Title: Jesus Revolution (2023; PG-13)
Directors: Jon Erwin and Brent McCorkle
Major Themes: Jesus Movement, Hippies, Revivals
Synopsis: When a young hippie, Greg Laurie, encounters street preacher Lonnie Frisbee, he is inexplicably drawn to the love he sees in this man—and begins a journey of transformation and true hope.
After reading the Jesus Revolution book about a year ago, I knew I wanted to see the movie sometime—and though it took quite a while to get around to watching the movie, I’m glad I took the time to watch it! It might not be quite as good as the book (what movie is?), but it was still a timely reminder of what God has done in the past and can still do today.
Movie description:
In the 1970s, young Greg Laurie (Joel Courtney) is searching for all the right things in all the wrong places: until he meets Lonnie Frisbee (Jonathan Roumie), a charismatic hippie-street-preacher. Together with Pastor Chuck Smith (Kelsey Grammer), they open the doors of Smith’s languishing church to an unexpected revival of radical and newfound love, leading to what TIME Magazine dubbed a “Jesus Revolution.”
My thoughts:
It’s interesting to watch a movie like this, based on events that have directly influenced my family’s history. I likely would not be here without God bringing this “Jesus movement” about. But because He did—and because someone involved in the movement lived a Christian life in front of my grandfather—my grandparents eventually met Jesus.
I found this movie quite challenging. How do I look at people who are different from me? Am I willing to let the Lord lead and use me, no matter if I work in obscurity all my days, or have a more public platform? Am I willing to follow Him, no matter what other people think or how they perceive what I do? Seeing this church family embrace hippies—where they were, as they were—was a blessing to me. And yes, it wasn’t always easy or good—but their faithfulness to the Word and the gospel was inspiring.
I especially appreciated this gem: “Don’t be so arrogant to think that God can’t work through your failures.” I don’t remember who said it, but wow—that is a good challenge!
After reading Jesus Revolution, and now watching the movie, I feel like I’ve been given a slightly more rounded picture of the era my grandparents grew up in. I found this movie encouraging and inspiring—in a slightly different way than the book. I feel like the book is better than the movie, but both are worth a lot in their own way. This is a story we need to hear in our modern-day church, and I’m glad I got the chance to watch it.
WARNING: From 13:39–18:15, (this cuts in and out with an important conversation) people are at a hippie concert, taking drugs, and an unmarried couple lays side by side on the ground. From 21:00–21:20, a man has a flashback to his mom hanging out at a bar with men she’s not married to. From 27:16–29:37, people are on drugs, there’s some smoking, and someone almost chokes to death (there are several scenes with people on drugs later, but I didn’t note them all). From 35:46–36:43, a boy finds out his dad isn’t coming back. From 42:47–44:20, people nearly get into an accident, with multiple people on drugs. From 55:39–56:20, there is a depiction of a man sinking through the water, possibly getting close to drowning, before he comes back up to the surface. There is an unmarried kiss at 1:04:50. Somewhere along the line, someone says “Oh my gosh.” From 1:21:50–1:22:26, a couple argue with raised voices. From 1:25:15–1:26:30, someone is drinking, in a nightclub, and then there’s a car crash where someone gets hurt. At 1:49:36, there’s another unmarried kiss.
Appropriate ages:
Reading Independently—Ages 15 and Above, Adults
Links to buy this movie:
Amazon: Prime Video | DVD | Blu-Ray
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