The Case for Christ (2017) — PICK
Lee Strobel’s conversion story, popularized in his memoir / apologetics book of the same name, comes to home video in Pure Flix’s The Case for Christ, directed by Jon Gunn and starring Mike Vogel as Strobel and Erika Christensen as his wife, Leslie.
Compared to the paranoid, agonistic world of the God’s Not Dead films, for which Pure Flix is best known, it’s a notable improvement.
Nonbelieving characters aren’t out to crush believers into dust, while believers aren’t persecuted victims, but capable, respected professionals.
L. Scott Caldwell (Lost) plays a nurse who becomes Leslie’s mentor in faith. Cameos include Faye Dunaway as an agnostic professor of psychology.
Oh, and one of Lee’s experts is a Catholic priest, not to mention a Latino. (Contrast God’s Not Dead, which cited Msgr. Georges Lemaître as the founder of the Big Bang theory, but described him only as a “theist”!)
Extras include a half-dozen interviews, each a few minutes long, with the real Lee and Leslie, their acting counterparts, and the director and screenwriter.
Bonus Pick: If you have Netflix streaming, now might be a good time to catch the Gregory Peck classic To Kill a Mockingbird; it leaves Netflix later this month.
Caveat Spectator: The Case for Christ: Minor thematic elements, including a medical description of crucifixion; a mildly rude expression. Older kids and up.