Before his heart was “strangely warmed,” John Wesley possessed a cold and uninspired faith. To the young Wesley, the road to heaven was paved with good works and sincere devotion, but when it came to grace, the early-18th-century preacher was clueless.
This is how he is portrayed in Wesley (3 stars), recently released on DVD through Vision Video. The movie, which also depicts the faith journey of John’s younger brother (and future prolific hymn writer) Charles, is well written—Ken Curtis, founder of Christian History magazine, and Norman Stone, director of the stellar 1985 BBC film Shadowlands, contributed to the screenplay—and reasonably well photographed. But while Burgess Jenkins does a nice job as the title character, the supporting cast is mediocre at best, and the film loses some life as a result.
Still, Wesley is an informative biopic of the man. Thanks to friendships with several Moravians who helped him understand the true meaning of faith and grace, he became an extraordinary force in church history. (More: Wesley theMovie.com)
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