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The people's preacher (DVD)

Screen Spurgeon

THE PEOPLE’S PREACHER (DVD)
Christian Television Association
£15.99. 75 minutes

Part documentary, part drama, this bravely evangelical production sets out to tell the tale of famous 19th-century preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon. It seeks to rouse the audience’s emotions through the trials and tribulations of a man led by God, and it achieves these ends, but only to a mild extent.

The story is told methodically, it makes its points solidly and in a manner which is hard to criticise, but you get the underwhelming sense that few risks were taken in the translation of script to screen. This may seem like a strange criticism, but so often it seems the case that cinematic magic is found best when the filmmakers are left to grope in the dark, and God graciously injects some otherworldly greatness; but this is clearly not the case here. The film is a success, in that it does what it says on the tin.

The performances are of mixed quality, and at least one scene early on seems more like a first script read-through than a carefully rehearsed take. Some performances from scenes portraying Spurgeon’s later life, though, significantly stand out as heartfelt and well observed. That of Sarah Mardel who plays Spurgeon’s wife Susannah springs to mind.

Spurgeon’s reliance on Christ is well demonstrated, and the message of the gospel is held admirably at centre stage. Although its docudrama format causes the film to suffer from an episodic structure, you get a good sense of the chronology of Spurgeon’s career, aside from some leaps of time and place, which are unsatisfying and confusing. Events unfold at a steady pace, which can sometimes be uninvolving, yet certain moments of genuinely touching humour do occasionally bring the legend to life. Perhaps more screen time could have been dedicated to the more emotive dramatic segments, than to the staid and mannered documentary ones.

The People’s Preacher is a companion piece to a more detailed book on the subject and, while it does educate and entertain, very little is brought to the screen which is truly special.

There is plenty to enjoy, but not enough to relish.

Peter D. Marsay