Machine Gun Preacher
Machine Gun Preacher will leave you praying to be put out of your misery.
Marc Forster (USA, Special Presentations)
SCREENINGS:
Sunday, September 11, 6:30 p.m.
Roy Thomson Hall (60 Simcoe Street)
Friday, September 16, 12 p.m.
Scotiabank Theatre 1 (259 Richmond Street West)
There are films about politics and then there are political films. Generally, the latter tends to be more compelling, but both types have seen their share of duds. What is really problematic, however, is when the former thinks it’s being the latter. Without a doubt, that is the case with Machine Gun Preacher.
The film is based on the true story of Sam Childers (played by Gerard Butler), a born-again Christian, ex-addict biker who through Jesus discovers he can remorselessly kill Sudanese rebel forces in order to save child soldiers. This is not to meant to glibly mare Childers’ name (arguably MGP already has) or condone the rebel forces in Sudan, but beyond two scenes with an English aid worker (who is so underdeveloped she may as well be a cardboard cut-out) the film never attempts to delve into the ethical questions behind Childers’ actions. The most that is done comes at the end of the credits, when in an interview with the real Childers he looks into the camera and asks: if a loved one was kidnapped would it really matter how you got them back? While Liam Neeson in Taken might not think so, in order to make a more morally complex film, this question probably should be given more than 15 seconds.
But Machine Gun Preacher’s greatest flaw was casting Michael Shannon as Childers’ best friend, Donnie. There are few actors who can play a strung out, tweaking addict like Shannon and his perfectly detached deadpan deliveries only magnify the terrible performances happening around him.
Somehow part of TIFF’s Special Presentations when it feels like it should be straight-to-DVD, Machine Gun Preacher can safely be missed.