Easter weekend usually signals an onslaught of religious movies, especially coming from the other side of the pond. While it’s easy to dismiss the majority of these films as too simplistic in their approach to faith, some in the past, see The Shack (Stuart Hazeldine, 2017), have offered a little more gravitas than others. The same sadly can’t be said about Let There Be Light, a film so ingrained in blind-faith and conservatism that it could turn any God-fearing christian into a confirmed atheist.
Directed by and starring TV’s very own Hercules Kevin Sorbo, the film is co-produced by conservative Fox News anchor Sean Hannity and is written by Sorbo’s wife Sam Sorbo alongside veteran writer Dan Gordon, the man behind Hollywood classics such as Wyatt Earp and The Hurricane.
Outspoken and heavy drinking atheist writer Dr. Sol Harkens (Sorbo) is a firm believer in science and has made it his mission to stand in the way of anyone who claims that God is real, a belief he has held since losing his son to childhood cancer. After a particularly heated debate against paster Fornier (played by iconic southern actor Gary Grubbs), Sol is encouraged by his publisher to be even more outspoken.
When he gets into a near-fatal accident, Sol loses consciousness and sees his dead son in the afterlife. Waking up in a hospital bed where is ex-wife Katy (Sam Sorbo) who has reluctantly rushed to his side, Sol tells her and everyone who would listen what he saw and how the experience changed him forever. With the help of infamous Fox News anchor and Donald Trump mouthpiece Sean Hannity, both Sol and Katy hope to spread the message of God to the masses in a ludicrously convoluted denouement.
It’s hard to say what is worse, the fact that the film and its narrative has clearly no faith in its audience’s ability to make up its own minds, or could it be the criminal overacting and truly horrendous judgemental views towards anyone who isn’t completely on board with the whole schtick.
While other religious movies have been able to take a bit of distance to allow for a clearer understanding of their motivations, Sorbo’s film offers zero explanation on why one must go with its utterly ludicrous premise. There is constant talk of ISIS and their motivations and how that somehow explains why one particular God is real, which let’s face it, is a rather ridiculous reason to believe in any kind of deity.
Let There Be Light offers nothing more than a contrived and utterly absurd anti-Islam rhetoric which belongs back in the dark ages (or perhaps on Fox News). Propaganda at its ugliest.
Let There Be Light is in cinemas from Good Friday.
