America and Christianity: two questionable tastes that are often paired with little regard for sense. Christian movies we have watched in the past have usually had a sprinkling of patriotism, but never have we seen something quite this blatant. The American angle is so strong that we almost thought we were watching a war movie originally. I mean, look at that cover on the right. It certainly doesn't scream, "Christian movie" so much as it screams, "ex-veteran biker" who actually is our main character and narrator. Oh, and a holy martyr representing all persecuted Christians in America. What, you ask? Who are these persecuted Christians since Christianity is actually the dominant religion in America and Christians have tons of cultural capital? Let me explain "Last Ounce Of Courage".The film starts by talking about a soldier going off to war and dying, leaving behind his wife and baby son. The story is told by his father, an ex-veteran and fervent Christian. For whatever reason, 14 years later this man, who is a pharmacist, biker, and mayor, and separately a crew of high school students decide that the town needs more Jesus. They stop saying "Happy Holidays" and start saying "Merry Christmas." They fight to keep decorations on a Christmas tree. The kids change their secular winter play about aliens to be the nativity story, which isn't actually a stretch since the play is literally just a version of the story down to actually using "Silent Night" in the play with changed lyrics. Our main martyr fights against the evil secular powers on the platform of freedom. He pretty deliberately gets arrested for putting up a cross and is applauded like a hero. The kids put on their play and somehow no one is sad they didn't get to see a play about winter aliens. Most strangely, the soldier's son, who has had nothing really to do for most of the film, comes on stage to play the video of his father dying in the war to prove . . . something. Something other than, "I own a snuff film that surely would have been seized by customs." The audience cries as he holds an American flag. Christmas is saved. Kirk Cameron would be pleased.
This movie elicited a lot of groaning, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It was amusing in a trainwreck kind of way. The kind of Christians who watch this kind of movie want so much to be punished for their beliefs (I hear the "God's Not Dead" series has a similar bend) and it's kind of sad. It wasn't always laugh-out-loud funny, but it's pretty worth the watch.
Spoon Rating: 5
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