A Movie We Enjoyed

Drew and I watched the movie, Tender Mercies last night. We use Blockbuster Online and I decided to add some older movies into our queue, some things we either had never seen or had not seen in a long time and wanted to see again. Last night's choice was one we had not seen before. Both of us really liked it.

I remember my dad one time telling me that Tender Mercies was one of the few movies out of Hollywood that gives favorable or sympathetic treatment to Christians, and now that I've seen it, I have to agree that is so. The Christians are presented as genuine and not hypocritical and not falsely preachy, either.

Some of the characters did take our Lord's name in vain, which I really hate and wish they could have left out, but it was in keeping with the character, and the transformation of the main character's life rang very true.

Also, one of the hallmarks of good writing is the rule, "Show, don't tell." This was drilled into us daily by our creative writing teacher in high school. It's also a rule I apparently have a very hard time following, as I am often much too wordy. Anyway, this rule was excellently applied in this movie. Especially the ending. It was very clear what point was being made, without any character saying a word of explanation. I loved the ending, and I'm glad I finally got around to watching this one.