I had heard quite a while back that Steve Taylor was working on producing a movie. Being familiar with his work, I was certainly interested to see what he came up with. I finally saw this film, titled “The Second Chance,” a couple of weeks ago. For those of you unfamiliar with Steve Taylor, he is a recording artist who has been performing since the mid eighties. Several years ago he started the record label that was responsible for the popularity of Sixpence None the Richer and Chevelle. Additionally, another popular musician, Micheal W. Smith, played a lead role in this film.
First off, the movie isn’t designed to just be entertaining. I didn’t feel the story had as clear of a resolution as the typical movie, though the fact that all the ends weren’t wrapped up was actually really appropriate to the subject matter of the film. Additionally, the characters weren’t all as well developed as Hollywood either. But don’t get the impression that the movie was bad, just don’t expect a heart warming story or a thriller that will make it onto the shelf of favorite movies. The whole point of this movie is something beyond itself, and in that regards, it is a success. Also, considering it was a smaller film, I must mention that I had no really complaints about the technical quality, so they did a job good in this area as well. But it is more than a simple independent, propaganda or art film.
This movie brings up some sensitive and uncomfortable issues that nonetheless do need to be addressed. The real success of this movie lies in its authenticity, which is a significant achievement considering it treads in areas that are easy to stereotype.
The movie begins in a large suburban church, and focuses primarily on their well known and widely popular worship pastor. This church manages a church in the inner city, and through a set of circumstances, the worship pastor is sent down to this church to “observe” for a while. The pastor of this city church, named Second Chance, has an attitude towards the worship pastor and the suburban church that matches the worship pastor’s attitude about being there. The bulk of the movie centers on the two of them, and all of the people that Second Chance ministers to. As I’ve said, the strength of the movie lies in its authenticity here. The good and bad are both presented here.
My comment at the end of the film was that I felt it is unfortunate that more people won’t see it. I think this film would be an excellent movie for a church group to watch and then discuss afterwards. I feel that really succeeds at challenging the viewer. In my opinion it would be hard to walk away from it and not feel the need to change.
