Machine Gun Preacher

Plot synopsis:
Although the film centers on Childers, it starts off with a scene in South Sudan, where the LRA are attacking a village. This opening scene is placed into context later in the film. Sam Childers (Gerard Butler) is an alcoholic drug-using biker from Pennsylvania. On his release from prison, he finds that his wife (Michelle Monaghan) has given up her job as a stripper, because she has since accepted Christ as her savior. Initially infuriated by his wife's decision, he returns to his routine of partying and using drugs like heroin with his fellow biker friend Donnie (Michael Shannon). One night while on a bender with Donnie, he almost kills a vagrant. He is shaken by the experience, and the day after allows his wife to persuade him to go to church with her, where he is eventually baptized and offered salvation.
Sam soon finds a stable job as a construction worker and later starts his own construction company. Later, on a missionary trip to Uganda to build homes for refugees, he asks one of the SPLA soldiers watching over them to take him on a trip to the north, to Sudan. The soldier warns him that it is a war zone, but upon Sam's insistence they go. They arrive at a medical tent in Sudan. As the soldier moves off to talk to some people, Sam is roped in by a female doctor to help lift a lipless Sudanese woman onto the examination table. That night as they lay on their beds at the relief station, they hear noises outside, and when they look out, Sam and the soldier see large numbers of Sudanese children swarming around to sleep outside the building.
The soldier explains that their parents send them to sleep over here because it is safer than staying in their own village. Sam wakes up the children and gets as many as he can fit to sleep in their room for the night. The next day Sam and the soldier follow the children back to their village only to find that the LRA has burnt it down and killed their parents. One of the children runs after his dog and is killed by a hidden landmine. Sam cradles the dead child and cries, the experience traumatizes and changes Sam. After returning home, Sam has a "vision from God" and decides to build an orphanage for the children of South Sudan, as well as a church in his own neighborhood that will be "open to all" without judgement. After its completion he begins preaching at his church, and helps his old friend Donnie get sober and find God as well. He soon returns to Africa and despite vocal opposition, builds the orphanage. One night after it is built, the LRA attack it and burn it to the ground. Sam then phones home, telling his wife what has happened and that he is giving up. She reminds him that the orphans have been through worse but they have not given up, and that he should not give up and tells him to rebuild the orphanage.
After the orphanage has been rebuilt, he and his friends from the SPLA are attacked on the road by the LRA, they manage to chase off the small force of the LRA that attacked them. They search the area and discover a large group of Sudanese children hiding in a ditch not far from the road. Since they can not take all the children in one trip, Sam chooses to take the ones who need medical attention along with a few others on their first trip back to the orphanage. However, upon returning to the spot as quickly as he could, he finds that the LRA killed and burnt those he had left behind. This causes Childers to lead armed raids to rescue children from the LRA.
He returns home to the U.S. disgruntled and exasperated about the lack of money for the project. He also feels disconnected from his community; he is disgusted by the excess displayed and petty "problems" of his family and friends, as well as their apparent apathy toward the children of Sudan. Meanwhile his friend Donnie breaks his sobriety and ends up dying from an overdose, this pushes Sam further into negativity and despair. He sells his business and boards a plane for Sudan. His faith and mission is revitalised when an orphan boy tells his personal story to Sam. The boy tells him that if he allows hatred to fester in his heart, his fight against injustice fails. Sam also rekindles his emotional attachment with his family over the phone. The next day he engages with the camp actively. Later he goes out with SPLA and rescues a caravan full of children who were kidnapped by LRA. The end credits include black and white pictures of the real Sam Childers, his wife, daughter, and his orphanage in Sudan. The pictures are followed by a short black and white home video clip of Sam talking about his work, while the credits roll on the left side of the screen.

Tags: murder

Review:
This is a movie with a solid pedigree of cast behind it, it is based on the life of Sam Childers (Gerard Butler), who without giving much away, has a criminal past, finds God and embarks on undertaking missionary work in civil war-torn Sudan, leaving his loyal, loving wife Lynn Childers (Michelle Monaghan) and his young daughter Paige (Madeline Carrol) back home in Penslyvania.
Further, he fights whenever necessary and becomes a legend known as The Machine Gun Preacher."Machine Gun Preacher" is a film tailored to Gerard Buttler about the fantastic but unfortunately not well known biography of Sam Childers, an addicted troublemaker drug-dealer biker that changes totally his life and becomes the only hope for thousand of orphans in Africa.
