Against All Hope

An actor's first film is usually something one can afford to miss - it's often that first job where the lack of film experience by everyone involved is truly on display, and this film is no exception.

But worse than that, even by 1982 standards this is so bad, it's hysterically funny. Filmed entirely in the Chicago area on an obviously small budget, most of the acting by the entire cast is stiff, wooden, and cartoonish - a cross between a high school play and bad community theater. Noise from nearby traffic often drowns out the dialog, and the dialog is truly bad, very declarative in a way that comes off as forced and expedient rather than natural and organic. Scenes are contrived and choppy, and even though the characters go through a span of years, neither the children nor the adults age at all.

I do believe it's possible to make a Christian film that's palatable to a large, secular audience, but too often the creators of such films are so focused on 'The Message' or in this case, their own autobiographical ties to the project that good film production values are tossed aside. (I'm sure it's no coincidence that the main character has the same name as the producer/director/editor - and cast member.)

Luckily, Michael Madsen was much more interesting - and believable - to watch in his subsequent films. Careers like his are certainly not built on films like this one.

His life in shambles and no where to turn young Cecil Moe looks in the phone book for help and finds the name of a minister who's doors are open to everyone, day or night, who need guidance.

Coming over to Rev. Tom Bird's home in the early hours of the morning with only death on his mind and despair in his heart Cecil tells the reverend that "I want to kill myself but I'm too afraid to do it". With Rev. Bird listening Cecil tells the story of his sorry life beginning with the day that he found his mom Julia on the floor paralyzed from a stroke and later seeing the nurse who was taking care of her, Myma, abusing her and him being unable to stop it.

Myma later married Moe's dad Cliff and also treated him shabbily in fact she was responsible for his death. Cliff going to see Moe at the naval base before he shipped out to sea was pushed down a flight of stairs by an outraged Myma, she hated Moe with a passion, who didn't want him to spend any time with his son. Th fall caused Cliff to suffered a heart attack that eventually killed him.

With his father and mother dead and feeling hurt for not being able to prevent their hurt and suffering at the hands of that vicious witch Myma, Cecil's step-mother,Cecil turned to the bottle to forget his troubles. That only created new and more serious ones for Cecil by doing that.

Having a sweet and caring wife Jean and two cute and endearing boys, Ronnie and Stan, as well as a good job as a contractor doing roofing contracts all over the county Cecil later lost everything due to the booze he became hooked on. Now poor Cecil is in danger of losing his life.

Michael Madsen in his first movie role gives a both honest and touching performance as the troubled Cecil Moe who finds his way to God and thus the way out of the hell. A hell that he created not only for himself but for his family and friends as well.

Admittedly the film "Against All Hope" is very heavy in the religious slant of how Cecil's life was turned around and comes off in some scenes as if it were made by a major Christian TV network, like the 700 Club. Inspite off all that the movie made you feel so good watching how Cicel, with the help of Rev. Bird, overcame his addiction to alcohol and not only having himself become a kind and feeling person but also how he turned the lives around of everyone that he came in contact with, after his own personal revival, that you overlooked that fact. Even though at the same time we have to accept that the events in the film about Cecil's overcoming alcoholism and all the evils that go along with it, through his faith in God and acceptance of Jesus Christ, are based on a true story.

Moving little film with a cast of unknowns that really grabs you and shows you that with faith there's nothing that one can't overcome and how it, faith in a higher power as well as in oneself, can save anyone like it did Cecil if he or she only believes in it. The Reverand Bird was played by Cecil Moe himself who the movie "Against All Hope" was based on and who, Cecil Moe, was played by actor Michael Madsen.

I picked this DVD up at the Dollar Store. The DVD was on the 2 for $1 rack, but since it had Michael Madsen in it, I thought that since I had never seen the movie, I bought it anyway.

I must say that I didn't like the movie. The movie played more like a documentary or an advertisement for religion than anything else. I found that the director's use of flashbacks did not add to the story line for me. I would have preferred to view the story line in chronological order.

I won't throw it away like one of the other commentators, but It may be quite awhile before I would consider watching this movie again.

Who knows, since it was Michael Madsen's film debut, maybe it might have some archival value at some future date.

Definitely an odd debut for Michael Madsen. Madsen plays Cecil Moe, an alcoholic family man whose life is crumbling all around him. Cecil grabs a phone book, looks up the name of a preacher, and calls him in the middle of the night. He goes to the preacher's home and discusses his problems. The preacher teaches Cecil to respect the word of God and have Jesus in his heart. That makes everything all better. Ahh...if only everything in life were that easy. The fact that this "film" looks as if it was made with about $500 certainly doesn't help. 1/10

This DVD was a real surprise. Madsen plays Cecil Moe who has to come to grips with his alcoholism and the way his life is falling apart. It is a familiar story but the surprise is that the this movie really tries to portray the role Christianity plays in the lives of many people in the U.S. This doesn't happen very often in movies. It shows how faith can change a man in crisis, and how he feels when his wife does not become interested in the religious experience. In spite of the flaws in the movie that other reviewers point out, it is worthy of your attention, if you are interested in seeing Christianity portrayed as large numbers of ordinary people experience it.

This was filmed in Chicago and some northern suburbs. The real life Cecil Moe appears in the movie as the minister.