In a field near Swindon, Andy B chats with Andy Godfrey about his new book, Faith on Film: Confessions of a Christian Film Critic.
Get a behind-the-scenes look into the writing of this book – nearly 40 years in the making.
Find out why Andy “fell in love with the movies” at an early age, and how he relates film to his faith in Jesus Christ.
Purchase your copy on Amazon: amzn.eu/d/0hvWWFbp
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I'm here at the gathering in 2024 for Christian Benjamin and this is in the field in this window and it's very exciting. It's been normally doing interviews it's over Zoom but it's really exciting to me because I've got my dear friend Andy Godfrey with me for one very special reason because Andy Godfrey has written his book Hello Andy. Oh Andy don't good to be here and it's great to be at the gathering isn't it? Well fantastic event isn't it? I'll be two thousand men singing how great they were last night. Which is super well me. It's brilliant yeah. Now we've talked about sorties we've talked about all bits and bits but this is about your book because this is a long part of your journey and you've now launched your first book. So what's the book? What's it about? Okay so the book is about movies and it's about my Christian faith so when I was very very young I was taken to the cinema the first film that we ever saw was a reissue of the Wizard of Oz. If people know that film it starts off in sapia in brown and white and then it transforms into glorious technicolor when she crass lands in odds okay and as an eight nine year old I sat watching that and I fell in love with cinema. I mean I'll be honest I didn't have the happiest of childhood. It was an asthmatic. There were two occasions when my parents were told your son will be dead in the morning. I didn't have a happy time at school so cinema was escaped. Cinema was going to Oz. Cinema was getting out of this world and into another world where nothing else mattered and it still is. I mean all these years later I probably go to the cinema three or four times a week and still every time those lights go down I'm getting a tingle Andy I'm getting a buzz because I'm going to Oz. I'm going back to Oz and it might not be very nice you know it might be horrible it might be awful but something it might be beautiful and wonderful and exciting and thrilling and so I fell in love with cinema at a very early age. I also fell in love with Jesus at a very early age. I was very fortunate to be born in Christian family. My mum and dad loved Jesus. They brought me up to love Jesus. I gave my heart to Christ at a very early age. At the age of 15 I was out preaching in churches believe it or not probably rubbish. At the age of 20 I went to theological college for three years and for the last 40 years I've been involved in full-time Christian works so I've been a missionary, I've been a pastor, today I work as an evangelist and all of that time the love of movies just increased. I have 3,000 movies in my friend room. I have all two more movie posters in my house. I have 500 film soundtracks on what most of them on vinyl and this is the reason I live alone according to my best friend. But all that time in the back of my brain how do I combine my love of movies with my love of Jesus and obviously as the years have gone on I've used quotes and illustrations for movies in sermons but the thought came to put them in a book and about four years ago Steve Leg who we all know a great friend said look would you come and write movies for Salted magazine he put his trust in me to write movies to do his movie column in his magazine thankfully he liked what he read and I've been doing that ever since and I also get to interview actors for the magazine and I also get to go to press screenings and previews for the magazine which is really good so Steve trusted me and I was telling him a couple years ago about this idea for a book where we could take movies and use scenes in movies to illustrate the gospel and he said to me in two words he said write it and that was two years ago and then just before Christmas he challenged me again to write it and I went into my room at home locked myself away for two weeks came up with one is a small book but I hope a crammed back book full of sermon illustrations for illustrations full of things that movies can teach us about faith so that's what the book is it's called confessions of a Christian film critic because I'm confessing that I'm a Christian but I also love movies and I don't have a problem with that I really some people do in the very first chapter you'll remember there was a rock and roll song that a guy called Larry Norman wrote called why should the devil have all the good music okay and in that song he says people questioned him for being a Christian that being in a rock and roll band right people have questioned me over the years you're a Christian but you like going to the movies it's the two don't gel it's secular it's worldly you know no is that I'm just having fun I'm just enjoying life to the full you know I can come out I can go and sit watch a movie it can wash over me or it can affect me but it doesn't change my core belief it doesn't change my lifestyle doesn't change what I think Red Jesus Christ so you have this idea you locked self away you wrote this book and Steve leg for great encourager the greatest I've ever known I think possibly and he got you to write this book so what was the process of writing like for you I know you've written for sorting then you're doing a bit some pieces if you've been living a church you'll write sermons but how did you approach actually writing a book so the process was and remember I've been thinking about this for 40 years the idea was to write about different genres of movies rather than specific