Gerard Butler's performance is Oscar worthy and Michelle Monaghan and Michael Shannon were also great even though their roles were short but then again the story is about Sam Childers.
It's one of the best movies I've seen in years.Very well developed characters and storyline and amazing acting/plot.I was a little upset in the beginning and thought the movie will turn out to be cheesy, but it really takes hold on you after a few initial disappointments and doesn't let go until the end.Buttler fits the unstable "born again, dead again" character extremely well and delivers an extremely believable performance.What really makes this movie stand out is its non-stop change of pace.
This film is based on the true story of Sam Childers a former gang biker who finds god, becomes a pastor and has dedicated his life and all his resources ever since to rescuing and protecting orphans in Sudan, Africa.
Sam Childers (Butler) is not an ordinary preacher; he carries a machine gun and kills LRA rebels in self-defense looking at it as helping God's children.
The real life Sam Childers at the beginning of the movie is an ex-con, druggie, gun-loving drug dealer, thug, lousy dad, worse husband, and overall man of failed character.
When he finds God, he loses the drug labels but the only other thing that really changes is his postal address.Sam Childers sees himself as a modern day crusader working to make a better life for the war orphans in Sudan.
Michelle Monaghan plays Lynn, his incredibly supportive wife who actually helped Sam find God, rather than continue his criminal, drug-addled ways with friend Donnie (Michael Shannon).While I found the story of the Sudanese children to be heart-breaking, the choppy and fragmented manner in which it's presented was quite annoying.
The movie stars Gerald Butler and his life transformation from a pitiless biker to a church builder avenger.A lot of criticism of this movie comes from people crying out against white superiority or religious propaganda, in my opinion this movie does neither and anyone that have read books and documentaries about Africa knows that the situation over there does require occidental involvement in any form to help those countries until they can manage their own states by themselves, of course dependency on foreign aid is another issue but let's no get into that.My problem with the movie that is said to be based on a 'true' story comes from the script itself.
I did not believe Gerard Butler's transformation from a ruthless bandit that forces his wife to go back to stripping instead of working in a mall, not saying that this is impossible in real life, but that the way they presented it was lacking realism.The rest of the movie sends a good message about people implicating in Africa's civil wars, and especially Sudan although the situation has since changed with South Sudan's new sovereign state.
A good way to this at home is perhaps to visit and give support to African based groups advocating for a united Africa with real bureaucracies, laws, corruption-free police.For a movie that talks about Africa The Machine Gun Preacher is less than stellar compared to many others, not because of it's message but because of it's content and I didn't think it portrayed white superiority in any kind and I don't think supporting white Christian churches for their actions in Africa is a bad message anyone saying the contrary should ask themselves what are they doing that those churches aren't..
People who don't understand philosophy, can easily find this movie inspiring because they think that religion is necessary to do good, and that's just deceptiveness of the filmmakers here.Childer's could have been a Jew, or a Buddhist monk, the religion does not matter---yet the film tries to make it seem like Christianity is the only way.No one seems to be aware that belief-without-evidence is the very source of the problem with Africa.
It's partially his wife's fault because when he wanted to quite (like any person with a brain would after watching their mission burn down and be thrown into a war zone), his idiotic wife tells him to stay there, waste more money and possibly die.In short, it was a movie about a bunch of people with a messiah complex that would rather play savior then actually think for themselves.
Now Kony and his cronies are evil, turning boys into armed soldiers and selling girls into sex slavery.Childers in no time returns to his violent instincts becomes a commander in the Sudan People's Liberation Army fighting against Kony's faction, hence the title Machine Gun Preacher.
Childers is less a preacher and just another guy spraying bullets with a gun and worse still just looks like another white man from the western world here to rescue the black folks of Africa.The film turns into a violent graphic novel rather than a man fighting his conscience.
Religion and violence are far more synonymous than most people of faith would care to admit, and with Machine Gun Preacher Gerard Butler's criminal-turned-man-of-god certainly embraces that twisted mantra with a fervor.
Directed by Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace), Machine Gun Preacher chronicles select chapters from the life of Sam Childers (Butler) and his crusades against the genocide in Sudan by constructing an orphanage for the casualties of the conflict – the ones who are still alive.
