A Matter of Perspective

This is a short film regarding Garreth, who works for a Christian gift company, and who is grumpy as all heck. The film starts with him driving like a madman through the streets of his small rural town (why do these films always take place in small, rural towns?), then arrives at his work, back talks his employers, flirts with the receptionist, and complains about people from California the way a racist would minorities. Suddenly he's taken into a meeting with HR and his boss, and they tell him bluntly that he's going to be moved to another department or fired because of his attitude. This is where Garreth has a waking moment about how far he's gone.

The problem here is that this feels like a storyline that should have been better done in a full length film rather than a short film. Garreth's character turn happens WAY too fast, and WAY too easily. It's literally: "You need to change." / "Okay!" Considering that for the first half of the film I got the feeling Garreth was a cranky person with some signs of being a narcissist (eg., thinking people are after him, looking down on anyone, even management, who disagrees with him, etc.), I couldn't foresee this quick of a character turn being that realistic. If the film was an hour and a half, it might have been far more realistic, or explored the topic with more room for Garreth's room to breathe. (To give a positive example, the film "Flywheel" covers a Christian man's character turn, but does it much slower and much more realistically.) Add to this that his character turn is REALLY over the top. On the drive home, he looks out the window, and - as the music reaches a crescendo - he sees a bald eagle flying gloriously in the sky. I am not making this up. It was so ridiculous I actually burst out laughing.

The other problem is that they portray Garreth's problem as just having a problem with his "walk with God." Uh... excuse me? He insults other people, acts like a hypocrite, and even HITS ON WOMEN AT WORK. And he's a married man, mind you - according to Biblical standards, that's adultery. By contrast, the film tries to pass it off as if he's being too "friendly" - uh... no. You go up to someone not your wife, especially a coworker, and start saying, "Hey beautiful..." that goes well beyond the limits of being friendly. This isn't having a problem with your "walk with God"... this is called living a life of blatant sin. The movie acts like Garreth made a few oopsies or some innocent stumbles here and there, when that's not the case.

I give this three stars because it's not the worst thing ever, but it really is ridiculous. I understand this was probably meant as a quick moral lesson, but even there it has shortcomings.

Rich Swingle shares moments of strength and vulnerability throughout the transformation. Really enjoyed the story about perspective and how easy things can shift when you choose to change. Tim Kaiser work was really lovely. The landscape visuals were glorious. Thank you for this story and creating it to lift up faith and hope.