movies so for example in the book there's a chapter on bonds movies there's a chapter on Christmas movies there's a chapter on Disney movies there's a chapter on sci-fi and horror movies so my process was my thinking was let's just do this on different genres I like to think I know a little bit about movie history let's see let's cite as many films as we can that was the first thing so it was then a question of working out which genres I wanted to cover and I wanted to cover horror science fiction Disney bonds Alfred Hitchcock Christmas I wanted to do a chapter on the part history of the Bible on film and then the second thing was who is the book aimed at who is this book gonna be aimed at and I wanted it to be a book that non-Christians could read gladly and happily I have many many many film fans our friends I run a Facebook page it's called the Mark Hermo's appreciation society people were no Mark Hermo's a film critic I'm one of very few Christians among 6,000 people in that group I wanted my friends on that group to be able to pick up this book read and understand every word even I'm right about the gospel that was the second objective the third objective was to say how can we encourage Christians to talk to their friends it may be gone to a movie and about Jesus how can we use movies as an opening so there were three objectives one to cover as many different genres as we could but to write a book that was accessible to people who have no faith but to write a book that was going to be useful to people who have faith so that was for the three goals in the back of the book you'll find a section where we've listed five movies that you could show in your church you could show a men's group you could show a lady's group and then there were discussion starters so you can get people together after the film and discuss the film using these questions and they will lead you to talk about Jesus one of the other objectives and this was something that Steve and I talked about was I've written so many film reviews now the sorted one of the objectives was let's collect some of them together in the book so my idea was in between each chapter we'll have intermissions that's like you're getting a movie it's a long movie we don't get so much these days do we I miss them you know you said something I think the last one was Lord of the Rings which end of the king had an intermission so the intermissions are reviews but again I want people to read those reviews and think what is this film saying what is the message of this film you know what do I take from this film so so that's the objective as well so that was those are the three objectives write about as many movies as possible write a book non-Christians who understand and find accessible write a book that will it help Christians a lot of Christians I know don't go to the movies that's fine but their friends do their friends do are you going to talk to your friends oh you saw such a bunch of film yeah I know about that so those are the three objectives ending and a lot myself away a lot myself in the room for two weeks worked it out then there wasn't there's been another eight months I mean this has only come out a week ago it's not a quick process it's not a quick process it's a very slow character and I've never written I'm going to be 62 in a few weeks time this is my first ever attempt to write a book Steve said get hold of my editor the girl who edits his books where he called joy tips who is a genius the first thing joy said to me was we cannot quote from movies because of copyright she said this this manuscript as it stands it's gonna cost you thousands of pounds I don't have hundred pounds so joy was a genius I'll give you an example I wanted to quote the Terminator you know I'll be back yeah joy said you can't do that so what she did was she wrote a sentence that reads as hardly observed he would return to see how she twisted there's always a way there's always a way joy had to do that literally dozens of times for the book dozens she's an absolute genius worth every penny and I the book would not be here without her I then said to Steve you've got to write the forward he read it and described me as a love child between Mark's commode and Barry Norman armed with a big black Bible Barry Norman Barry Norman there he got his back a bit in time doesn't it he was a leading film critic for those who don't know and because I know Mark commode who is the country's leading film critic now Mark is an interesting guy Mark believes in God Mark believes in heaven but he doesn't believe in hell and he doesn't believe in judgment so everybody's going to heaven right but I thought if we had his name endorsing the book people who aren't Christians but love movies may well take a second look at it because if Mark commodes saying this is a good book I sent him a copy it was a real punch the air moment about five weeks ago now where we got a message back from his agent saying Mark thread it he enjoyed it here's a quote you can use on the cover and it's on the front cover that was a punch the air moment genuinely and that was a thank the Lord moment thank you Lord because this means that part of our target audience non-Christians people who have no faith are going to look us take a second look at this they may not buy it but they're going to think they're going to oh Mark commode like this book we sent it to a number of people including your son Nathan who I have to say incredible proof reader it's good incredible fruit he's good he's done my books he's great he's brilliant hang on to it we sent it to a number of people I know in ministry who gave us some lovely endorsements but I also gave it to a couple of people that I know who aren't Christians one of them being a friend of mine called Bob man now Bob reviews movies for