Jesus Revolution Review

Directed by Brent McCorkle and Jon Erwin, “Jesus Revolution” is about the intertwining of the lives of a pastor, a former hippie, and a love-struck teenager, set against the backdrop of the American Christian church of the 1960s. The movie is a sincere, albeit candid, narrative about faith, setting itself apart from other Christian films by depicting believers as fragile, inflexible, self-righteous, egocentric, and troubled by trauma, rather than faultless and devout. It underscores Jesus Christ who ultimately embodies goodness as the true beacon of unity for us flawed, sinful individuals.

The moral cringe and preachiness that Christian films are known for failed to pass the audition phase for this production staring Kelsey Grammer (Frasier) and Jonathan Roumie (The Chosen). Chuck Smith, a modest Southern California church’s pastor, played by Grammer, shepherds a stiff, traditionalist congregation, but he is not the hero. The ex-hippie Lonnie Frisbee (Roumie), who befriends Smith with the goal of opening church doors to hippie converts, is God’s catalyst for breathing new life into Smith’s formal, dry church, and yet, neither he plays the hero.

Young and on a search to find himself, Greg gets led away from military school by the affection of a girl into a life of drugs, the hippie way to connect with the divine. Greg stumbles across Lonnie’s path because of a near-death experience, and they become friends. The charismatic, long-haired evangelist, guided by the Holy Spirit, begins the Jesus Movement, and Greg, clinging to a sense of belonging he gets from his friendship with Lonnie, is very much along for the ride. The only person weighing him down is his despondent, co-dependent mother. Greg here is the film’s protagonist, but true to the established pattern, he’s not the story’s hero.

There is a greater plan at work in America in the 1960s. Headed by Chuck Smith and Lonnie Frisbee, the Jesus Movement made waves across the nation, leading untold thousands to Christ with divine power unseen since in American history. The movement had such a profound impact, it is still felt today by those who lived it and saw their lives changed forever. Led not by charismatic razzle dazzle or an ingenious non-profit outreach strategy, the Jesus Revolution ignited a fire of faith in youth on a powerful and massive scale that only the mysterious whims of the Holy Spirit could accomplish. The movement is depicted as a radically unified gathering that saw miracles of equally radical proportions. No magician’s kits were used in the making of such a movement.

Sadly, to contrast the Holy Spirit, one pesky element had to rear its ugly features, the human condition. The nature of man had something to say about this matter, and it didn’t turn out beautiful like the changed lives of the people converted to a life of following Jesus. This masked spirit of darkness manifested in none other than Lonnie himself as the leader got taken by the publicity and mass appeal of the movement, a false sense of power and importance that drew his attention away from the sight of God.

This layer of Lonnie Frisbee’s story was noticeably absent from the film. While the omission of Lonnie’s less-than-righteous exploits frames the Jesus Movement as rosier than it is remembered by those who experienced it, the film nevertheless is a heartwarming reminder of what a spiritual revolution can look like when God’s jealousy for his beloved manifests in powerful ways that no man-made fabric of culture can hold back, let alone squelch, before God accomplishes his task(s).

Most importantly, “Jesus Revolution” highlights the Christian pursuit of righteousness, bolstered by the love of a relentless God who wants nothing less than the hearts of his people, naked and unashamed to call him LORD. Such a standard of righteousness is not easily cultivated. Humility in the face of pride and eyes fixated on God to turn away the fear of man and self-perception are necessary qualities for Christ to shine through.

Despite the flawed human element in Jesus Revolution, there is certainly a hero. There’s no use looking in conventional places for this hero. Classes on theology can’t promise to reveal the hero in hiding, least of all at the pulpit, in between the pages of the Bible from which the blue and black-suited pastor reads with stoic, crystal clarity. This hero made the first appearance at Pentecost where the Church felt for the first time the pure, unfettered power of God in their longues, which is exactly where Greg met the hero while submerged under water during his baptism with Chuck Smith, an army of teenage onlookers on the beach waiting for their turn to feel the fire of holiness from God in their chests.

“Jesus Revolution” portrays a divine encounter that ignites a lifelong bond with the Savior, who understands our suffering and molds our hearts to resemble his own—more valuable than gold or rubies.