I'm glad I know the story. I found it inspiring and faith-building. But it struggled throughout to come across convincingly. The start of it, in particular, was rough. The scenes, their life, the dialogue, the glances, etc. Were too "perfect." The writing and acting was kind of awkward and slightly cringeworthy. But movies often have trouble at the beginning when there is no conflict stated yet, so I wanted to give it a chance. It did improve once the conflict began, and the actors had something more meaningful to act about. But the "conflict phase," if you will, was also fraught with a lot of movie-making cliches, with characters going from very HAPPY... to...very SAD. My overall impression was of a group of writers, a director, make-up artist, and a cinemaphotographer who had experience and training, but were nonetheless still at the imitation level of their craft, relying on Hollywood tricks of the trade that they'd learned. I hate to say it, but it also had hints of modern evangelical aesthetics, a vibe that's hard to put one's finger on. But this segment of the church isn't exactly known for high art (and, yes, this is coming from a Christian). And then...the sugary sweet song at the end had that "contemporary Christiany" sound that many people find a little embarrassing, the one clear exception being the robust minority of fans who still like that tired style of music. But I'm giving it a 5 for making a movie on a worthy subject and for doing at least a half-way decent job.
Review of I Heard the Bells