BBC Radio Solon and describes himself as a even okay Bob read the book he came he rang me up he said that was brilliant I actually loved it even the heathen like me I love this book and so we put that on the back cover I quote he even said that a book called faith on films on you know film faith on film forgot the title has come back and said I'll read the book yeah has come back and said I really enjoyed it so so that was thrilling that's objective one that a non-Christian has read the book and enjoyed it and understood it we got endorsements from people in full-time ministry including Sue Rinaldi who is the worship leader we got endorsements from other evangelists we got endorsements from various other people objective number two met because they all said Christians are gonna like this book you can use it objective number two met so slowly and surely having written this so this book which covers lots of different movies I mean loads of different movies are mentioned and I'd written the book and Joy the R editor said you've got to go back and do it again Andy and I said why she said you've got to put the date to after each film was released I all of them yeah took me a day just a better part of a day to go through the book and put the date 1982 rangers after each film but we got there it's a process isn't it and I was remembering a church somewhere in London I can't remember it a while ago now when the first matrix film came out right there's a pivotal moment in the film if you've not seen it there's there's a pill and one of the main characters has to decide which one of these two color pills is gonna take yeah one of them is gonna open his eyes to this other world one of them he'll go back to sleep and not know what's gone on and this church did services near this cinema in London as they came out they were asked which pill would you like as part of this talk and it struck me the power of how we can use stuff maybe it's Christian maybe it's not but you know what nothing is wasted and actually with a creative the Holy Spirit all of a sudden we can do something absolutely outstanding with it you can I mean I remember when ET came out I lost track of the number of talks children's talks in churches I heard about ET could think about ET he came from heaven he dies he rises again he tells us to be good and he goes back to heaven remind you of anybody perhaps yes so so so ET was a was for many months when it came out church after church speaker children speaker as we're using ET to illustrate Jesus Jesus died rose again told us to love him went back to heaven but the difference is he's coming back again he never came back no ET left us ET left us Jesus is coming back again one day I believe that was on my heart so so so I mentioned that in the book you know and again you think about the world of sci-fi you know in the world on the shared passion of Star Trek don't we we do have a shared passion for Star Trek we've been to a Star Trek convention not together separately at different times I have been to a Star Trek convention and for me see regional series I've met William Shatner unbelievable guy well he was a bit rude but you know long story but you know the world of Star Trek as you know everybody lives in peace harmony and unity you know back in the 60s to have a black woman in the command position on the bridge working with the Russian people just thought this was a riff but it worked so so so what does Jesus do for us Jesus brings us together he's put you in me together he's put me in Steve but he brings us all together we got two thousand men in the field here in Swindon right now Jesus has brought us together and this is a foretaste of what heaven is going to be like so so using Star Trek as a starting off point for talking about heaven seemed quite natural the Bond movies I mean I'm never going to be James Bond you know I don't know I can see you's the next Daniel Craig well you know you're joking exercise regime you're joking some sons you know you I don't know if you have the song scouting for girls did but I wish I was James Bond and we've cited that again we couldn't quote him but we cited that in the book so so so Bond lives this lifestyle of gadgets and girls and beating up the bad guys and money's no object and traveling the world I'm never gonna be James Bond mine that's never gonna be my lifestyle can I still as an ordinary human being have an exciting life can I still as an ordinary human being have a fulfilling life yes I can because Jesus said I've come to give you life and life and all its owners so for me the lesson of the Bond movies is I may never been James Bond but I can be what God wants me to be and that's even more exciting and that's even more thrilling you know so so that's what the Bond chapters about so so we could go on but I mean there's no I did a chapter on Christmas movies die hard die hard came in at number two oh behind Muppet Christmas Carol yes I mean you know I love them up at Christmas Carol there's a great moment when Michael Kane is walking through the market and they're singing a song about how terrible he is and there's this great line that says even the vegetables don't like him you know makes me laugh every year die hard is in there but you know again go on to talk about the fact that a few years ago the BBC produced a series called the Nativity do you know the guy who wrote that was an atheist the guy they commissioned to write the Nativity was it in the course of researching it he became a believer because he said either this Nativity story is true or it's something somebody's made up and it's a load of rubbish and he became a believer so we tell that story in the book I mean it's a small little book that's it's crammed full of stuff it doesn't have to be huge to be exactly so that's an exciting thing