The Case for Christ

“The Case for Christ” is adapted from the book of the same name published in 1998, which has since gone on to sell more than 14 million copies worldwide.  This is the true story of newspaper reporter Lee Strobel’s journey from atheist to Christian.  I was a big fan of the book and frankly worried it would not make a good movie because most of the book is based on Lee’s research of the resurrection which I thought could make for a long and boring second act.  The screenwriter, Brian Bird, did a masterful job of weaving three stories together which helped to dilute the tedium of Lee’s research.  The screenwriter also made Lee’s interviews with experts into interesting scenes further mitigating the boring nature of a search for facts.  I found the writing overall to be quite good.  The dialogue between Lee and his wife was especially compelling for me.  In addition, the actors playing Lee and his wife did an outstanding job; and combined with the good writing, this made the whole story a moving experience.

I will admit the early scenes contain some fairly heavy handed preaching, something I would find contrived and overdone if I did not know this is in fact, a true story.  It is possible those scenes could have been done better, but I’m not sure how.  I can tell you that the other 90% of the film is very balanced and far less dogmatic even though it has a clear point of view.

This is a great film to watch with someone who is on the fence about moving closer to God; it’s a good conversation starter. At the very least, anyone watching this film will come away with a clear understanding of why Christians have trusted Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

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