Movie Review – Courageous
by Jonathan Hoard
Courage can be described in many different ways. I will admit that that word brings to my mind heroes who serve and protect our nation, who protect us on our own streets or who run into burning buildings. There is no doubt that our nation’s heroes display a great level of courage. Maybe that is why we relegate the word “courageous” to those very dramatic and intense jobs. But can the word be used for something much more down to earth as well? Can we use the word “courageous” for something as ordinary as fatherhood? We can, if we pause to reflect upon the fact that fatherhood is a dying institution; that scores of fathers have walked off the job; that often times it is the fathers of today that cause the most harm to their children; that even those fathers who remain have shoved the word “responsibility” from their mind and have passed the job of raising their children on to others. The word “courageous” can be used to describe a man who refuses to back down from his role as father and who places himself between his children and all the things of this world that could bring them harm.
The movie “Courageous” takes up this theme. This is the fourth offering from the same group that produced “Fireproof” and “Facing the Giants”. Courageous tells the story of four men whose lives and experiences are different but are joined in their quest to understand their role as fathers. As they examine their relationships with their children they realize that they have been selling their children short by not giving their all. With this understanding they commit themselves to the highest ideals of fatherhood, determined to fulfill their God given responsibilities.
The writers did their best to make you laugh and cry and to pull you to the edge of your seat with some decently done action sequences, while all the while attempting to convey a very powerful message. The message is simple. Fatherlessness is a destructive epidemic in our nation today. Whether the subject is education, crime, teen pregnancy or suicide, the statistics on fatherhood are telling. Children who are being sent into life without fathers have no idea what they are missing and society’s money and programs are little consolation. Countless scores of children’s lives have been forever scarred due to the absence of their fathers.
I will be honest, this isn’t your average entertaining movie. This film will challenge your heart. It might take a bit of courage to watch. Courage is what we need. Who will teach our daughters what a man of high moral character looks like? Who will teach our sons what a man of integrity looks like? As time is slipping away from us and as so many men have already forsaken their role, it will truly take men of courage to turn back the tide.
Please send your comments to jm_hoard@hotmail.com
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