An Interview with God Christian review

'What would you ask God, if you had the chance?'...

Before I begin, I need to confess that I approached An Interview with God with a slightly jaded attitude towards ‘Christian’ films—I think I had maybe seen one too many violin-driven climaxes? Or, sermon from the pulpit (but we’re really preaching at you!) scenes.

An Interview with God is not like this. There is a lot of theology, yes, but the thread of dramatic tension that vibrates beneath every scene and every relationship is palpable. I have seen this film described elsewhere as ‘gripping’, and it is—like a book, you simply have to know what's going to happen next.

Weird because, as the title indicates, it is mostly about an interview. Just two people, talking. One of them is Paul Asher (played by Australian actor Brenton Thwaites), a jaded journalist returned from covering the war in Afghanistan, and the other is God (played by David Strathairn) who, in a lovely moment as Paul asks him to say and spell his name, says, ‘I’m God, G.O.D.’, with a humorous quirk in his eye.

Paul has experienced some things which have him questioning his faith, and the engaging, nuanced performance Thwaites gives as his character struggles with this really drives the film. The man claiming to be God is also played delightfully by Strathairn, and though sometimes the questions Paul asks are pretty predictable, and the answers ‘God’ gives at times are slightly uninspired, the ‘What-will-he-say?’ factor is pretty compelling.

I mean, what would you ask God, if you had the chance?

To be honest, the hunger in my own heart to go deeper with God has me in a place where God already shares a lot with me, and so I would hope my questions wouldn’t be the bland, all-of-mankind’s-historical-misunderstanding-of-you-is-loaded-in-this stock question, but rather something a bit more like, ‘Didn’t you think it was funny what Anna did yesterday?’ —Knowing the answer would be yes, because he likes funny things. And he really loves Anna.

So if the film left me a little dry in terms of inspiring me to go deeper, that was my only disappointment. It is a quality production, and a thoroughly enjoyable watch. I recommend it!

An Interview with God premiered on October 25th.

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An Interview With God ★★
(PG) Selected release (90 minures)

Paul Asher, a young journalist (Brenton Thwaites) returns to New York from assignment in Afghanistan. His marriage is breaking down and he has to get to an important interview. In the chess garden at a park in Manhattan, he meets David Strathairn, silver-haired and elegant in a tan suit. The interview begins with Strathairn introducing himself for the tape: ‘God. G.O.D.’

Brenton Thwaites and David Strathairn in An Interview with God. Credit:Rialto Distribution

Right about here, I was ready to run. America has a whole industry of ‘faith-based’ religious films that travel under the radar. I’ve seen a few and they were dire: sappy writing, awful acting, tacky moral lessons that make it clear there’s only one kind of faith on which they are based, and it ain’t anything inclusive. Forget Islam, these guys think Catholics are the enemy.

This one is better than that, but not by much. The premise is ridiculous, of course. God doesn’t give interviews and if he did, I bet he wouldn’t be as irritating as Strathairn is here – more like shrink than a deity, although he does have a sense of humour. Who could make this kind of thing work? Well, let’s see: Ingmar Bergman made it work 60 years ago, when a knight played chess with Death in The Seventh Seal during the Black Plague.

That’s why the first meeting here takes place in the chess garden: someone wants us to know they have seen some movies. On the other hand, that’s a risky movie to invoke, because actor/director Perry Lang is not Ingmar Bergman and Brenton Thwaites is not Max von Sydow.

God answers questions over the course of three interviews.Credit:Rialto Distribution

The backing for the new film comes from Richard L Jackson, a conservative Christian millionaire from Atlanta, Georgia. The message is that having faith is not enough. Paul the journo has to exercise his free will to save his own life and fix his marriage. God may see it all but he doesn’t interfere, Strathairn explains, in a series of three interviews over three days, each in a different location. These exchanges go on for pages of dialogue, a sure way to stop a movie dead in its dramatic tracks. Even a theology student might struggle with so much talk.

You don’t have to be a believer to be interested in theological questions that have a modern context. This one is clever in that way: the movie starts in a military plane bringing dead American soldiers home from Afghanistan. I was wondering when it would get to the question of whether there is only one God, and it does. No surprise what the answer to that one is from a movie with these credentials. The film may be smarter than others in this field, but that’s not saying much. Death was a more interesting interlocutor, in Bergman’s hands.

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