MACHINE GUN PREACHER
Based on the true and inspiring story of Sam Childers, Machine Gun Preacher shows us and teaches us lessons of how everybody deserves a second chance, that superheroes could possibly exist and how great God’s work actually is. This film shows us how one very troubled man found Jesus and decided to help save and protect the people of Sudan from the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).
Finding himself back at home again after completing a prison sentence, convict, alcoholic, biker gang member and drug addict Sam Childers (Gerard Butler) quickly learns that his wife Lynn (Michelle Monaghan) has given up her previous job as a stripper because she has found Jesus. Childers, shocked from the revelation, leaves the house and is involved with the drunken stabbing of another man. At his wits end, he begs for his wife to help him and later finds himself sitting in church where he confesses that he is a sinner and is reformed to Christianity.
On a missionary trip to Uganda, Sam helps to build homes for the refugees that are living there. One night, he finds that there are children sleeping outside of the building there because it is safer than staying in their villages because of the LRA. In the morning, Sam follows the children back to the village to see that it has been attacked and all of the parents are dead or gone. Sam decides that it is time to build an orphanage for the children, but one night the LRA attack it and the children, leaving them with an orphanage no more. Ready to give up completely, Sam’s wife Lynn urges him to rebuild the orphanage for the children and fight for them too.
Throughout Machine Gun Preacher, you see and hear stories that you would never believe to be possible. You see how through the power of Jesus, a troubled man was saved and helped to fight against the LRA. You hear about how he once packed a machine gun to assist his gang, before being saved by Grace, but when he went to pull it out the Bible was there instead. You feel the emotional strain of the relationship between Sam, Lynn and their daughter whilst he is putting his life at risk and leaving them at home… But how God made it easier for them to deal with and still be together whilst also being apart.
Whilst watching this film you will gain a deeper understanding of many different life lessons such as reforming yourself, how God works and how we may face troubled times but the important thing is to never give up. Machine Gun Preacher shows us the importance of working together as teams, and treating everybody as equal. Through one man’s life-changing experience and story, it captures the hearts of everybody watching and is sure to inspire you and leave you in complete awe of Sam Childers once you have finished.
FILM & T.V.
words: jessica mckenzie