A cultural moment which is a gift to Christians

Every now and then a film comes along, or some other cultural moment, which you just know is an absolute gift to the preacher or evangelist seeking to communicate the good news of Christ.

Think Chariots of Fire, Schindler’s List, The Matrix, Apocalypse Now or The Tree of Life. I recently saw another quiet masterpiece – which was so deeply moving because it reflected so beautifully the fractured needs of humanity – and, at least to me, indicated how suitable the Good News of Jesus is for such needs.

The Quiet Girl is a 2022 Irish coming-of-age film, mostly spoken in Irish Gaelic. It is set in the 1980s and tells the story of a withdrawn quiet nine-year-old girl from a dysfunctional home taken to distant relatives on a farm in the Irish countryside. It’s a film based on the novella Foster, by Claire Keegan. The film is a masterpiece – wonderful cinematography, beautiful scenery, an understated and thus even more emotionally effective storyline, and above all, the acting, mean that it has already received numerous film award nominations – and has become the highest grossing Irish language film of all time. Reviewers, and normal people, love it!