"Machine Gun Preacher" tries to tap into the sympathy of the audience with a real life story, but the movie ended up being entertaining for what it was, but it was a mediocre experience at best.The story is about Sam Childers, a reformed criminal and substance abuser, who finds God, builds a church and then goes to Sudan to help the needy in a war-torn country.Personally, I found the story a bit too sappy and too much of a goodie-two-shoes, but then again, I don't buy into the whole Christian concept.
excellent movie,packed with excitement,keeps you on the edge of your seat!!!!I had seen some press about what was going on in this country and with these people,but did not realize to this extent the pain and suffering going on,Its been a long time since i was on the edge of my seat watching a movie,but this one definitely did the trick,one of the things i liked about the movie is number one,it is based on a true story and number two the excitement level is through the roof,i would say it would be tough to find another movie out their right now that even compares,hold on to your seat on this one folks,its a real nail biter!!!.
Sporting a talented leading man with chops and charm far beyond his most well known work, Gerard Butler can't work his way past a series of unfortunate hurdles Machine Gun Preacher lays out.Along with Butler, a memorable performance from Michael Shannon (unsurprisingly), and an inspirational story are wasted on an effort that has major issues in tone, plot, and overall message.
(There's no need for remorse here, just because it's about Africa doesn't mean it's a good flick, or that it needs to be seen.)Gerard Butler plays Sam Childers, a former drug dealer getting out of prison in the Machine Gun Preacher's opening scene.
From the first line, where Butler groans a force expletive at the guard, it's obvious that Machine Gun Preacher has no idea what it's trying to say, nor how to execute it if it did.After returning home to his wife (Michelle Monaghan) and child (Madeline Carroll), Childers is ready to return to his old ways, since prison didn't change a thing about the man.
But that good hearing is eventually turned into a disappointment because Machine Gun Preacher is too emotionally vacant to bring Sam Childers' story into the big screen.I think the main problem is mainly in the script.
Machine Gun Preacher is the true story of a modern day hero with a troubled past, who was transformed by Jesus and then devoted his life to defending children who cannot defend themselves from the evil lurking to capture them.Check out my full review here: http://reelstorymovies.blogspot.com/2012/04/machine-gun-preacher.htmlI thoroughly enjoyed this film except for one thing: I have no idea how Hollywood can portray Christians as so old-fashioned that they would show them as stuck in some time from 30 years or more ago and haven't changed with old hymns from the turn of the century, a church built decades ago that hasn't been renovated since its construction.
Here he finds terrible acts of evil committed against helpless children by a wicked terrorist group.The film pits Sam's character against the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), Joseph Kony and the war atrocities he commits against the people of the Southern Sudan.
The story is not only about the children being rescued and delivered, but it's a story of Childers journey with God, his struggles against evil, and finding the true love that God has to offer.Psalm 68:5 describes God as "Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation."The fight Childers faces in his journey is described in Romans 12:21, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."Some closing facts and figures from the film:Amnesty International estimates that Kony and the LRA are responsible for over 400,000 murders and 40,000 child abductions.These children are tortured, raped, sold into sex slavery, and forced to take part in ritualized killing by LRA commanders.To this day, Sam Childers fights for the children of Southern Sudan and Northern Uganda.As a side note, even though this could be considered a "Christian" film, it is not suitable for children.
One Man's Heart and the Violence Around Him. Machine Gun Preacher is based on a true story of Sam Childers when he became a born-again Christian and goes to Sudan, Africa to save children from an evil rebel army.
MGP is a terrific plot, that is a good watch in some respects - the story is earnest, necessary, and vital - but the delivery is way too melodramatic - it's kind of preachy in a revival sense, and we get little or no real maturity - it opts instead for action and heightened emotions at every step.The plot of the true story of Sam Childers, the ex-biker criminal and,frankly, low-life, who finds Jesus and then Africa is gripping in so many ways - but with a full throttled approach at every step we're not really getting insights to the real man, we just the highlights, and that's pretty crude film- making.I wouldn't want to put people off watching this - it tries to highlight earnestly the horrific mess that Sudan is in - but it does so as an all out action film and that really doesn't do more than entertain - and that's the biggest fault of all..
The acting was on the whole poor, though this was due to the atrocious script, such that every scene seemed forced and none of the characters (apart from maybe the daughter) seemed to have any emotions.Gerard Butler was inappropriate for the role of Sam Childers, it felt like we were following an action hero on his quest to rid the world of an opposing faction, which definitely made this film less believable than Aristocats.I see this movie appealing to the American Deep South and that's about it.
