When I was working at Pura Vida Missions in Costa Rica, during the summer of 2005, I picked up a book that was being passed around the staff house. I read as much as I could in about an hour and a half, and didn’t have time to read it again until I got back to the States and received a gift certificate to a local Christian bookstore from my church as a graduation gift. It was the only book in the bookstore that I wanted.
I don’t remember how long it took me to finish it, but I’m sure it was quick.
I picked up a book in Costa Rica in 2005, and it changed how I think. It helped me forge a more sustainable faith outside of my beautiful, rural little valley*, where, for the most part, if you followed the rules, God and your family were happy. (This is clearly not a sustainable worldview; but truth be told, I often still live like I believe it.)
When I found out it was going to be made into a movie, I was ecstatic. When I found out there wasn’t enough money to finish, I was upset. When I found out about the Kickstarter campaign to save it, I donated.
And now it is here. I was lucky enough to be invited to an early screening party in March, and honestly, I can’t wait to see it again when it opens near Philadelphia on April 20. It’s opening in many other cities this weekend. If you have the chance, please go see it as soon as you possibly can.
If you’re worried about it being a dishonest, tacky, cheesy, unrealistic movie, don’t be. Really. It doesn’t focus on what is “right.” It focuses on what is real, true. Maybe that is what is “right” after all. It tells the truth. “Christian art,” (whatever that means) like any art, needs to tell the truth, regardless of what it looks like. Sufjan Stevens is quoted in a Paste mPlayer article: “If you are an artist of faith, then you have the responsibility to manage the principles of your faith wisely lest they be reduced to stereotype, which is patronizing to the church and to the word, and, perhaps, to God.” Donald Miller and Steve Taylor do not patronize. They tell the truth.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure how Blue Like Jazz the book could or would become Blue Like Jazz the movie. If you’ve read it, you probably know what I mean. It’s hard to make a movie out of a book of personal essays. But, I really do think that the movie does capture the heart of the book. For me, they are two distinct works, but flow out of each other seamlessly.
*I do want to note, mostly because I care what people think, that I did not grow up in a place anything like where Movie Don comes from in Texas. My beautiful, rural little valley is isolated (and can be an isolating place) and consists of cornfields, cows, Mennonite farmers, and women who bake very delicious pies and show up at your doorstep with supper when you’re going through something hard. I am glad I grew up there, and I think very highly of it.
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