Movie Review Time:
Seven Days In Utopia
Disclaimer: I do not know
enough about golf, nor do I want to, to use correct golf terminology.
I love a movie with a good message, even if it’s suppose to
represent Christianity but only speaks of faith in God in general terms. Plus,
it does kind of have a new age “what your mind can conceive and believe, it can
achieve” feel.
And even if it’s slow paced, or not a cinematic wonder or
big action film or an exciting plot.
I was a little leery since it revolved around a sport. Golf to be exact.
It was predictable for sure, but I don’t usually mind that.
And of course, there’s the, “Everything goes perfect when
you become a Christian” myth.
Or is that what the movie is saying?................hmm.
Let’s see.
Young man is pressured by his father to be the best golfer
ever. Nothing matters but perfection. From a young age, it’s practice, practice,
practice.
Young man is impatient
Young man throws a tantrum when he flubs up in a tournament.
Young man takes off, driving his car to who knows where after messing up
in that tournament, all the while having flashbacks of his father’s pressuring
him, of golf games, of missing out on things with the rest of his family (like
going to church), of his tantrum.
Then he comes to a fork in the road. Literally - on the
highway.
He has to either turn left or he has to turn right. Left
leads to a town called Vanderpool.
Right leads him to…..yup, you guessed it. It goes to the
town of Utopia, Texas - Population: 373
As he is entering the outskirts of this
in-the-middle-of-nowhere ranching community, his attention is drawn to a man
out in a field, which causes him to pay no attention to the road ahead of him,
where a big black bull (that’s a male cow for all you farm animal-challenged
people) is standing in the road.
He sees it just in time to swerve and crash through a fence
into a pasture, damaging his car and acquiring a small bit of damage to
himself.
But that’s alright. It’s all part of the plan. The BIGGER
PLAN.
Enter John (Robert Duval)
John is God’s messenger to this young man named Luke.
He’s also an ex pro-golfer. A man with the lessons of life
that he’s learned the hard way.
He’s going to help Luke learn those lessons in 7 days……Seven
Days in Utopia.
John has all these unusual activities for Luke to
participate in, in order to learn these lessons.
Lessons to learn patience, lessons to develop vision,
lessons on forgiveness, and finally, lessons that lead to faith in God. Also,
they might lead to a better golf game.
At the end of Luke’s 7 days in Utopia, John does him a
special favor and gets him in the PGA tournament.
(Yeah right!)
Here’s where we find out if all those lessons are put into
practice in Luke’s life.
Does he still have a relationship with his dad?
Does he have forgiveness in his heart?
Does he trust God no matter what?
Does he practice patience in the golf game verses being
angry and impatient when it doesn’t go well?
At the end of the game, the big name, more experienced,
winning pro player misses and it seems that Luke’s golf game is going to end in
perfection by his winning the tournament.
But………..just as the ball is rolling toward the whole………………….
the movie ends.
On the screen comes the words, “To Continue the
Journey…… www.didhemaketheputt.com"
Remember the “everything goes perfect when you become a
Christian” idea?
Yeah, they totally went there.
But, if you want to just ignore that and ignore the “believe
and achieve” thing,
There are a couple of good messages you can get from this
movie.
One is that a game is not that important. (AMEN to that.) The character, John, even
says this.
Two: relationships are more important, especially with God.
Three: patience (and calmness) is something one should
attain.
Finally, and the biggest one, which sums up them all is:
It’s not winning the race that’s important. But it’s
how you run the race.
And all of those messages are scriptural.
And that is why I like this movie.
It’s family friendly, rated G, with a slight bit of romance,
and just enough humor.
Even if in reality a person cannot achieve these character
traits in seven days (I think it takes a lifetime),
I recommend this movie to all those who like simple,
relationship based movies and movies that remind you of God’s mercy.
Remember…..God’s mercy is something no one deserves!!!
Hebrews 12:12
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by
so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and
the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the
race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and
finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured
the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the
throne of God.
James
1:3,4
knowing that the testing of your faith
produces patience.
But
let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and
complete, lacking nothing.
Galatians
5:22
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
For a short review of the movie, Courageous, go to Laurel's blog:
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