(OPINION) The Jesus Movement was one of the most pivotal events of the 20th century, leaving an undeniable imprint on culture, music, and most notably, the Church and evangelism. But it hasn’t been at the forefront of film and movies — until now.
“Jesus Revolution,” hitting theaters on Feb. 24, tells the true story of the revival that began in hippie communities on the West Coast in the late 1960s, eventually spreading across the country and bringing millions of souls to Christ.
Starring Kelsey Grammer (“Frazier”), Jonathan Roumie (“The Chosen”) and Joel Courtney (“The Kissing Booth”) and directed by Jon Erwin (“I Can Only Imagine”) and Brent McCorkle (“Unconditional”), “Jesus Revolution” isn’t preachy or political; it doesn’t rely on genre tropes to carry the story.
Rather, it’s a tender, heartfelt and sometimes humorous look at the complicated figures behind the Jesus Movement and how a revival was sparked among the most unlikely of people groups, paving the way for many churches and Christian music today.
According to the Christian Post, “Jesus Revolution” is set against the backdrop of the late 1960s and early 1970s, a period when young people were searching for meaning and belonging. It opens on Pirates Cove Beach in California, where a Time magazine reporter is on the scene of a revival; a long-haired figure is baptizing people in the ocean while hundreds, including Pastor Chuck Smith and a young Greg Laurie, look on. He’s both intrigued and confused.
“What you’re seeing is a symbol of new life,” Smith tells the reporter. “Every regret, every doubt, all washed away, forever.” The film flashes back to a year earlier when Laurie is living in a small trailer with his alcoholic mother (Kimberly Williams-Paisley).
He’s attending a military academy, and he’s restless and lost — until he meets a beautiful young woman, Cathe, who invites him to join her crew to travel to Southern California. Though raised in a religious home, Cathe is eager to break free from all rules and restrictions and turns to drugs in a bid to do so.
Meanwhile, Smith is watching a news report about the hippies — and he’s disgusted. They’re lost, aimless anti-war fanatics and frankly, they need a bath. They are, he tells his congregation, a “generation without restraints.”
And then his daughter Jeanette picks up a hitchhiking hippie who introduces himself as Lonnie Frisbee. He looks oddly similar to Jesus, and he’s passionate about bringing souls to Christ — and Jeanette is eager to introduce him to her dad. Though initially resistant, Smith is moved by Frisbee’s testimony and opens the doors of both his home and his church to the street preacher’s crew of hippies.
After facing opposition from church leadership over the inclusion of hippies in services, Smith publicly announces his church welcomes all people, hippies and all, and it’s not long before a movement begins. “You’re going to need a bigger church,” Frisbee tells him — and from there, the Calvary Chapel Movement is born.
