situation in
 Sudan because he fights with vengeful ferocity and preaching
 Christianity, one of the major factors in causing the war. It will 
just incite further violence and won’t solve the problems. I suppose I 
was hoping to see a balanced argument rather than idolizing a man and
 essentially turning him into a saint. 

Even worse, rather than to look at the issue Forster decides to dilute 
the conflict further by playing down the North’s reason for fighting, 
aka their Islamic belief, instead merely relegating them to the territory of bland and cartoonish villainy.

Forster was once a 
director who delivered measured and interesting pieces of film making 
that considered both sides of an issue, so a conflict like this would
 ideally be absolutely perfect for him. Whether it’s due to lack of
control over the material or just lack of drive Forster succumbs to 
this sentimental and tiresome film and ultimately trivializes a very 
serious issue that the world continues to face in various forms all 
over. The untimely issue of the frivolity of killing another man over
 petty differences. Every man, woman and child has the right to believe 
and be what they want to be, just as we all have the right to live.

Gerard Butler turns in his career best performance here, and while he
 does get much better as the film progresses he still just isn’t quite
 strong enough to hold a serious drama on his own. Michael Shannon and
 Michelle Monaghan provide good support, but at the same time they 
aren’t really given much to do, simply pushed into very cut and paste 
roles that you would find in any drama.

 Expect Gerard Butler to be mentioned around Oscar time because of The
 Blind Side Effect and also the fact that it’s a film about a world 
issue that only skims the surface, because if it actually delved into
 the issue that would be too controversial for The Academy Awards.

What could have been a very insightful and intriguing film about a 
struggle, using a man and the impact he has made upon it as a focal
 point and axis, instead becomes a trivial and hypocritical ego boost 
that squanders any potential it had. Mr Forster I am disappointed.

 

Machine Gun Preacher begins a U.S. release on September 23rd and hits U.K. cinema’s on November 18th.

Want to write about the stuff you're passionate about and have your work read by an audience of over 10 million a month? Click here to become a contributor.