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Movie With A Message: Locals Fireproof Their Marriages

Critics are calling the movie “Fireproof” remarkable, and at least one local pastor is already using the film as a tool in his church, teaching couples to strengthen their marriages.

The action-packed inspirational movie “does have its commendable elements, including that rarest of creatures on the big (or small) screen: characters with a strong, conservative Christian faith who don’t sound crazy,” according a  New York Times review.

“For a Christian audience and non-Christians, it is absolutely a movie you should see,” Pastor Ted Bridges of the Walnut Hill Baptist Church said. About 20 adults and 10 youth from the church watched the movie on Saturday, opening weekend. The film opened at number four in the country, despite a limited release on just 839 screens across the U.S.

At work, inside burning buildings, Capt. Caleb Holt lives by the old firefighter’s adage: Never leave your partner behind. At home, in the cooling embers of his marriage, he lives by his own rules. After seven years of marriage, Caleb and Catherine Holt have drifted so far apart that Catherine wishes she had never married. Neither one understands the pressures the other faces–he as firefighter and she as the public relations director of a hospital.

Regular arguments over jobs, finances, housework, and outside interests have readied them both to move on to something with more sparks. As the couple prepares to enter divorce proceedings, Caleb’s father challenges his son to commit to a 40-day experiment he calls “The Love Dare.” Wondering if it’s even worth the effort, Caleb agrees, but more for his father’s sake more than for his marriage.

“The movie is a very good depiction of how the enemy (the devil) works against the sanctity of marriage,” Bridges said. “It speaks to a lot of the pressures of our society like finances, and even things like Internet pornography.” (The pornography, Bridges said, is implied, not shown on screen.)

“A wife can see areas from her side of the marriage and learn; men can walk away with how we can live our lives better in our marriage,” he said. Even the youth from Walnut Hill Baptist that attended the movie walked away having learned things from the movie, he said.

Fireproof, starring Kirk Cameron, was produced by Sherwood Pictures and Sherwood Baptist Church in Georgia with an all-volunteer 1,200 member cast and crew. But it’s not a bad production nor a “B movie”, Bridges said.

“It’s not boring; it’s not a bad production,” Bridges said. “There are a lot of fire scenes that are well done and exciting.”

The couples from Walnut Hill Baptist that attended the movie went out to eat following the show, holding a discussion about marriage. Each couple signed a certificate rededicating themselves to their marriage, and the men presented their wives with a single rose.

“It was touching,” Bridges said. “Even the big ole tough fellows were standing around talking about the movie, asking each other if they cried. ‘Yeah, I cried,’ they said.”

The movie is not belittling toward non-Christians, nor does it “preach”, the pastor said. “It’s not Christians on a soapbox,” he said.

Bridges said he hopes to see more Christian movies that are good entertainment coming out of Hollywood.

Fireproof is the third movie from Sherwood Pictures. Their first movie, “Flywheel”, had only a very limited release on DVD in 2003. Their underdog football team movie, “Facing the Giants”, grossed over $10 million despite being produced on a $100,000 budget in 2006.

Fireproof is showing at the Rave Theater at W Street and Highway 29 in Pensacola. For more information about the movie, visit www.fireproofthemovie.com.