Actor David Oyelowo Speaks Out Against 'Goody Two-Shoes' Christian Films
David Oyelowo has made a name for himself in Hollywood, and now the actor is calling for Christian films to be more realistic.
Oyelowo stars in the film "A United Kingdom" and spoke about the need for Christian films to do more than just make the world seem perfect.
"If you're going to make Christian films which paint the world as a goody two-shoes place where perfect Christians help people who aren't so perfect come to the light, that's just not the world we live in," he told the website Premier.org.
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In a previous Relevant Magazine report, the British actor spoke more about various types of Christian films in Hollywood. From Oyelowo's perspective, films that attempt to recreate Biblical stories in Hollywood are not accurately doing so.
"Hollywood has done some of these films and some of them are ginormous Biblical movies, but you can tell the people making these are not invested in the truth of what those stories are Biblically. It shows in the work," he said. " It shows that they've just basically treated it as, 'OK, millions of people believe in this certain Old Testament story. It has action elements, it has epic elements, it has murder, it has this that and the other.'"
Oyelowo believes people recreating Bible stories in Hollywood have a motivation to, "go make a movie, and at the very least, all the Christians will come and 'we'll break even and if we go beyond that, great.'"
While he believes that "the Bible I read, it doesn't really correlate with those films," Oyelowo also believes that on the opposite side of the spectrum, there is another type of Christian film that is being produced for the masses.
"On the other side, you have films being made that are basically preaching to the choir. They are an extension of what you sometimes get in a church service, which is that the youth group put together a play to illustrate a Biblical story or a Biblical scene," he said. "Everyone goes. And isn't that wonderful because we are people of grace and we are people who love the message."
He went on to reveal that some of the production value is lacking in these types of films that aren't viewed outside of churches all too often.
"So as long as that's coming through, we're very forgiving of the fact that it's not well acted, it's not well written and really no one outside of this church would be interested in it," he wrote.
"I think that there are films that are basically extensions of what you get in any given church on a Sunday morning."
The British actor's new movie "A United Kingdom" tells the true story of Botswana's first president Seretse Khama who married a white woman from the United Kingdom. Oyelowo said the film echoes his faith and belief in how God sees race in a relatable way.
"They fell in love because they just loved the other person and not anything because of race; those impositions came from without, as opposed to within and it shows what they could achieve together. I think that God doesn't see color," he told PRemier. "This absolutely chimes with my faith, in that I think Seretse Khama and Ruth were motivated by love and that love has a power that cut through governments, cultures, all kinds of resistance that your average person probably wouldn't weather. That, in and of itself, is something that I deeply admire and can relate to, as a Christian who deeply believes in love myself."
