BodEquip Ministries - Equipping the Body of Christ to Live Abundantly.

Movie Review: The Hiding Place

Quick Plot Summary: Corrie ten Boom and her family are Christians that hide Jews from the Nazis in WW2 Holland.

Rating: Great
Suggested Ages: 11+

Produced by the movie-arm of the BGEA (Billy Graham Evangelistic Assoc.) in 1975, this is a GREAT movie that is well worth a watch. This movie showcases in clear visual terms what it means to put your Christian faith into action and to trust God even when times look very very dark.

If you don't know Corrie ten Boom's story, it is one not to miss and this movie is an excellent place to start. In addition to the movie (digitally remastered and in widescreen), some releases also have an extra disc of bonus features which includes a 1-hour "behind the scenes" extra, which despite its name is really mostly additional backstory to the events shown in the movie (which even uses numerous scenes cut from the movie), as well as several shows that were done with Corrie in her later years that are really neat to see. She was quite an interesting lady that clearly showcased the love of the Lord.

I don't want to give away too much from the movie, but Corrie's faith (and indeed the entire family's faith) is certainly tested in very significant ways. I think most of us, even though we know that horrible horrible things happened at the hand of the Nazis, find it easy to forget just how horribly evil that evil can be. This film, though definitely sanitized, once again reminds us of the evil that lurks within men's hearts (often behind-the-scenes, just waiting for an opportunity to burst out). For those with children, you do need to know that this is an intense film due to its subject matter and deaths do occur in the movie. I would say probably 11/12ish is probably the youngest appropriate age. There's plenty of great family discussion topics that can be gleaned from this movie.

Like a number of other Christian movies, this movie does have a reasonably strong undercurrent that whatever God allows in our lives must be His will for us (because the logic dictates that if it wasn't His will, He wouldn't allow it to happen). I take real issue with that view because I see a distinction between God allowing something (i.e. not stepping in to change what humans or the devil is doing) and God's actual desire for us. I believe God can WANT *NO* Nazi concentration camps with hurt and suffering (i.e. that be His will) and yet, allow the course of events to play out. If God always interceded in our affairs according to His will, it would be Heaven on Earth now and our choices as humans would be of no effect. There's definitely a mystery to it all. But this movie, mirroring the thoughts of many Christians, does have that undercurrent that if we experience pain and suffering, then it must be because God wants us to experience it. With that said, this movie does showcase what tough faith looks like even when you don't understand the "why" and ultimately we see how God uses all that happened even to reach many through the telling of Corrie's story.

If ordering the DVD, note you want the one released in 2008 as that is the one that has been remastered and has the bonus features. On Amazon, as of this writing, the correct release incorrectly shows with a VHS cover and also says it is 1.33 aspect ratio (rather than widescreen) but I believe those are just mistakes on Amazon's listing. The correct DVD you want is UPC code 731635002106.

Reviewed by Christopher Long,
BodEquip Ministries

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