This tells the true story of an unlikely friendship between the Reverend George Whitfield (Jonathan Blair) and Benjamin Franklin (John Paul Sneed) that resulted in one of the most defining moments in American history. With the colonies on the brink of collapse, the Reverend George Whitfield ignites the first Great Awakening, uniting an entire generation with his thundering and faithful sermons and proclamations of liberty. In a miraculous turn of events, one of Whitfield's closet friends and greatest promoters becomes none other than Benjamin Franklin. With the nation's freedom hanging in the balance, the founders discover true liberty cannot only be written into law--it must be awakened in the hearts of the people.
Others to round out the cast are JT Schaeffer as Benny Franklin Bache, Benjamin Franklin's grandson, Josh Bates as Alexander Hamilton, Jonathan Bauer as Holy Club member, Jeff Bender as William Johnson, Zachary Amos as Oxford Servitor, Timothy Ryan Bartlett as Oxford Servitor and Robert Bigley as George Mason.
This was incredibly delineated with perfection by director Joshua Enck ("I Heard the Bells" '22). It absolutely astounds me that this filmmaker has only one other directing credit to his name, esspecially since this was directed as though a seasoned director helmed it. A natural? Not sure, but suffice it to say, he definitely has a future as a continued director. The film had cohesiveness, conciseness, was sequenced well and the actors really found their footing with the development of their characters, and this is fine directing. It was equally penned well by writers Jeff Bender (I Heard the Bells" '22, "Sight & Sound Presents: Daniel LIVE" '24) plus a video, Joshua Enck ("I Heard the Bells" '22) and Jonathan Blair ("Found on South Street" '15) plus a short. Again, considering the lack of experience these writers have, this script was well thought out and the fluidity was as seasoned as any other writer in the biz. This writing and directing crew will undoubtedly go places in the very near distant future. Whitfield was definitely one of the great evangelistic, humble yet powerful preachers back in the day along with John Wesley and later with Amy Semple McPherson and C.S. Lewis.
This is certainly a film for all to see--whether one is a Christian or not since it can and will speak to all hearts if they simply allow that to happen and does it in such a loving way. The writing, directing and acting, especially by John Paul Sneed and Jonathan Blair as Franklin and Whitfield respectively was amazing and captivating.
Out of 4 Stars: 4 Rated: PG-13 129mins.
