I applaud Helling's story: after serving in Iraq he used the GI bill to go to film school. He learned to sew so he could save money by making his own costumes. This is his first movie.
The target audience is Christians, specifically "churched" Christians. Recognizing that Helling hopes to reach an audience outside the western world, it must first appeal to his core audience to raise funds for further propagation.
As such, 99% of the audience are familiar with the events in Abraham's life. But even if they weren't, the story drags on overly long. It took what should be a 30 minute vignette and stretched it into a 2 hour epic movie. The stretching was accomplished by the use of flashbacks, which is beyond what a vignette can support. The story would've flowed better had it simply took us chronologically through Abraham's life up to that point rather than using flashbacks.
The dialogue isn't bad but it's not enough to make the drawn out, dreadful journey through the barren desert interesting. Even the contemplative moments were too drawn out and only added to the desperate hope that at some point the pace will pick up, but it never does.
The acting was fine, with Sarah Sayed's performance being a stand- out. Any future movie should give her character more depth, Sarah Sayed has the talent to do it justice.
There's a hesitation to be critical of any Christian movie so people end up rating the intention instead. Of course such efforts as Helling's deserve 10 stars, but I'm not God and only He can judge a person's heart and intent, so I'm left to rate the movie.
I hope to see Helling improve upon this first effort and that his movies become widespread and effective.
The target audience is Christians, specifically "churched" Christians. Recognizing that Helling hopes to reach an audience outside the western world, it must first appeal to his core audience to raise funds for further propagation.
As such, 99% of the audience are familiar with the events in Abraham's life. But even if they weren't, the story drags on overly long. It took what should be a 30 minute vignette and stretched it into a 2 hour epic movie. The stretching was accomplished by the use of flashbacks, which is beyond what a vignette can support. The story would've flowed better had it simply took us chronologically through Abraham's life up to that point rather than using flashbacks.
The dialogue isn't bad but it's not enough to make the drawn out, dreadful journey through the barren desert interesting. Even the contemplative moments were too drawn out and only added to the desperate hope that at some point the pace will pick up, but it never does.
The acting was fine, with Sarah Sayed's performance being a stand- out. Any future movie should give her character more depth, Sarah Sayed has the talent to do it justice.
There's a hesitation to be critical of any Christian movie so people end up rating the intention instead. Of course such efforts as Helling's deserve 10 stars, but I'm not God and only He can judge a person's heart and intent, so I'm left to rate the movie.
I hope to see Helling improve upon this first effort and that his movies become widespread and effective.