Recent viewings

Why should the Devil have all the good music? A low-key documentary about Christian rock music, focusing particularly on the Cornerstone music festival in Bushnell, Illinois. The movie consists almost entirely of interviews with members of Christian rock groups, interspersed with short live segments of their performances. The bands portrayed range from wretchedly untalented to moderately good. Unfortunately, the most musically appealing performer, Larry Norman, is not prominently featured, even though the title derives from a saying popularized by him.

The subjects of the film bring up plenty of interesting issues about the Christian rock genre. Is it just a pale, sanitized imitation of "mainstream" pop music? Should Christians separate themselves from that mainstream? Some of the subjects eagerly discuss throwing away their collections of secular music and carefully avoiding exposure to non-Christian radio. Others acknowledge playing in bars and similar venues, partly because they need the gigs, but also partly because they want to avoid being typecast or becoming trapped in an insular musical ghetto. Some of the musicians are interviewed amongst open beer bottles, with occasional vocabulary words that may surprise some of their fans.

A substantial part of the film is devoted to musicians and festivalgoers discussing homosexuality and how the church should relate to homosexual people. Perhaps not surprisingly, many of the musicians are more open and tolerant -- at least on camera -- than most official denominational spokesmen.

It's not the most exciting documentary ever made. Nor is it a definitive overview of Christian rock music. I strongly suspect it's not even particularly representative, since most of the bands featured are hard-rock or metal-influenced. But if one is interested in the subject, it provides food for thought and discussion.