Gerard Butler of 'SPARTANS!!' fame stars in this rather poignant tale of a man redeeming himself from a life of crime by saving orphans of the war against the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) in Uganda and Sudan.Butler portrays Sam Childers, a mean junkie biker, who heads back onto the streets from prison and promptly lets down his patient girlfriend Lynn (played by the excellent Michelle Monaghan) and daughter Paige who had expected a changed man.
After Sam is involved in a particularly brutal assault, he decides that it is time to change his life. With the help of his new found Christianity, he sets about the task of setting up his own building business to support his family.
A visiting Pastor from Uganda talks at the Childers' local church, giving them an impression of how many children's lives are affected by the civil war. Sam, who possesses a new found appreciation for the value of his own child, is moved to action by this speech.
It is at this point that the action switches to northern Uganda, where Sam is shown building an orphanage and acting as a part time mercenary to help the kids who have been left with nowhere to run by the LRA. Some of the moral choices he has to make are pretty tough viewing and Gerard Butler does well to show how embittered Sam becomes by his personal struggle.
There are some interesting takes on the roots of fundementalism here as Sam finds himself becoming what he is fighting. His violent past is playing catch up with him and each time he returns to Uganda, he becomes more angry with what he sees.
Indeed, this film is so much about Sam's mission that the minor characters largely come across as incidental. This is an undoubted weakness of the film, especially given that his home life, which is patently such an important part of his redemption, largely becomes a sub plot even when a series of personal crises bring him home to the US.
Nevertheless, there are some interesting takes on the power of religion to heal lost souls. However, some of the scenes in Sam's home church do come across as product placement for Christianity. In marked contrast, the LRA's loose, supposedly 'Christian' ideals are utterly reprehensible. They launch brutal assaults on defenceless villages. Several of these sequences are visceral and make for a difficult watch.
They are nonetheless a necessary watch and it is reassuring to see that a film about such a serious subject can still be made in an era when light fantasies and romcoms dominate. Machine Gun Preacher is not without its flaws, the story is far too focussed on Sam and few of the minor characters make much of an impact on a script heavily dominated by its leading character.
Despite these flaws, this film is worth renting at least for being by turns moving and ultimately uplifting.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the photograph used in this blog and will remove it at the request of the rights holder.
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