Fireproof might make some viewers uncomfortable at first, but the film has real emotional power and good sense, Mike D’Virgilio writes.

It’s by now a truism that we Americans live in a post-Christian culture. What was once widely taken for granted, applauded, or embraced is now controversial and uncomfortable.

For example, mention Jesus Christ as a real human being, a Savior, God himself, and not a as a curse, and people start to wiggle in their seats—the opposite of what would  have happened just a few decades ago. Do this in a movie, and many people will start looking for the exits.

Our culture is so permeated by an agnostic, secularist mentality that many Christians themselves feel a similar awkwardness. I must confess I’m one of those.

Add to this the general cheesiness of most Christian cinema, and I was not looking forward to seeing Fireproof when it came out last year. One Christian movie skeptic expressed well how many of us feel:

[M]y harsh criticisms of “Christian film” are well known. I’ve maintained for years that as a rule the Christian film market is packed with cheesy, poorly made and ironically uninspiring products. A majority of the films are all intention and no execution. They likewise fail to reach beyond the church walls, keeping their focus firmly on preaching to the choir.

Yet after viewing Fireproof and talking to the filmmakers, Alex and Stephen Kendrick, he is changing his mind. After watching the film, I feel the same way.

Certainly a movie with a $500,000 budget is not going to have the best acting or production values, but Fireproof made more than $33 million dollars in U.S. theaters alone, a much greater return than even most of the biggest Hollywood hits achieve. The film has only one experienced actor, Kirk Cameron as husband Caleb, and another with limited experience, Erin Bethea as wife Catherine. Everybody else in the film was from the stars’ Georgia Baptist church.

You can tell that from their performances. But even though it has a certain amount of cheesiness, the movie is not bad. That’s faint praise, of course, but much better than what I was expecting to end up saying about it.

In case you are not familiar with the story, Fireproof is about a young, childless, married couple on the verge of divorce. The husband is a firefighter with a very bad attitude. Obviously the title suggests the couple will eventually live happily ever after. However, even though the story is somewhat predictable, the film manages to be creative and enjoyable. Even with a bunch of amateurs in the cast, Fireproof has a good amount of genuine humor and emotion. I’ll even admit to getting a bit teary-eyed a few times.

I’m sure many married couples can relate to the challenges faced by Caleb and Catherine. After the novelty of a relationship wears off and the stress of everyday living takes over, it is often difficult to maintain a marriage, especially in an easy-divorce society and culture such as ours. Where initially the partners in a marriage saw mainly the good things in their spouse, it becomes easier to see mainly the bad.

Fireproof demonstrates this truth admirably. Although the film is somewhat melodramatic, Catherine and Caleb show how selfishness poisons a relationship. Caleb wants to save up for a boat, but Catherine wants to use the money for things around the house. He demands respect, but she won’t give it. Each questions why the other won’t do more.

The bottom line is that each is disappointed that the other is not fulfilling their needs. Thus Caleb finds an outlet for his need for significance, in his work, while Catherine begins to reciprocate the charms of a young doctor where she works. Caleb and Catherine clearly don’t love each other, but it is also clear they don’t know how to love each other.

Enter the real star of the movie, to save the day. Caleb’s father, who himself experienced marriage problems long before the events of the film unfold, challenges his son to commit to a forty day experiment called “The Love Dare.” It’s a book written in the father’s own hand, which saved his own marriage.

The daily challenges in this document, such as making his wife coffee or buying her flowers, are not reciprocated initially, much to Caleb’s dismay. But his heart really isn’t in it, and he’s looking for the cheap way out. He believes that he doesn’t really have to change but she does. This attitude, of course, leads to the demise of many real-life marriages.

Here we come to the uncomfortable part. This is a Christian movie, made by Christians for Christians. As such you’d expect to see some Christianity. And yes, it arrives on schedule.

As I was watching the father share his faith with his son, however, I thought, “Why not?” This is the real, daily life of tens of millions of Americans—people pray, share the gospel, and talk about Jesus as if he were a real, divine presence in their lives. Why shouldn’t movies reflect that?

In addition, the idea of redemption is at the heart of many film stories, and certainly references to Jesus Christ’s historical act of redemption and its ability to transform lives are thus quite relevant to such stories. The treatment doesn’t always have to be as overt as in Fireproof, but there is no justification for ruling it out altogether as film story material.

As Caleb begins to understand the gospel and the forgiveness that God offers through Christ, he begins to serve his wife unconditionally. Catherine, perplexed, suspects he has ulterior motives—until she finds out that Caleb has purchased some much needed medical equipment for her ailing mother with the money he had been saving up for his boat.

Sacrifice has a powerful way of breaking through a hardened heart, and this sequence of events is true to life and common sense. Once Catherine knows that Caleb’s actions are sincere and not attempts at manipulation, she too is ready for change and reconciliation. And they do live happily ever after.

It’s not a fairy tale or parable, however, but a real look at life and a story full of truth and hard lessons for those willing to give it a chance.