A year ago, upon the release of the Fox Faith theatrical film Facing the Giants, I reported on an analysis by Christian screenwriter Barbara Nicolosi criticizing the film. It took me a long 
time to get around to seeing Facing the Giants, in large part because of the many negative reviews, but I saw it a few weeks ago and corrected the record in an addendum to the original post on this site from November 1, 2006. I think it worth placing the full text here on the main page, to give readers my own comments on the film. The original piece and my update follow:
Screenwriter and script analyst Barbara Nicolosi is extremely disappointed by the Christian-produced film Facing the Giants. I have not yet gotten around to seeing the film, but I suspect that Ms. Nicolosi is quite right. She points out that Facing the Giants is the cinematic equivalent of Contemporary Christian Music, bland nonsense meant to make Christians feel good and thereby bring in a steady stream of money from a highly defined market segment, what is known in the entertainment business as a cash cow.
In addition, Nicolosi argues, Facing the Giants is animated by a devotion to what is known as the Prosperity Gospel, a decidedly perverse notion prevalent among some Evangelicals, which holds that God wants believers to be happy and prosperous in this world (which is surely true to some extent), and that he will give believers such earthly success to the degree that they believe in Him and accept his promises. That is an absurd, unbiblical doctrine that is derived from Puritanism but puts an optimistic, positive spin on it. It is an idea, as Nicolosi notes, that utterly denies numerous direct statements in Scripture, especially the words of Jesus Christ himself.
In sum, the Prosperity Gospel is a very bad thing indeed, and according to Nicolosi the story of Facing the Giants manifests it entirely. Given that even the film’s defenders are not making any claims of aesthetic value for it, this suggests that the film is unworthy of admiration.
Now, not everything has to be great art, of course, but if a "message" film has a bad message and little to no artistry, it cannot be said to have much going for it.
As noted on this site earlier and as cited by Ms. Nicolosi in her article, the Fox studio has embarked on an effort to create low-budget theatrical films for the Christian market. The important question at hand is whether the model will be indie films that challenge current atheistic cultural perspectives or a bland and manipulative Christian Contemporary Cinema that uses religious tropes to snag an ignorant and complacent audience.
Right now we have no idea what the answer will be. As I noted earlier, however, Fox will undoubtedly follow the audiences’ lead, giving us more of the type of film to which we respond with the most support, financial and critical.
The responsibility, then, is most certainly ours.
Addendum (November 2007):
I saw Facing the Giants on TV recently, and I found it to be somewhat bland and the performances rather weak, but I did find it quite watchable and felt that the sincerity fairly well forced one to get involved in the story. And the film does have a couple of very good scenes. Some non-Christians may find it enjoyable and learn something from it, but the quality of the film is not strong enough to make it likely to entice a large number of viewers.
In sum, I doubt that this film will make many converts to Christianity, but I don’t see it as spreading a Prosperity Gospel as Barbara Nicolosi argues. It’s perfectly apparent that the football coach at the center of the story wants to do well as a coach because he believes that teaching young men to work hard and strive to achieve their best is why God put him on this earth. That is definitely a conventional Christian point of view, and I don’t think that the Prosperity Gospel message of treating God as a spiritual ATM is the film’s intended effect nor a likely message for most people to draw from it.
Hence, I suspect that the film will ultimately do more good than harm, though probably not all that much of either.
i really felt that this film’s intention(s) was not really to inforce conversion on anyone to a christian life style. it tells a tale of life, in fact the very process of life that each of us go through on a daily basis. the coach represents the means of hardship that we all face and in the process God is revealed as the source of all possibilities. there fore “Triumph” is the era in which mankind finds himself, this is the time for break-through in all areas of hardship(s.the answer to all this is God(Good Orderly Direction).
The movie “Facing the Giants” was, I believed, produced for the purpose of not to evangelize to the lost, but rather to reveal to a hurting world that God does want the very best for us ALL! You see He loves us ALL Eternally and Unconditionally. Something we here on Earth our incapable of doing. The way we achieve the very best is to give God our very best in all that we do. Now, in order for the prosperity of the very best from God to be realized, we must first have a personal relationship with God. That is where the True Gospel comes in. For that you will have to go to Him for. A Believer in Christ should be able to help guide you through God’s Word and help you to receive the knowledge and understand it. Then through the power of the Holy Spirit you will be shown how to apply the love of God for all eternity. As for the movie “Facing the Giants”, enjoy it as just one account of how God blesses those of His children who seek Him and His will for their lives. with Love and Adoration toward God the Father.