Despite the message of love that permeates Living Waters Publications’ newest film, Audacity, LGBT activists are warning others away from watching it, giving it poor online reviews with comments such as “avoid at all costs.”
For the film’s executive producer Ray Comfort, however, this is music to his ears. “This is the best thing that could have happened. It’s not even out yet and they are telling people not to watch it. That’s going to make them want to watch it to see how any movie could possibly be that bad; and they are going to get a shock when they see it.”
A scripted film, Audacity follows the struggle of Peter (Travis Owens) as he is confronted with the tension between the cultural acceptance of homosexuality and what the Bible says is true. While trying to live out his Christian beliefs, he finds that there are a lot of uncomfortable questions he has to answer. But acting out of love for his friends and even strangers, Peter is able to live out the values of the Bible and show others the courage it takes to follow the Bible when its teachings are not popular. Viewers will find Audacity to be culturally relevant but still boldly sticking to its biblical principles.
Since its special pre-release online for $19.99, thousands have flooded to audacitymovie.com to purchase the film, wanting to see for themselves how a Christian can be both biblical and loving toward gay friends and family members. The timing of its release—June 24—didn’t hurt, with the Supreme Court’s gay marriage ruling coming out two days later.
“This is the best response we’ve had to any of our movies, and I’m sure it’s because of its timing,” Comfort said. “Many church leaders such as John Piper and Ken Ham are commending it and posting the trailer on their Facebook pages.
“After watching it, Kevin Sorbo, star of God’s not Dead said, ‘I give it second-best Christian movie—God’s Not Dead is No. 1! Ha!'” Comfort continued. “This was no doubt in response to one reviewer who said, ‘Hands down the best Christian film I have ever watched.'”
Hundreds of LGBT activists have flooded imdb.com to register their negative comments in advance of the film’s Aug. 19 scheduled YouTube debut. But Comfort doubts many of them have actually watched it. “They would rather have a quadruple root-canal by a blind dentist than pay $19.99 to watch a Christian movie on this subject,” he said, adding that “The Friendly Atheist” ripped into the movie with a 70-minute review with more than 7,000 downloads in just three days, pointing to the popularity of the controversial topic.
While nearly a thousand individuals have given the film the lowest rating, hundreds more have given it the highest, leaving comments such as “The storytelling was masterful and the twist at the end was Hitchcockian. I am impressed with the sheer excellence of the production. Ingenious!”
The filmmaker is reaching out to Christian leaders who aren’t afraid to speak out on this issue, hoping to communicate that “Audacity” is more than just another documentary showing gay parades, and ex-homosexuals testifying that they are now happily married as Christians. We are asking Christians to help us reach leaders by sharing the trailer with them, as it quickly dispels any of those presuppositions,” Comfort stated.
The trailer can be viewed on audacitymovie.com.
Starring Travis Owens (Friday Night Lights), Molly Ritter (Atrophy, Madison), and Ben Price (Australia’s Got Talent), Audacity explores the conflict between Christians and homosexuality using both a thought-provoking plot and real and unscripted street interviews conducted by Ray Comfort.
