Play the Flute is a film about a modern American Neo-Evangelical Youth Group in Action. It depicts an affluent youth group in a typical Southern City with the all-too-familiar issue of apathy toward God, immoral behavior, and forced attendance. The film itself had a good use of sets, excellent believable acting, and a good story overall. It is certainly worth a watch, and is one of the better Christian films out there in many ways.
The social commentary on this movie is quite sad as it tries to realistically depict the reality of many Neo-Evangelical youth groups in America. One of the main points that stuck out to me was that the parents in the movie were in the background if not almost non-existent characters in this movie. Neo-Evangelical church people have come to expect that Youth Pastors teach their kids spirituality. Parents have come to believe that it is okay to outsource their spiritual responsibilities to a 'Professional Seminary Trained' Youth Minister. This movie reinforces that sad reality and also gives social commentary to the fact that most Neo-Evangelical parents are not involved spiritually in the lives of their children, thus shirking their responsibilities. Sad.
This movie was really good up until the very last scenes, which is where I will comment mostly. The Youth Leader is able to have good influence and starts to transform the youth group with three leaders being most evident in their growth. There is also an increasingly angry antagonist. The end stages of the movie revolve around the main antagonist, who is a rich girl who is forced to go to youth group by her mother (who pays her to go). She believes that everyone is being brain-washed by the new youth leader and wants him out so she can maintain the status-quo. She also has some kind of issues with men in general as demonstrated in the movie. Her plan is to frame the pastor by falsely accusing him of 'making a pass' at her while they are alone after a youth meeting. This event leads to the Youth leaders eventual dismissal from the church to avoid a scandal. It is very much like the Joseph story from the Bible which is alluded to in the movie. The Youth Leader takes the false accusation and resigns in peace, telling his youth group to continue on and to not worry about him.
At this time, the three most spiritual leaders of the youth group are able to convince the antagonists' best friend to join them to find the truth: that the antagonist lied and framed the youth pastor to get him fired. This is where the movie could have done a lot better. Instead of resorting to spiritual means, the most spiritual characters in the movie resorted to situational-ethics to manipulate the antagonist into confessing that she framed the Youth Pastor. This was sad and went against the message that the Youth Pastor was trying to teach as well as the message of Christ and Joseph. Once the truth is discovered a good portion of the youth group abandons their church and goes to join the ex-Youth Leaders church (since he is now a pastor elsewhere). The Ex-Youth Leader who is now pastor accepts them into his church without question, thus giving a tacit approval to 'Church Splitting'. No restoration is depicted with their old church. This sadly promotes the idea of church hopping.
I thought this could have been handled a lot better and portrayed biblical truth better, but it didn't. For example, the three spiritual leaders of the youth group could have handled the matter in a spiritual way without manipulation by strongly influencing the youth group into following Christ until the antagonist was alone, which would have complemented the beginning of the movie better since it was only one spiritual girl alone versus the crowd of apathetic people. A 'tables have turned' ending would have been awesome. The antagonist did not have to necessarily be converted, but she could have been humbled greatly as her influence was lost, and experienced forgiveness at a later stage, or even a departure. This would have been an excellent ending.
However the ending that does happen only promotes a form of man-worship. The Ex-Youth-Leader accepts a good portion of his ex-youth group into his new church. Years later one of the youth named Squirrel becomes a youth pastor himself and it is revealed that he is the one telling the whole story. Squirrel then cries and says that the Ex-Youth-Leader who influenced him died of cancer recently. The message depicted is one of following a man, doing ministry because a man influenced him -- nothing of Christ. The ending promotes a form of man-worship by instilling a message in the watcher that we should look for a great Youth Leader to influence us, and that is the reason why we grow spiritually. Such a sad ending, that could have had good potential. It is a real reflection of the dysfunctional reality of Neo-Evangelical churches.
We need to remember that it is not a man who influences us, but the Bible itself and Christ.
The social commentary on this movie is quite sad as it tries to realistically depict the reality of many Neo-Evangelical youth groups in America. One of the main points that stuck out to me was that the parents in the movie were in the background if not almost non-existent characters in this movie. Neo-Evangelical church people have come to expect that Youth Pastors teach their kids spirituality. Parents have come to believe that it is okay to outsource their spiritual responsibilities to a 'Professional Seminary Trained' Youth Minister. This movie reinforces that sad reality and also gives social commentary to the fact that most Neo-Evangelical parents are not involved spiritually in the lives of their children, thus shirking their responsibilities. Sad.
This movie was really good up until the very last scenes, which is where I will comment mostly. The Youth Leader is able to have good influence and starts to transform the youth group with three leaders being most evident in their growth. There is also an increasingly angry antagonist. The end stages of the movie revolve around the main antagonist, who is a rich girl who is forced to go to youth group by her mother (who pays her to go). She believes that everyone is being brain-washed by the new youth leader and wants him out so she can maintain the status-quo. She also has some kind of issues with men in general as demonstrated in the movie. Her plan is to frame the pastor by falsely accusing him of 'making a pass' at her while they are alone after a youth meeting. This event leads to the Youth leaders eventual dismissal from the church to avoid a scandal. It is very much like the Joseph story from the Bible which is alluded to in the movie. The Youth Leader takes the false accusation and resigns in peace, telling his youth group to continue on and to not worry about him.
At this time, the three most spiritual leaders of the youth group are able to convince the antagonists' best friend to join them to find the truth: that the antagonist lied and framed the youth pastor to get him fired. This is where the movie could have done a lot better. Instead of resorting to spiritual means, the most spiritual characters in the movie resorted to situational-ethics to manipulate the antagonist into confessing that she framed the Youth Pastor. This was sad and went against the message that the Youth Pastor was trying to teach as well as the message of Christ and Joseph. Once the truth is discovered a good portion of the youth group abandons their church and goes to join the ex-Youth Leaders church (since he is now a pastor elsewhere). The Ex-Youth Leader who is now pastor accepts them into his church without question, thus giving a tacit approval to 'Church Splitting'. No restoration is depicted with their old church. This sadly promotes the idea of church hopping.
I thought this could have been handled a lot better and portrayed biblical truth better, but it didn't. For example, the three spiritual leaders of the youth group could have handled the matter in a spiritual way without manipulation by strongly influencing the youth group into following Christ until the antagonist was alone, which would have complemented the beginning of the movie better since it was only one spiritual girl alone versus the crowd of apathetic people. A 'tables have turned' ending would have been awesome. The antagonist did not have to necessarily be converted, but she could have been humbled greatly as her influence was lost, and experienced forgiveness at a later stage, or even a departure. This would have been an excellent ending.
However the ending that does happen only promotes a form of man-worship. The Ex-Youth-Leader accepts a good portion of his ex-youth group into his new church. Years later one of the youth named Squirrel becomes a youth pastor himself and it is revealed that he is the one telling the whole story. Squirrel then cries and says that the Ex-Youth-Leader who influenced him died of cancer recently. The message depicted is one of following a man, doing ministry because a man influenced him -- nothing of Christ. The ending promotes a form of man-worship by instilling a message in the watcher that we should look for a great Youth Leader to influence us, and that is the reason why we grow spiritually. Such a sad ending, that could have had good potential. It is a real reflection of the dysfunctional reality of Neo-Evangelical churches.
We need to remember that it is not a man who influences us, but the Bible itself and Christ.
