Machine Gun Preacher

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Movie
German title Machine Gun Preacher
Original title Machine Gun Preacher
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2011
length 128 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Marc Forster
script Jason Keller
production Robbie Brenner,
Deborah Giarratana,
Craig Chapman,
Gary Safady,
Marc Forster
music Ash & Spencer
camera Roberto Schaefer
cut Matt Chessé
occupation
Gerard Butler at the premiere for the film at the 2011 Toronto Film Festival

Machine Gun Preacher is an action movie - biopic about Sam Childers ' transformation from a club bikers to a priest and defender of African orphans . The film was released by Relativity Media in 2011 and is based on the book Another Man's War . The screenplay was written by Jason Keller and directed by Marc Forster . Actors include Gerard Butler , Michelle Monaghan and Michael Shannon .

The film tells the story of Sam Childers and his efforts to protect children from South Sudan from the atrocities of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) with the support of the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) .

action

The opening scene of the film shows an attack on a village in South Sudan by the LRA. Sam Childers is an alcoholic, drug user, and biker from Pennsylvania. After his release from prison, he learns from his wife, Lynn, that she has given up her job as a stripper because she has converted to Christianity . After Childers has almost killed a vagabond the night before, his wife Lynn manages to persuade him to go to church with her, where he is finally baptized.

He decides to start a missionary trip to Uganda and upon his arrival asks the SPLA soldier Deng to show him the area and to take him on a trip to the north. The soldier warns him that Childers' target (South Sudan) is a war zone, but Childers manages to convince him to take him away. At night they finally hear noises from outside, so that Childers goes out and sees that the streets are teeming with large numbers of Sudanese children who have to sleep outside of buildings.

Deng explains to Sam Childers that it is safer for the children to sleep outside of the village at night as the villages are often exposed to LRA attacks. The following day, Childers and the soldier escort the children back to their village, but are horrified to find that the LRA burned the entire village and killed the parents. Childers sees one of the children running after his dog, but stepping on a land mine as he leaves the village . Thereupon Sam makes the decision to build an orphanage for the children of South Sudan. However, this orphanage is attacked by the LRA troops during the night and completely burned down. Taken by the events, Sam tells his wife that he wants to give up, but his wife manages to persuade him to rebuild the orphanage.

One night Sam, who is traveling in a jeep with Deng and other SPLA soldiers, is attacked by LRA troops. They manage to drive away or kill the attackers. Not far from the road, Sam discovers a large hole in the ground in which about 40 children are hiding. Since transport is limited to a maximum of 25 children, he decides to initially only take those children who need medical help with him. When they return from the orphanage to pick up the rest of the children, Sam is horrified to see that the children he left behind were burned by the LRA.

Marked by this experience, he returns to the United States. Here, however, he is increasingly alienating himself from his family and his community by accusing them of inaction. His friend Donny also dies from his renewed drug use. Childers decides to sell his construction company to raise more money for and return to the orphanage. His wife is surprised by the decision and tries in vain to dissuade him.

When he arrived in South Sudan, his increasingly hateful behavior met with criticism from the protectors of the orphanage, especially Deng. In a conversation with a former child soldier, Childers realizes how much good he has done and takes courage.

When Childers and the SPLA men rescue a large group of children in an attack on an LRA convoy and, as before, can only take some of them with them in an off-road vehicle, Childers decides to wait with Deng for the SPLA with the group that remained behind. The outcome of this action remains open and the film ends with faded-in texts about the situation in South Sudan.

The credits include black and white pictures and videos of real Sam Childers, his wife and daughter and his orphanage in South Sudan.

production

Filming began in Michigan in June 2010 . The film had a gala premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2011 and was released in US cinemas on September 23, 2011. In German-speaking countries it was published directly on DVD and Blu-ray.

Awards and nominations

Chris Cornell's film song received a nomination at the 2012 Golden Globe Awards .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for Machine Gun Preacher . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , June 2012 (PDF; test number: 133 257 V).
  2. ↑ Machine Gun Preacher - review. In: thisislondon.co.uk. London Evening Standard , November 4, 2011, archived from the original on November 6, 2011 ; accessed on November 4, 2011 .
  3. ↑ Filming Locations. In: imdb.com. Internet Movie Database , accessed August 17, 2012 .