New Hope

A new preacher has come from Colorado to the Louisiana town of New Hope and they've got the usual problems of settling in the new place that we all have. Especially Samuel Davis who is a high school senior and not wanting to start all over again in a new place. Some families would have boarded their son with another family until the senior term was up.

But not this family because as it turns out he's got a destiny, that is to save New Hope's star athlete Ben Davies from an overpowering grief and lead the team to a state championship. Davies has never gotten over the suicide of his younger brother, feels he should have spotted something. That doesn't work in a lot of instances even when it is not a subject for a Christian film.

It also doesn't help that Davis is now taking up with Perry Frost who was the deceased brother's girlfriend. Most of the film Davies is having a chip on his shoulder.

I have to confess when I saw the title I thought this might be a gay film. Possibly the producers didn't know that New Hope, Pennsylvania is a popular gay tourist spot. Or maybe they thought they'd get a gay customer or two to watch the film and be saved.

Of course the fact that the kid brother who suicided might have been gay and not found a lot of support in this Bible belt town. Something I have never seen addressed in any Christian film, but it's the number one cause for suicide among teens.

And you sure won't see that issue brought up in New Hope.

I couldn't even get past the first 15 minutes without switching to a different movie. Badly acted, same overused crappy "this is my senior year I wanna make the best of it!" stereotype that's literally in hundreds of other movies, the overused "looks like it time to go to pound town! Population YOU!" Disney bully wannabe. As a Christian myself, the faith isn't shown well acted even a little bit. I have nothing else to say. Nothing good for even a single second. I can already see from the 15 minutes that the guy has super weak faith which isn't a problem but for a movie that's trying to make a CHRISTIAN movie at least have the main character have a little more faith.

Overall, good message and a complete cliché as a Christian movie. I like to see a balance of reality with Christian faith and this movie does a nice job being real with the characters. I say good for an "older" family because of the way a condom is integrated into the plot in a very pivotal way. Meaning, your pre-teens and younger youth might have a few questions after viewing about contraceptives.. the feedback on the parental content advisory of "student is tempted to have sex" is insufficient. The temptation and the character's response and behavior as a result is central to 5-10 minutes of the film. Hard to just casually play past it and not have unanswered questions for younger viewers.

Nevertheless, for a family of teenagers this will be a good discussion item as you can review the different characters, their behaviors, differences in values, etc.

Let's be perfectly straight I am not a Christian and I read a review that implied that this movie is not overtly or strongly Christian - well I beg to differ.

But I loved the cast, the music and the heartfelt message about new hope rising after grief, loss and change. But this film doesn't gloss over the struggle. We see a steep and rocky climb to rise out of the pit of depression, guilt and self-doubt and the loss of life's meaning that comes with the loss of someone special and central to your heart and life. The struggle to allow life to go on while letting yourself leave that person behind - all sensitively portrayed.

I really like the messages the pastor/ dad gave to a family in grief. No platitudes just heartfelt support and great compassion. He passed these qualities on to his son and it was really nice to watch the evolution of Lucas' and Michael's relationship. The worked hard for that rapport and understanding.

The character of Jasmine was a total joy to behold and the power of a close knit community.

I believe this is a true story. I would love to read it.

R2 release another Christian movie which is ideal for teen and family viewing, great to see it in widescreen and with some great colour work, but watching on DVD as I have done some small problems with the sound at times.

The storyline of a preacher and his family moving to a new small town and the problems their older teen son has in his last year is great develops well, we see Samuel Davis star as the son and he steals the film with a stunning performance, closely matched by a R2 regular Ben Davies, but there were a few wooden performances.

R2 continue to develop and overall "New Hope" is another step forward though as I state a little disappointing in some aspects. I do feel that this will see the start of a great acting career for Samuel Davis a name to watch out for.