Greetings,
I can admit to you all that I have occasionally been guilty of judging a book by its cover, as it were. Aren't we all, though? There have been things I have avoided simply because they fall into a certain, let's say, category. However, I've learned to give everything a chance, since you never know what you might be missing. I bring this up, because today I will be talking about a film that lies in a genre that some people avoid, a lot, and that genre is what is known as "faith-based" films. Or just Christian films. Call them whatever. I can pretty much guarantee that many people would never so much as get near this film after knowing it has Christian themes to it. That is sad, for two specific reasons. First, the ones who don't want to see it are most likely the ones that need to see it. Second, by passing on a faith-based film ... just because, they will miss out on a pretty good flick called Hidden Secrets.
Now, I have heard some people refer to this movie as a Christian version of The Big Chill. I haven't seen that one, so I'll have to take their word for it. But, apparently, that one is about a group of friends getting together for a funeral, and, in that way, I suppose Hidden Secrets is similar. It is about a group of old friends coming together after several years for the funeral of another friend named Chris, and in the following days, many things that they have been hiding from each other come out into the open. Now let me talk about the characters and the great actors that take us through the story.
We start with Chris's sister, Sherry, played by the wonderful Tracy Lindsey Melchior, who some you may remember from my review of her book Breaking the Perfect 10. Sherry is the last surviving member of her family, her parents having died recently as well. She is conflicted at the return of her ex-boyfriend, Jeremy, played by David A.R. White. He was once a youth pastor, but strayed a bit during his college days. Now he's back for the funeral of his best friend with his new fiance-ish in tow. Her name is Rachel and she is played by Staci Keanan, of My Two Dads and Step by Step fame. I say "fiance-ish" because Jeremy is having some trouble making a full-on commitment. That's mostly because he got his heart broken by Sherry, and they never really resolved their issues. Now this little triangle is pretty much the main plot of the movie, but there are a few sub-plots and interesting characters to go along with them.
We have Michael played by Corin Nemec, who is known for his titular role on Parker Lewis Can't Lose and also an appearance in The Stand with my beloved Gary Sinise. Anyway, Michael is a character who has been and is still struggling with accepting God's forgiveness when it comes to his past. Then, we have Gregg Binkley and Autumn Paul playing, husband and wife, Harold and Rhonda. Harold is an author, and Rhonda is overwhelmingly judgmental. Yeah, she has a problem remembering that a spoonful of understanding helps the scriptures go down. We also have Rhonda's brother Anthony played by Sean Sedgewick, and his girlfriend, Sally, played by Christian singer Rachel Lampa. Finally, in the group of friends, there's Gary, the token agnostic, played by the always awesome John Schneider. Seriously, does he ever disappoint? Oh, and there is also Pastor Wexler played by Reginald VelJohnson. That's right. Sir Carl Winslow is in this, too. I mean, does anyone even need a reason to not watch this thing after I told you that?
Now everyone is good in this, but, whilst we are on the subject of the actors, I have to mention a few standouts. First, as I said, Schneider = awesome, so there you go. Yeah, this part did a good job of showing his range, especially since most of us are so used to him as nice, kind Jonathan Kent. Not so much of that here. Also, David A.R. White has become someone I really like as an actor. I've seen him in a few of these films, and he always does a good job. However, and I'm not just saying this because I have raved about her before, Tracy Lindsey Melchior was just exceptional in this film. Now I have always enjoyed her as an actress, but something about this character she is playing seemed to truly connect with her deeply. When she has emotional scenes, talking about her past, you can see how much she is giving of herself to express those feelings. Just amazing.
So, I can't go into a ton of detail about exactly what happens, because it would give far too many spoilers. But, as the title tells us, secrets that the characters have been hiding begin to be told, and all of this is done to help move the story forward and get us to the ultimate resolution. However, whilst that is the main theme here, there is much that happens which leads me to call this film a type of character study. Yes, there is a good, main plot, but a lot of this is about everyone within the plot and how they develop as people. One of the things I really like about this story is that there is no clear dividing line between the "good" people and the "bad" people. They show how a woman can be a strong Christian but also very disparaging, therefore, practically driving people away from God. And they show an agnostic man, who is very intelligent and asks legitimate questions about Christianity, and never goes so far as to cruelly mock his friends for their beliefs. There is also much discussion about topics that some faith-based films generally don't touch on. Really heavy topics. It shows that, yes, Christians don't just do the right thing before God all the time and then move on. We struggle, sometimes on a daily basis, with the things we've done in our pasts, which brings me to the other big theme of the film - forgiveness.
I've talked about forgiveness a lot in what I write, and this movie beautifully shows how powerful it is. Whether it is us forgiving each other, us forgiving ourselves, or the ultimate forgiveness, that of our Heavenly Father, we can see here the kind of incredible healing it can bring. And, frankly, that is enough reason to watch it.
So, yeah, big recommendations for Hidden Secrets. And I am saying that to everyone. If you're a Christian, you'll like it because it, too, is Christian-based, but it is also very good. If you're not a Christian, it's still good, and plus, I don't think you'll feel like you're getting too hit over the head with religion or anything. Like I said, I would call this a character study movie, more than anything, which is something into which I've always been. So, if any of this sounds interesting to you, check it out.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
