"Let God Be the Judge" - Maria's take

One time, in high school, I was timing a competitive theater production. Some poor kid forgot his line and proceeded to stand in silence, fists clenched, for no less than 15 minutes (remember, I had a stopwatch in front of me). I thought that was the worst theatrical calamity I would ever witness.

How wrong I was.

"Let God be the Judge" is nothing more than a filmed stage production; the director even showed us the audience prior to and just following the movie. As a former stage actor this really bugged me. Theater is not meant to be filmed, and all this piece of visual garbage did was prove why. I never felt any connection to the characters, the actors' performances were over-the-top and obnoxious at times, and the angles were poorly filmed because the choreographed blocking corresponded to the work as a stage picture, not as a movie scene. I think the most blatant theatrical blasphemy (see what I did there) occurred when, as the cinematographer--and I use that term very, very loosely--zoomed in for a closeup, the actors' scripts were obviously on display. The guy playing the judge (who was credited as "Gabriel," though that would contradict the title of this piece of cinematic trash) was actually following along with his finger. I tried to give this film's technical issues a little slack, but the more I watched, the angrier I became. I couldn't understand why the director felt compelled to turn this into a publicly released DVD. If he wanted to get his message across to a wider audience, I think it would be more beneficial to take the show on tour. Or, if his heart was really set on making this a movie, he should have done away with the "audience" element and hired a more seasoned cinematographer.

Technical problems aside, this movie offended every moral and virtuous bone in my body. Not only does the film's overstated message--judge not lest ye be judged--contradict itself time after time, the film preaches against homosexuality; it subtly hints that statutory rape is a more forgivable offense in Jesus' eyes. I try to refrain from obscenities on this blog, but I really have to call bullshit on this whole insane moral standing. I am not about to get on my soapbox, but I just have a major problem with this in my own moral opinion. Ladies and gentlemen, can we just move into the 21st century?

The film tries to add a lightheartedness that muddles the tone. A Tyler Perry reminiscent character makes a mockery of this already stupid story. The lead character steals a car, gets convicted of statutory rape, etc. and remains widely considered to be a good person. Nothing about this film seems particularly "Christian."

I think the thing that really bugged me about this film was just the "holier than thou" attitude conveyed throughout the majority of the story. The writing hits the viewer over the head with this idea that we are all too judgmental. Okay, fine. However, instead of holding up Christian teachings and values, a guy who did some pretty low things gets pretty easily forgiven. Where is the justice? What good is setting this work in a courtroom if there is ultimately very little justice?

Overall, this film as a movie is fine--it would work better as a play, but the acting was overall slightly above mediocre, and the sets were pretty nice for what I imagine was a small budget. However, much like "C Me Dance" this film gave me some insight. Christian exploitation films are fine, most are harmless. However, this film was offensive. It preached hate toward other communities of people, which I don't think is ever okay. I am all for freedom of speech, but I feel like the right is abused when people try and encourage hate. I think it lessens whatever message one is trying to get across. Hatred turns people off, and eventually, no one wants to listen any more.