Entertainment : \'Courageous\' fearlessly raises issues of faith for fathers

"Having a father in the home makes a big difference. A lot of kids here don't have dads, and a gang becomes their only family. I told my son early on that before I allow a gang to take you out, I'll take you out first. The only gang he belongs to is our family."

That quote does not come from the movie "Courageous" that is playing on the screen at the Palace this week.

No, those words were in this week's Sports Illustrated, in a special report in the magazine's Dec. 5 edition about Gangs and sports.

After citing examples of star athletes killed by gang violence, or sidetracked by the temptation to choose the way of violence too common among gang members, SI quotes a father, Kitam Hamm, Sr., who has spent nearly two decades trying to keep his kids from becoming gang violence victims.

Hamm, who lives in the LA suburb of Compton, Calif., is the father of a star football player, also named Kitam, who hopes to survive the gang-controlled neighborhoods long enough to accept one of the many scholarship offers he has from colleges -- including some in the Ivy League.

Hamm's quote in the magazine, although altogether unrelated to the film, is the theme of the entire movie.

I saw "Courageous" on Tuesday at the Palace, for free, thanks to a generous donation from Okee Walker and his family. Okee saw the film, and thought it was good enough to pay for others to see it, and many did. "I feel like I should give back to the community," he told the audience before the film started, urging them to "pay it forward" if they liked the movie.

Courageous -- created by the same Christian filmmakers who surprised the movie world with "Fireproof," a couple years ago (and "Facing the Giants" before that), is about fatherhood, and how children of every age and domestic situation need a father. It tells the story of a group of police officers -- joined by a construction worker -- and how they deal with their own challenges as fathers, as well as the challenges of raising a family during a variety of situations that we church-goers often refer to as "trials and temptations."

The Story

Officer Adam Mitchell and his colleagues in the Albany, Ga., Sheriff's Office, face a variety of challenges, from the tragic loss of a child to the challenges of raising teenagers and making ends meet, as they also deal with gang problems. Their crises lead them to make a resolution to be the kinds of fathers the Bible encourages men to be.

Why you should go

In a world where right and wrong are so often taboo, "Courageous" does not fear to draw a line, or take a stand. And although most fathers will never face the extreme challenges of the movie characters, we do face day-to-day situations, and choices. The movie does a very good job of reminding us of the impact of our choices.

"Courageous" lives up to its name when it comes to expressing the Christian faith on a the big screen. Several scenes take place in religious settings, and the audience will hear many Bible verses recited by the characters.

What you should know before you go

The mostly Christian audiences love the movie; the less-likely-to-be-evangelical movie critics, not so much.
"The many topics raised - gangs, drugs, immigration, absentee parents, poverty - are examined with didacticism and platitudes instead of by mining their inherent complexities," complains reviewer Gary Goldstein, on the Rotten Tomatoes web site. While 94 percent of the audience gives "Courageous" a "fresh" rating, only 38 percent of critics gave it favorable marks. (I wonder if Mr. Goldstein has read the SI article.)

The movie is rated PG-13 for gang violence, drugs and the shootouts with police.

The action scenes, note the critics, are not like most other cop action movie scenes (no bad guys, for example, get killed by a nail gun, like in one of the "Lethal Weapon" films). I think I even saw a few scenes that would make the real law enforcement personnel among us say, "Hey that's not what we learned in our tactical training." But despite the disappointing scenes involving stuntmen, the movie is cleverly written, and at times, laugh-out-loud funny.

My favorite part

    Having to sneak out of the house so the granddaughters wouldn't cry when I left. My second favorite part: "Dance with me, Daddy."