Jesus Revolution is based on the book of the same name written by Pastor Greg Laurie. It’s based on the true story of a young Laurie (played by Joel Courtney), hippie street preacher Lonnie Frisbee (Jonathan Roumie), Pastor Chuck Smith (Kelsey Grammer) of Calvary Chapel, and their involvement into what TIME Magazine called a Jesus Revolution in the 1970s.
This is a 2-hour movie with a PG-13 rating. It has discussions of sex, depictions of drugs, drunk driving, and near death experience from substance abuse. That said, it’s a solid movie about the start of the Jesus movement in the late 60s to 70s with themes of love, acceptance, forgiveness, and the search for truth.
I didn’t know about the Jesus movement that ran alongside the hippies in the 70s. As an immigrant, I didn’t hear any stories about it, and certainly didn’t learn about it in public school. It made it very interesting to learn about this part of American history through this movie. I was happy to see that they didn’t hide the destructive behavior that the characters turned to in their search for love and truth. As the movie also points out, many of us are looking for the right things in all the wrong places.
In this movie, Calvary Chapel starts as a dwindling church with mostly older congregants that were resistant and unwelcoming to the young hippies that start attending. It’s something that still happens in churches today. It’s not just an older vs younger generation issue, though that’s still certainly at play. It’s that the people who are deconstructing their faith or have questions about it have no safe place to belong and journey in. They are not unlike the hippies looking for answers and the church closing doors in their faces. This movie really shows us to open our arms like Jesus did. We may not have hippies knocking on our doors, but there are people who are disenfranchised and struggling that need our help.
This movie also depicts the flawed humanity of Laurie, Smith, and Frisbee. While they are the main characters that God is using to start a movement, they are imperfect and the movie shows that. It doesn’t just show their mistakes on their way to redemption, but also their doubts, pride, and losing their way when they seemingly have made it. I appreciate that a lot.
Jesus Revolution has a great mix of drama and humor with tear-jerker scenes and laugh-out-loud moments. The 70s music is great, even if it’s before my time. I saw an early screening of this movie with my parents and other older people from my church, and they enjoyed the soundtrack. Jesus Revolution a good movie for teens and adults. Even better would be if multi-generational groups in church see it together. I hope it opens the communication on how generations can work together to welcome people with love.
