My Movie Review: War Room

The first thing I had to do when I sat down and watched the movie, War Room, was to know what to expect. People had only informed me that it was a Christian film about praying and family. Nevertheless, at the very first sight the movie message began to strike me on a personal level. Being a Nigerian male who believes in faith and family, this movie was a spiritual experience, rather than a form of entertainment.

The book is about a lady named Elizabeth Jordan who is at war with her marriage. Her husband Tony is a successful person in his career and their family is full of strain and alienation. They quarrel frequently, they hardly have time to spend good moments together, and their young daughter is in the middle of this situation.

First of all, Elizabeth attempts to deal with everything on her own, yet nothing appears to be effective. Then she meets an elderly woman Miss Clara who leads her to the concept of a War Room - a hidden corner in her house where she gets to pray and where she writes her prayers on the wall and prays on her knees in battling with her problems.

The entire idea of the War Room was quite novel and strong to me. Manner in which Miss Clara preached about prayer changed my perception of prayer. She explained that we engage in too many battles on our own, yet the true battle is a spiritual one, and we have to leave it to God to fight it out by means of prayer. It was very encouraging to see Elizabeth, being a scared and frustrated wife turn into a powerful woman of prayer. It reminded me that in life when I am faced with problems I do not necessarily need to argue and fight with people. Rather, I am able to pray to God, and leave Him to struggle on my behalf.

Among the teachings that I received in War Room is that prayer transforms things, but what is more important, it transforms people. At the beginning, Tony was immature and infidel. Money and success were not enough to him and he was losing his family. Only having devoted all her life to prayer, Elizabeth made Tony realize himself and repent. That taught me that I should not only pray to God to change things when I am praying, but I also need to give Him the capacity to change me and the people that are in my life.

One of the other lessons is on the issue of family togetherness. The Jordan family was disintegrating due to lack of spiritual union between them. The film also made me realize that in Nigeria, where a huge part of the population is also affected by the pressure many families, work, and temptations, prayer can be the force which holds us all together. I also learned that however hectic I am in life, I have to find time to pray and fellowship with my family. This is what will make my future family strong.

Acting performances within the movie were also very impressive. Priscilla Shirer, the actress who portrayed Elizabeth, did an excellent job of displaying feelings of a wife who is shattered inside yet struggling to hold her family together. I was able to experience her suffering, her tears and subsequently her happiness when the situation started to get better. T.C. Stallings who played the role of Tony was also persuasive.

He exhibited the pride and arrogance of a man who believed he had it all, but it is also humility of a man who came back to God. My most favorite character was Miss Clara portrayed by Karen Abercrombie. Although she is not a young person, her passion, vitality, and enthusiasm in praying made her memorable. She was reminding me of Nigerian grandmothers who would always call us to pray and never joke about the spiritual issues.

I had a highly emotional experience when I watched the movie. I had moments when I wanted to get at once on my feet and pray. I even cried at other moments, as the story was so real. It was not pretending as it was observing real individuals experiencing various hardships that most families go through. Being a Christian, it enhanced my faith and made me desire to establish my own War Room whereby I can spare time to communicate with God.

Yet, despite the fact that I personally liked the film, I think that there are several ways to improve it. First, the plot was centered on prayer to the extent that it was a bit slow at times in the middle. I believe that they would have included more scenes of how Elizabeth could reconcile prayer with action in her day to day life.

Secondly, the film would have addressed the feelings of the daughter more in-depth. Broken homes tend to affect children most and I would have preferred to hear more of her side of the story. Finally, there were certain predictable aspects of the movie. Already in the very beginning, I was able to foresee that Tony would turn out to be a changed person later, so perhaps they should have introduced an element of surprise and make it even more interesting.

Concerning the relevance of the movie to my life, I can observe that War Room is a call to action. It is not only about a nice story watching; it is about putting into practice what I have learnt. I understood that I have to prepare my personal place of prayer, although it might be a part of my room.

I am also to pray more in favor of my family, my future and even to Nigeria. There are numerous issues that we have in this country - insecurity, unemployment, corruption, etc. but I think that prayer remains a potent weapon. As the Nigerians, we will see a real change when we take the prayer seriously like Miss Clara did.

War Room is a beautiful and inspiring film in general. Not only Christians believe in the power of hope, love and family, but anyone who believes in it will enjoy it. The point is straightforward: in case life becomes difficult, then no longer struggle with others, but in your War Room struggle with the matters of prayer.

In the rating, I would rate the movie 8.5 out of 10. The acts were good, the message was heavy and the feelings were genuine.