Mindy goes to a movie

Movie Night, Greenwood Village South, Greenwood, Indiana
Dean was at home in Fresno this past week, and his work schedule restricted the time he had for visiting a new church. I, on the other hand, was visiting my dad in Indiana to celebrate his 90th birthday. While there were plenty of "church" activities available, we'd already written about a wedding and about worshiping at Southport Presbyterian Church. Due to other obligations, I wouldn't be able to visit the morning devotional times, Bible studies, or hymn sing held at various times through the week at Greenwood Village South, the retirement community where my dad lives.

What to do?

Thankfully, two showings of The Hiding Place were scheduled for the weekend. It's the only film made by the Billy Graham Association in which Billy Graham doesn’t appear, and while Dean had hoped to include it in April's Christian Movie Month over at Movie Churches, there just weren't enough weeks.

The film (based on the book of the same title) is the true story of one family’s response to the Nazi persecution of Jews in the Netherlands during World War 2. Corrie ten Boom and her sister Betsie lived with their elderly father, a watchmaker, and their lives had revolved around family and service to the community, with Christian faith motivating their everyday activities. As persecution of Jews became more and more brutal, the sisters realized that they had to find a way to care for those their father called “the apple of God’s eye.”

When a man they'd offered to help betrayed them, Betsie, Corrie, and their 85-year-old father were arrested. Casper ten Boom died ten days after their arrest; the sisters were held and eventually transferred to Ravensbruck concentration camp. Corrie struggled to forgive the brutal guards and to trust God's love, even as she recognized His care for them in such things as providing medicine and allowing them to have a Bible.

I wondered what it would be like to watch the movie with people who had some memories or even first-hand experiences from that time. I also wondered how the audience -- generally church-goers, but not exclusively -- would respond to the very evangelical message of the film.

It turns out, the audience was pretty much like any other movie audience: they joked about hurrying from dinner to the movie (one man had brought his dessert along). They teased the employee who brought popcorn and got the movie started. One woman in the row ahead of me wondered aloud where else she’d seen one of the actresses. One couple left after the scene in which the ten Booms were arrested, and I wondered if it was because of the scene’s violence.

I was surprised that the 40-year-old film had as much impact as it did when I first saw it, years before Schindler’s List. A few quotes will give you an idea:

When their nephew says, “Whatever helps Holland is right” while asking Betsie and Corrie to pass information vital to sabotage a German project (by bombing it), Corrie refuses, wondering, “What will we be like when this is over?”

Later, a Jewish professor hiding in their home asks her, “You have your father and your religion. Has it been enough?”

Corrie smiles, “More than enough. God has been very good to me.”

A pastor refuses to help the ten Boom family hide a Jewish baby. “Where would the church be without their pastor?” he asks, noting that he could be arrested and that the Bible instructs people to obey the law.

Corrie’s father, who has embarrassed the pastor by wearing a yellow star as a symbol of his support of the Jews (who are required to identify themselves), tells him, “We are meant to obey the law of the land unless it goes against the higher law. I will take off the star, but we will keep the child.” That baby is the first of many, many Jews whom the family hides, providing ration cards, false identities, and room in their home -- including the secret room behind Corrie’s closet.

In other words, the film held up. Issues of concern for the suffering, persistence in difficulty, forgiveness when wronged, and trust in God's care resonated with me. In spite of the movie's two-and-a-half-hour running time, few people got up for more popcorn, whispered, or even went to the bathroom.

As the credits rolled, the two dozen people in the meeting room left much more quietly than they had entered. I wondered if the lateness of the hour (it was after 9:00 pm) or the emotion of the story was the reason; I wondered if anybody in the group talked about the movie the next day.

I wondered how far I’m willing to go in God’s service and how much I'm willing to trust Him.