| ChristianHeadlines.com Contributor
| Has been updated: February 23, 2024
Sharon is a talented hairstylist with a can-do spirit and a straight tongue. She won’t take no for an answer. she says what she thinks.
She is also an alcoholic, and her adult estranged son resents her addiction. She drinks vodka for breakfast. She staggers home from the bar late at night. Too often she covers her own personal pain with drinks from her liquor bottle. Her friends try to intervene, but with little success.
But soon Sharon discovers something that makes her forget her failures. It was a newspaper article about a critically ill 5-year-old girl whose mother had recently passed away. Sharon can’t get the story out of her head. She attends her funeral. She starts her fundraiser. She extends her hand to her father. Of course, Sharon doesn’t know her family personally. She just wants to help her neighbor in need.
“We all need to find meaning and purpose outside of ourselves,” she tells a friend. Will Sharon’s help make a difference? And can she get her life back on track?
new faith-based movies Ordinary angels (PG) tells the exciting story of Sharon, her new friend Ed, and his family.
Here are four things you need to know:
Photo courtesy of ©Lionsgate; used with permission.
1. Based on an incredible true story
The Ordinary Angels are biography It is a work of the same name by real Louisville resident Sharon Stevens Evans. She was a hairdresser and a single mother in the early 1990s. She reads an article in the local newspaper about her local father (Ed Schmidt) who lost his wife and her daughters suffered from a fatal liver disease called biliary atresia. Ed was also facing large debts due to medical expenses. Sharon helped Ed with his fundraising efforts. But her greatest act of heroism was enlisting the community to help get Ed and her daughter Michelle to the airport during a historic snowstorm just as a liver became available. It was about coming together. They had to fly to Omaha, Nebraska for the transplant. (The movie’s plot pretty much follows that outline.) Last year, Louisville Courier Journal Newspapers reported the true story in detail.
“Sharon started calling radio stations to rally the community. In order for a helicopter to land and pick up her father and Michelle, take them to the airport and take them to Omaha on a private plane, South “We needed to clear the parking lot at East Christian Church,” Michelle’s sister, Ashley Schmidt, told the newspaper. She (Although she doesn’t appear in the movie, Ashley also underwent a liver transplant.)
The parking lot scene is depicted in the movie.
Ordinary Angels is produced by Kingdom Story Company, which also produces films such as I Can Only Imagine, Jesus Revolution, I Still Believe, Woodlawn, and He also produced “American Underdog,” all of which are true stories. Producer Andy Irwin said films based on real events have special power.
“The Bible says they overcame their enemies through the blood of the Lamb and the power of their testimony,” Irwin told Crosswalk. Revelation 12:11. “And your personal story is really powerful. That’s why we tell ours.”
Photo courtesy of ©Lionsgate; used with permission.
2. Includes two-time Oscar winner
Hilary Swank won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2000.Boys Don’t Cry) and 2005 (million dollar baby), Alan Ritchson played Sharon in fast x and Reacher, depicting Ed. The two appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon the week before the film’s release to defend the film.
Ritchson said he “begged for this role” and said he has three children and understands “the lengths a parent will go to to save one of their children.” .
“It will inspire you,” he said of the film. “This gives us hope again for humanity and is a call to action to jump into your community and just help.”
“I really love this movie,” Swank said. “It’s a movie that makes you laugh and cry. It’s a feel-good movie. And I think that’s what we really need in this day and age.”
Photo courtesy of ©Lionsgate; used with permission.
3. It shows the “Gospel in action”
Sharon at the beginning ordinary angel He’s no saint, much less a role model. She got drunk and fell out of the bar. She drinks a combination of orange juice and vodka for breakfast. She attends AA meetings, but she refuses to admit that she has a problem. But soon she becomes fascinated by the story of her local family who needs her help. She has a “hair-a-thon” to raise money for her father. She helps Ed find a job. She buys presents for her daughters. She arranged for an airline to fly Ed and his daughter to Omaha free of charge. She helps him pay off his debts.
Ed questions God. But Sharon is chasing hope.
“We all need to find meaning and purpose outside of ourselves,” she tells a friend.
Behind Ed’s story is Sharon’s story. She poured the alcohol down the drain, but within minutes she was drinking again. She tries to reach out to her estranged son, who is in his 20s, but she is repeatedly turned down.
Although her life is in turmoil, she still intends to put others first. Perhaps that is the moral of this story. God is not looking for perfect people in His Kingdom. He is simply looking for people who are willing to serve. He’s looking for someone to do unpleasant things for him.
Producer Andy Irwin said the film shows “the gospel in action”.That theme resonates James 2:20: “Faith without works is dead.”
“It kind of moves a limb for the gospel.” Irwin spoke to Crosswalk about the film. “This is just a great example of how we can get involved in doing the right thing in terms of service, outreach and caring for people who are hurting in our communities. “You never know what obstacles they’re going through. And especially in church culture, we’re so busy that we don’t know what’s going on.” Sometimes we just can’t slow down enough to understand what’s wrong with us. And how can we help? I think this movie really shows how human beings are willing to help strangers. There are people who do that, and that’s what inspired the change in this church.”
Photo courtesy of ©Lionsgate; used with permission.
4. This is the movie America needs.
Cynicism and division dominate our culture. ordinary angel Both treatments. This is a movie that urges us to reach out to those in need. It urges us to put aside our differences. It points to a better society where we act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.Micah 6:8). It asks us to be “ordinary angels” in our neighborhood.
This is a faith-centered movie with a lot of guts, a lot of inspiration, and a few curveballs as well. Swank and Swank are stunning. Emily Mitchell, the young actress who plays Michelle, is perfect for the role. The screenwriters have successfully transformed a little-known story into a moving, tear-jerking film that appeals to a wide range of people.
Ashley and her family hope the film will wake up viewers to the need for organ donation.
“People who didn’t know her story or the importance of organ donation will now understand,” she says. America needs this movie.
“Ordinary Angels” is rated PG for thematic content, brief bloody images, and smoking. The film does not contain any harsh language, but it does contain themes regarding the death of a mother, alcoholism, and the possible death of a child.
Entertainment rating: 5 out of 5 stars.
Family friendly rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars.