you know somebody who's an atheist it's commissioned to write the Nativity becomes a believer wow fabulous you know it's brilliant I'm just trying to think there are other genres as well the one that's probably going to call me the most difficulty with a lot of people is the one on horror horror movies but this came out of a conversation again with Mark Kermode Mark Kermode said to me one day about two years ago why did Christians have problems and horror movies and I said what do you mean and he said well don't horror movies teach us that God is stronger than the devil in most horror movies just about all of them God defeats the devil and his favorite movie is The Exorcist and I went back and I looked at the Exorcist what the message of the Exorcist if you follow it through to the end is this love and self-sacrifice conquers all and do you know that the communists in Eastern Europe fans that film for being too evangelistic because they didn't want people to get the message that there is a God and that there is a devil and that Jesus Christ conquers the devil which is the message in the film based on a true story which is the first thing you see when you want to film so I get this thing about some people say oh you shouldn't be watching these kind of films I quite enjoy them if I'm honest I'm gonna be confessions of a Christian film critic I quite enjoy them because I watch them secure in the knowledge that the devil is going to be is a defeated foe and and there's a great moment in the film for the devil's advocate where Al Pacino is playing the devil he's got a son called Keanu Reams he's trying to persuade his son to join him right the son says to the father to the devil haven't you read the book dad we lose to around the Bible haven't you read the Bible dad we lose and when I saw that I punched the air this film is doing my job for me it's telling people that the devil loses it's telling people what the Bible says and I can use that as of jumping off point for my friends who go to watch horror movies have seen that film and I say hey remember that line the devil loses you know and I believe this is real and look around you what's happening in the world and there is evil and there is good and there is God and there is bad you know we've done a chapter on westerns that was quite a late edition I do like it I like it John Wayne well I'm not into those it's more than forgetting stuff for me what what happens in every western every single western you've ever seen there is a chapel somewhere always always there is a chaplain there is somebody quoting the good book yeah every single western what did the Psalms say the Psalms say if I go to the east or the west you are there westerns are reminding us that you cannot escape the presence of God we did a chapter on war movies and my favorite war movie and again people would disagree which is fine is Kelly's Heroes which is about a bunch of American soldiers discovering that behind enemy lines there's a bank full of gold and they break through enemy lines with the sole purpose not defeating the enemy but they're getting to the gold in so doing they actually create an opening for the American troops to go through it's a really funny film it's a really good thing it was a big success Kelly's heroes says what are your values what are your values do you put country above money where do you value flight the gospel asks us a question where do our values like so all of these things came out there's scope for more we didn't do a chapter on rom-coms because frankly you know boring we didn't do a chap there were other genres that we can do chapters of I have quite a mind of sequel and you'll remember that line from Jaws we you're going to need a bigger boat yeah the sequel is going to be called because we needed a bigger book where can people find your book and it's on Amazon it's on Amazon it looks like that wonderful talented young lady book designed called Esther who's actually a member of my church she design the cover it's on Amazon it's on a vendor on Kindle it's 999 there is a hardback edition if you feel like treating your friends but yeah and also in the back just to say Andy if I may you'll find that you'll find my email address so people can email me and tell me that the books are only rubbish and they fundamentally disagree with me if they want to brilliant also one of the things that we're doing partly through sorties we are offering people the chance for me to visit their church and do an evening on movies really so we'll show clips from movies we will have a quiz we'll have a lot of fun we'll talk about the history of movies and favorite movies and then we'll bring the gospel in so if you want me to come to you and I'm quite happy to travel all over the country for a fee but if you want me to come to your church get in touch we can come we can do an evening an evangelist the evening where we we're going to do it in Milton Keynes in a few weeks time we're inviting loads of people to come just come and enjoy an evening and talking about movies at the end of the evening there will be a challenge based on one of the films then we've talked about but I'll bore you up for one moment yeah I'll show you in a minute yeah yeah faith on film confessions of a Christian film critic available on Amazon if you haven't got it go and get it ebook hardback paperback what's your excuse go off dramas and Andy thank you thank you Andy so good friend and it's great to see you do this because this is brilliant oh that's kind of you thank you I'm live from the gathering in a field this wind in 2024 Andy thank you did you know pure 24/7 radio has a shop well we do you can buy merchandise while supporting the work that we do here simply head over to www.pure247radio.org/shop that's www.pure247radio.org/shop you (upbeat music)
