War Room

_An inspirational film that's actually inspirational!_ The lives of Tony and Elizabeth Jordan are chronicled (T.C. Stallings & Priscilla C. Shirer), a couple that seems to have it all: A healthy daughter, high-paying jobs and an awesome dream home. Unfortunately, their marriage has become more of a war zone than a sanctuary and their daughter is collateral damage. After Elizabeth meets Miss Clara on the job (Karen Abercrombie), she learns how to fight FOR her family instead of against them. Her newly energized faith transforms her life and has a positive effect on those around her, but can it save her bad marriage? An independent film, "War Room" (2015) only cost $3 million to make and incredibly became the #1 movie in America upon release. Is it worthy of such a feat? With inspirational dramas like this I naturally ask myself if I was inspired, and the answer is very much so. Also, did the drama pull me into the lives of the characters and make me forget that I was watching a movie? Yes. The movie effectively addresses real life issues that real families have to deal with and overcome. I could relate to several of the situations. The movie's similar in ways to 2010's underrated "Cutback" (see my review), but made with a bigger budget and is therefore all-around more polished. "War Room" is just a great drama and inspiring to boot. It overtly talks about God and prayer in a Christian context, so if that offends you you'll probably want to give it a pass. It goes without saying that topics like this are difficult to pull off realistically and un-awkwardly in cinema, but "War Room" impressively pulls it off. The movie runs 120 minutes and was shot in North Carolina. GRADE: A