Rebekah Reviews
'The Spitfire Grill'

The movie comes alive with theological themes, images, symbols, metaphors and lessons: names and music, life from death, personal accountability, judgment and withholding judgment, mercy, grace, forgiveness, reconciliation, redemption, sin and sin’s consequences. The sin patterns are manifested in different ways through the characters; Hannah with her stubborn pride, Nahum with his prejudice and control issues, and Percy who carries with her the guilt, shame and self-contempt of her past. The town of Gilead is full of lost souls who eventually find renewed faith, restored hope and the ability to love unconditionally.

Zlotoff displays great courage once again by allowing the villain of the movie to be restored. Nahum who portrays the close-minded, prejudice, unlovable town scoundrel is easy to hate. The murderous depraved side of my soul would have been satisfied had he come to a wretched end. But I was not allowed that catharsis. Nahum, much to my surprise, seeks reconciliation and redemption instead. This is the most accurate demonstration of the Christian doctrine of grace and one of the most risky film making efforts I have witnessed in a Hollywood movie.

Set in a wonderful little backwoods town in Maine called Gilead, the film does much with references to its Biblical namesake. In the Bible, Gilead is the region to the east of the Jordan River, noted for the soothing “balm” or ointment gleaned from its woodlands. One of the hopes for modern Gilead’s future is that such a substance (for healing purposes) has been discovered in the forests of the region that had long been thought ruined and useless.

The Biblical Gilead was also a refuge for fugitives, such as Jacob (Gen. 31:21-55), the Israelites (1 Sam. 13:7), Ishbosheth (2 Sam. 2:8-9) and David (2 Sam 17:22ff.) The town Gilead provides such a refuge for Percy, recently released from prison. Overcoming many obstacles, she finds healing and purpose in Gilead. Ultimately, she loses her life there. Yet in sacrificing her life, she provides a Gilead of her own for another young girl, Clair, and her son, Charlie, and also for Shelby and Nahum, and for Hannah and Eli. Percy’s death brings desire, longing, and dignity back to Gilead. Out of death comes life (Phil.1: 21). It is the principle of exchange just as Christ sacrificed his life on the Cross to redeem our past, to shape our future and to restore our hope of glory and to inherit eternal life.

The song, “There is a Balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole, there is a Balm in Gilead to heal the weary soul” (Jer.8: 22), also provides a redemptive theme for this dynamic movie. Percy is the “Balm in Gilead.” By becoming the “sacrificial lamb that was slain”, she becomes the story of “Christ” portrayed as a young women in modern dress. She provides a way through her life and death for the town of Gilead to become a haven of hope and healing for the people, through forgiveness, reconciliation, resurrection and redemption.