Many years ago, some very clever television executives realized that around the big holiday seasons, movies with a Biblical theme became quite popular. And so it was that generations of children grew up with Charlton Heston parting the Red Sea while yelling for Pharaoh to let his people. These films like The Passion, Risen, and the more recent film, Church People, became part of our family traditions. This year, a new entry is hoping to become part of your family viewing tradition. It’s called His Only Son and it’s a retelling of the story of Abraham and Isaac. You can see the trailer here:
Beautifully produced, this movie is distributed by Angel Studios, the folks behind the breakout hit, The Chosen. His Only Son flies in the face of those who often cry that quality films can’t happen without deep pockets and many investors. It’s not unusual with lower budget films and historical stories in particular to have something, somewhere, will take you out of the story. (Even science fiction suffers from this. The blue milk in the original Star Wars: A New Hope served in tupperware cups that were undoubtedly on the tables of many of the audience members is a good example of this.) That is not the case here. As someone who works in film, it was easy for me to see where they chose to put their funding. Extraordinary makeup and costuming dovetail beautifully with gorgeous landscapes and sweeping epic shots that give you a larger than life feel. If you have an appreciation of cinematography, you will want to watch this one in theaters for sure.
The only thing that bothered me was from a script/story perspective. Having written and produced many Easter and Christmas presentations and programs, I am keenly aware that many people don’t like adding to the Biblical stories. I personally don’t have a problem introducing extra-Biblical scenes or dialogue. When reading from the Word, you often only get the high point of the story and I love to disappear into the reality of what it might have been like. It’s not unusual for me to imagine what it was fully like to be there and live it. It’s also not unusual to break down the Bible into individual stories that are easy to cover in Sunday School or Bible study, but this can often create a disconnect where people isolate these stories instead of realizing they all happened to the same person or group of people. Someone looking at the life of Abraham might forget that he is the same man who was there when Sodom and Gomorrah fell or that he had, in his past, heard directly from God. How might those life experiences have informed his choices when confronted with the sacrifice of his beloved Isaac? These questions are explored beautifully during the course of His Only Child.
I deeply enjoyed having these pieces connected together and brought to life to create a more real-life Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac. It’s wonderful to have a new perspective on something we’ve always felt we knew backward and forward. His Only Son delivers this new vision in a powerful way as the story bounces back and forth between memories and Abraham’s current task of getting Isaac to Mount Moriah.
A few new characters were also introduced to drive the narrative and push some things forward and I enjoyed some of the challenges they presented to Abraham and Isaac. My only hesitation when coming out of the movie was that from a story perspective, I felt we didn’t give those new characters a satisfying conclusion. I went into this film feeling like I knew the story of Abraham and Isaac inside out and ultimately it wrapped their story and tied it to the resurrection with a neat bow. But I would have liked to see these other characters get some sort of closure or clarity that might have even changed the rest of their lives. When deeply exploring and adding depth and heft to such well known people like Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac, this left the new characters feeling a bit neglected and somewhat caricature-like. As a storyteller, I would have loved to see them be more than just characters that felt like they were thrown in to drive more of the narrative for the lead. But honestly, in the overall scope of things, that is such a minor nitpick when considering all that this first time filmmaker accomplished with this beautiful piece of entertainment.
His Only Son was, for me, a wonderful conversation starter and a film that challenged many of my own preconceived notions. It’s still in theaters around the country and should be playing for at least one more week. If you loved Risen, Ben Hur, or if you’re a fan of The Chosen, this is definitely one you will want to catch in theaters.
