OFF THE WIRE
SOUTHFIELD (WWJ) – After watching Machine Gun Preacher, you may just walk away
motivated, inspired and, possibly, even searching for a higher
calling.
Machine Gun Preacher is truly an inspirational story. It’s based
on the life of Sam Childers, an ex-biker-gxxg member-drug-dealing criminal, who
undergoes an amazing transformation and becomes the savior of hundreds of
kidnapped and orphaned children in war-torn Sudan.
Childers was going
nowhere fast when he returned home after being released from prison. And while
his devoted wife had moved on from her previous life as a stripper – and was
encouraging him to reform and turn his life over to God – Childers refused and
returned to a life of crime.
Things changed for Childers, however, when
he ultimately decided to attend church services with his family. But his life
changed completely in 1998 when he traveled to East Africa to help repair homes
destroyed by civil war.
“When I went into Sudan on my first trip, I saw
the body of a very small child who had been blown up by a landmine,” says
Childers. “And I said right there, I’ll do whatever it takes to help these
children. I didn’t realize it was going to change my entire life. I didn’t
realize I was going to have to walk away from everything I knew, but that’s what
happened.”
And little did Childers know at the time that his efforts
would pit him up against the brutal and notorious Lord’s Rebel Army (LRA), a
guerilla group led by the charismatic mystic Joseph Kony, who was kidnapping
small children and forcing them to commit unthinkable atrocities. But, Childers’
determination led him to pick up his gun and lead heavily armed “rescue
missions” to find children and take them to the orphanage he had started, the
Angles of East Africa, to house, educate and rehabilitate
them.
Machine Gun Preacher is directed by Golden Globe-nominated Marc
Forster (Monster’s Ball, Finding Neverland). Forster says he wondered, at first,
if Childers’ story was actually true. And with the movie now in theaters,
Forster is confident that Machine Gun Preacher will get people talking and
asking themselves what they would do if they found themselves in a position
similar to Childers’. If the reactions of the audience members who watched it
with me are any indication, Forster is right on the money.
Machine Gun
Preacher stars Gerard Butler as Childers, along with Michelle Monaghan, Kathy
Baker, Madeline Carroll, Academy Award ® nominee Michael Shannon and Souleymane
Sy Savane. Rated R. In theaters now.
http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2011/09/30/machine-gun-preacher-ex-biker-gang-member-turns-savior/