Former addicted gang biker with a prison track record Sam Childers (Gerard Butler) after almost killing a man manages to find god, thus changing his life and remolding the future of his family.
Here movie tells the realty of life,when a man realizes his purpose he or she truly rises in all manner.Machine Gun Preacher is the inspirational true story of Sam Childers, a former drug-dealing criminal who undergoes an astonishing transformation and finds an unexpected calling as the savior of hundreds of kidnapped and orphaned children of Sudan etc.Sam Childers after being released from jail for being a thug,goes for earning in these country,but being good in his real profession ie.
Machine Gun Preacher starts with Gerard Butler (playing Sam Childers, the man whom this story is tenuously based), he's just been released from prison (gets his family back far too early in this one, thus removing any genuine Butler based motivation from the movie), he's a man on the edge.
He not only wants Jesus to fill his every inch of being, he wants to put Jesus into other people too.Cut to war torn Sudan, where Childers is now working construction (one of this movies many flaws is that it is unable to link sequences with any sense of grace or artistry, leaving it as clunky as Marley's chains) and witnessing the injustice and genocide that sweep the country, he decides to build a massive church in the middle of the war zone (because that'll be a huge bloody help) and can henceforth spread his message from the lord (delivered personally at the back of a car park according to Childers) to these heathens and hopefully end the war in the process.OK, so it's an orphanage as well, but to be honest, you can't let the emotional elements detract you from the fact that this is one of the most disgustingly propaganda-like movies that I have seen in years.
This was better than I anticipated and a thought-provoking story.During the ending credits, the real "Sam Childers" is seen asks us - the audience - (paraphrasing) "If a family members of your would be kidnapped by killers and/or terrorists and I told you I could get them back, would it matter how I do it?" For about everyone, including non-violent people, the answer would be "no." I was pleased to see a film expose the genocide that has been going on for years now in Sudan, something most of the world doesn't seem to care much about.
Sam Childers' journey is not without fault, the elements of Christianity portrayed in the film are very stereotypical and at times a little cringe-worthy ( not sure why in America they have to use the song 'Amazing Grace' to identify that we are in a church scene.Butler is a simmering testosterone-fuelled maniac, his character remains the same, much throughout, despite the apparent change in his faith and turn to God. I felt this was not explained very well, though no doubt the film makers would have wanted to proceed to the 'money shots' of the action sequences.Characters are a bit one dimensional, his wife is the typical rock at home, we never see her story developed which is a shame because evidently she is a strong woman.
Everything, from the action scenes to the relationships between the characters are portrayed as they are in real life.This movie will touch your heart and you will feel all the emotions of the characters (the interpretations of the actors are also a plus for this film)I don't understand why this movie has such a low score (maybe because of the violence, or because it represents the story of a preacher..).
MACHINE GUN PREACHER tells the true-life story of Sam Childers, a biker turned born-again Christian who travelled to Africa to set up a church, save the children and kill a whole bunch of rebel terrorists in the process.It's a film you have to watch with a certain amount of tongue-in-cheek - after all, this is another spin on Hollywood's favoured 'white saviour' sub-genre - but the narrative is engaging enough for it to work as a movie.
But, as he encounters opposition in Africa and the pressures at home he can't forget, he finds himself locked in a battle that will change him forever.Telling one of those 'unbelievably true life' stories, Machine Gun Preacher is interesting, as it makes reference to Joseph Kony, the African warlord who was the subject of an internet only film that went viral last year and was made at the risk of the lives of the film makers.
Inspired by a preacher working in Sudan, Sam decides to go to Africa and help those in need.From the looks of it, Machine Gun Preacher would seem like a perfect feel-good film, starring a man with a criminal past, who almost over night turns things around and goes to Africa to help orphans.
Directed by Marc Forster, who also did powerful dramas like The Kite Runner and the last Bond film Quantum of Solace, Machine Gun Preacher found itself in good hands at straddling conflicting ideologies and values in which a man of God takes, finding himself having to fight fire with fire in order to protect lives and the changes he tries to bring about through opportunities provided.As with all big screen biographies, there is that dramatic license being taken, with the trailer touting this like an all out action film, and like a character said in the film, made Sam Childers (Gerard Butler) seem like a one man Rambo in Africa.
What makes this movie more inspiring, is that it is based on the true story of Sam Childers.Gerard Butler does an amazing job in this role as Childers,giving a solid performance as a man who is both conflicted and compassionate.