After recently watching this movie I would like to applaud its efforts in furthering the entertainment value of Christian films while at the same time maintaining a generally strong spiritual message. Spiritually, the film had a lot of great themes that tied into the plot very well. Also, to its credit, this film actually found a way to bring in John 3:16. This is excellent because many Christian films do not even include any reference to the gospel or being born-again!
'Mountain Top' is really a unique film in which Christian elements are included into a crime mystery story in such a way that it does not entirely play out in a cliche way. (Although the villain is quite obvious!) It really appears to be an experimental film in that it has the a strong sense of a crime mystery movie, yet does not have any violence, sex, or language in it. Perhaps the only questionable part is the main characters' cooperation with a man who obtains evidence using illegal means. Overall, I would recommend it as a good family film to watch!
On to the downsides. First, after watching the movie I am not quite clear on the title's relevance to the plot. My guess would be that there are times in the movie where the main character goes on a mountain top and reflects upon his life, perhaps realizing that something is out of place? It is a cool cover and graphic for the movie, but does not have much relevance to the film itself.
Second, as a Christian film the main downside for me was the sense in which it portrayed the church in general. The two main characters' churches were both portrayed as very judgmental and close-minded with few exceptions. One church accused one character of embezzling the money without letting the complete case play out, while the other church fired the main character after the church burned down before finding out what really happened. There is a strong theme that church people are generally ignorant, un-spiritual, or close-minded; and furthermore that the truly enlightened people are those who are outside of the church. It is outside of the church that the two main characters were able to find out what God was saying, and what 'true spirituality' really is. No thanks to the church! This movie portrayed church people as being out of tune to spiritual realities. So sad. It ends literally with the main character being completely content leaving his calling as a pastor to work as a lawyer -- seemingly without a church to attend. The second main character also seems to be church-free and happy after being absolved of his crimes. The anti-church bias is pretty clear. For that reason this movie lost a few stars from me, and as a Christian should be viewed with carefully attention to the spiritual realities of the Christian life.
'Mountain Top' is really a unique film in which Christian elements are included into a crime mystery story in such a way that it does not entirely play out in a cliche way. (Although the villain is quite obvious!) It really appears to be an experimental film in that it has the a strong sense of a crime mystery movie, yet does not have any violence, sex, or language in it. Perhaps the only questionable part is the main characters' cooperation with a man who obtains evidence using illegal means. Overall, I would recommend it as a good family film to watch!
On to the downsides. First, after watching the movie I am not quite clear on the title's relevance to the plot. My guess would be that there are times in the movie where the main character goes on a mountain top and reflects upon his life, perhaps realizing that something is out of place? It is a cool cover and graphic for the movie, but does not have much relevance to the film itself.
Second, as a Christian film the main downside for me was the sense in which it portrayed the church in general. The two main characters' churches were both portrayed as very judgmental and close-minded with few exceptions. One church accused one character of embezzling the money without letting the complete case play out, while the other church fired the main character after the church burned down before finding out what really happened. There is a strong theme that church people are generally ignorant, un-spiritual, or close-minded; and furthermore that the truly enlightened people are those who are outside of the church. It is outside of the church that the two main characters were able to find out what God was saying, and what 'true spirituality' really is. No thanks to the church! This movie portrayed church people as being out of tune to spiritual realities. So sad. It ends literally with the main character being completely content leaving his calling as a pastor to work as a lawyer -- seemingly without a church to attend. The second main character also seems to be church-free and happy after being absolved of his crimes. The anti-church bias is pretty clear. For that reason this movie lost a few stars from me, and as a Christian should be viewed with carefully attention to the spiritual realities of the Christian life.
