Anyone who knows me knows that I am extremely particular when it comes to spending my coins at a movie. I’m especially leery of ANY movie where the subject is God or if the movie ends with a corny church scene or a group of folks doing the electric slide. I love God (amen), however many of the movies starting African Americans generally result in pure corniness or a predictable storyline. Before 2 weeks ago, I have never heard of War Room, had no idea who any of the actors were, and didn’t really know what it was about. For approximately 2-weeks, I slowly began to hear people on social media talking about this new movie, and all I really knew was that it had something to do with praying. Believe it or not, there are still lots of people who have never heard of this movie, so I don’t want to ruin it for anyone, so what I’ll do is provide you with 5 reasons why you should check out this new film.

1. To my surprise – This isn’t a BLACK MOVIE (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Yes, the movie stars characters who are African American however, the movie was written and directed by Alex and Stephen Kendrick, two brothers who are not African American. The theaters are filled with a nice combination all races and of course its family friendly.
2. This Aint Your Ordinary “Church” Movie – This movie is powerful. The most fascinating aspect of the movie is that there are about 5 minutes total of ACTUAL church scenes. A Christian movie… starring black people… about God… with only a minimal amount of church scenes? Yes! Here’s why that’s important. Instead of the movie sending a message of how important it is to go to church, It relayed a message of how important it is be have a RELATIONSHIP with God.
3. Yes, I know your mom and your grandma love Madea and her shenanigans, so guess what. This movie also has a sassy grandma – Miss Clara, but perhaps portrayed in a more relatable, less ratchet sort of way. Miss Clara has all the humor and sass that you may be use to in some of your other films; however there is something very different about her. All of her wisdom stems from her relationship with God.
4. No slapstick corniness Like I said earlier, for those of you like me, who try to avoid the predictable humor that often comes with movies with religious themes, no worry here. The movie brilliantly uses humor without having the need for the typical slapstick routines that you often find in many religious satire films.
5. This movie LITERALLY teaches a person How To Pray. We’ve seen people pray in church, on TV, and at home hundreds of times, so praying should be easy right? Surprisingly, for many people, knowing what to say to God and knowing and understanding what to ask for and how to ask can be hard for many people. The main character in the film, Elizabeth, had this same issue at first. She knew she needed to pray, but didn’t exactly know what she should have been praying for and how. War Room does a great job of allowing the audience to experience the emotions of the main character as she learns how to pray and have faith.

So, I may have said too much already for those who haven’t seen the film. Just go out and see the film, take the kids, and a friend. You won’t be disappointed.

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