First off, Mama taught me that if you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all. So, we'll start with the good. I loved seeing the footage of many places that I have experienced in person while touring Turkey, and loved hearing some of the back story of these places and the history of them during the time of the early church. Done. On with the review.
Times of Fire is one of if not the most bizarrely edited films I have ever seen. The theater experience that was presented to us in Riverbank was equally bizarre and inept. The film was slated to begin at 7pm. After 20 minutes of silence in the theater a large portion of the audience walked out, presumably to find a projectionist and remind the theater that they had a house of patrons waiting for a film. The movie experience than began with a 20-minute advertisement loop of various Christian organizations that looped around 4 times before the movie...seemed...to begin.
After two hours of this loosely edited footage and dialog the film abruptly jumps into a contrived panel of unknown talking heads in front of an audience of about 6 on a badly lit stage featuring an uneven red wash with a single malfunctioning blue par can in the middle of it which again prompts one to ask the question, "Have you considered being good at your job?'
The movie then drones on for another 40 minutes jumping from this panel to other.....the movie referred to them as "Scholars", one of which was a weird, creepy, guy on a zoom call in what looked to be a dark closet filled with filing cabinets. I can't even tell you what he was saying due to the distraction of the creepiness. I hope the gentleman is OK as he looked like he was in his last few weeks of life.
Durring the panel discussion you learn that the presenters have a post trib eschatology view and that the primary focus of the film demonstrates that view in the persicuted church. OK.....I don't have a problem with a group of believers with a different eschatological view from mine, but again, it was just weird. The woman on the panal at one points admits that this view causes her apprehention as to the solidity of her place in Christ. It seemed really out of place and no one else on the panel touched that one. Again, just weird.
It was around the two hour-fourty minute mark of the night that you find out.....SPOILER ALERT! That this is film 1 of 3! Oh joy! Who could possibly wait the drop another $35 for this experience? Two more times?
I believe this movie set a record for me for amount of people who walked out durring the presentation. By the time we reached the end of the film the house was nearly empty.
If there is any consolation here, is I seriously doubt that this film will make it to a trilogy. At least in theaters. In my opinion the film offers nothing for a non-Christian and has plenty of poor quality and weirdness to make a believer cringe.
