• Latest
  • Trending
moonlight movie christian review

‘Moonlight’ Movie Review: Christian Perspective on a Quest for Validation

June 5, 2017
Twitter user posted image of Jesus sitting next to Donald Trump in court

Trump Shares Fake Courtroom Sketch of Himself and White Jesus; Users Respond With ‘Fixed’ Versions of Satan, Black Jesus

October 3, 2023
iraq wedding fire

Wedding Fire That Killed More Than 100 in Iraqi Christian Community Prompts Letter From Pope

October 2, 2023
Pastor Albert Tate has been placed on a leave of absence by his church board for inappropriate text messages and questionable comments

Fellowship Monrovia Church Puts Pastor Albert Tate on Leave Over ‘Inappropriate’ Text Messages

October 2, 2023
Marla Frederick

Religion Scholar Marla Frederick Is First Black Woman to Lead Harvard Divinity School in 200 Years

September 30, 2023
faith leaders

‘God Will Work a Miracle’ — Thousands of Foreign-Born Faith Leaders Could Be Forced to Leave US

September 30, 2023
teacher classroom students

What Black Teachers Face Today Isn’t Much Different From What They Faced During Segregation

September 29, 2023
woman on mic

Professor Charrise Barron Talks Teaching Protest Music’s Evolution From Gospel to Hip-Hop

September 28, 2023
Julie Chen Moonves

‘Big Brother’ Host Julie Chen Moonves Tells How She ‘Found Jesus’

September 27, 2023
Asian Americans

Fear of Ridicule, Desire to Fit In Prompt Some Asian Americans to Partly Hide Heritage

September 27, 2023
laptop

Evangelical Organization Launches ‘Racial Justice Assessment’ Tool

September 27, 2023
megachurches

Are New Jersey’s Megachurches the Answer to the Crisis of Christianity?

September 27, 2023
Christian rapper Dee-1

Rapper Dee-1 Starts Artist/Scholar Residency at Tufts University After Nabbing Nasir Jones Fellowship at Harvard

September 26, 2023
Faithfully Magazine
  • Members
    • Log In
    • Member Home
    • See All Members
    • What’s New
    • Start or Join a Group
    • Your Freebies
Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
  • About
    • Advertise
    • Submit Content
    • Contact Us
    • Give Via PayPal
  • Exclusives
  • Q&As
  • Specials
  • NJ News
  • Listen & Watch
  • Shop
    • Faith Heroes Bookmarks
    • Clothing
    • eBooks
  • Events
    • Community Events
    • FM Live Q&As
  • Resources
    • Black Christian Content
  • Newsletter
Cart / $0.00

No products in the cart.

  • About
    • Advertise
    • Submit Content
    • Contact Us
    • Give Via PayPal
  • Exclusives
  • Q&As
  • Specials
  • NJ News
  • Listen & Watch
  • Shop
    • Faith Heroes Bookmarks
    • Clothing
    • eBooks
  • Events
    • Community Events
    • FM Live Q&As
  • Resources
    • Black Christian Content
  • Newsletter
No Result
View All Result
Faithfully Magazine
Home Inspiration

‘Moonlight’ Movie Review: Christian Perspective on a Quest for Validation

Eric J. Miller by Eric J. Miller
June 5, 2017
in Inspiration
Reading Time: 4 mins read
0
moonlight movie christian review

"Moonlight" movie poster.

208
SHARES
ShareTweetPin It
[Spoilers Ahead]

 

While Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight” shoulders a strong message about the complicated realities of queer black male existence in America, the film smartly avoids any sermonizing.

Rather than lead the audience on a guided tour to “discover” what they should want for the characters, the ensemble of souls Jenkins creates are so eminently identifiable and sympathizable in their real human brokenness, we cannot help but want what they want.

And what does the movie’s main protagonist want above all else?

RelatedArticles

Chris Broussard and Matthew Daniels

Responding With Restorative Justice

July 28, 2023
holding a globe

‘A Just Mission’ Is Only Dangerous When You Don’t Know How to Listen

April 4, 2023

Validation.

The story is split into three acts, each centered on Chiron, a black boy growing up in a Florida ghetto at the height of the eighties crack epidemic.

Each act represents a different period in Chiron’s life, from socially isolated elementary school aged boy to same-sex attracted teenager and finally conflicted and closeted gay man, over the course of the 111-minute film.

At the mercy of a world he doesn’t understand and which clearly doesn’t understand him, Chiron’s search for validation is borne of necessity.

Chiron’s father manifests only in a solitary passing reference, and the young boy is forced to watch his working single mom and only parent transfigure into a one-track minded crack addict whose long days spent hustling for “rocks” leave little time for actual parenting.

This parental void is filled by a surprisingly paternal neighborhood drug dealer, Juan, and his live-in partner, Teresa, an irony not lost on Chiron’s juvenile mind.

“Do you sell drugs?”, he asks Juan.

“Yeah.”

“And my mama…she do drugs, right?”

Neither he nor Juan presses the point any further.

Neither have to.

Chiron’s misfit status crystallizes together with his same-sex attraction as he enters his teenage years, leaving him the impossible choice of passing as something he is not or existing on social the margins of his community, a choice familiar to many queer men of color.

For Chiron, the margins are where he gets the tar beat out of him for no other reason than he’s an easy, visible target.

The margins are where friends and enemies alike bury him alive under an avalanche of nicknames, slurs, and accompanying identities no young man would choose for himself.

An example of the latter is Chiron’s best friend Kevin who simply calls him “Black,” referencing his ebony hue in a subtle hat tip by Jenkins to colorism in the African-American community.

This psycho-social torture and physical terrorizing makes Chiron’s choice to break out beyond the margins a clear one.

In a violent revenge attempt against a neighborhood bully (sure to jar viewers in its brutishness), Chiron is whisked down the pipeline out of high school and into juvenile detention, his future and outward persona radically altered.

Gone is the old Chiron, and his once lanky shy self retreats into a ripped, hard, drug-dealing body double with a potentially damaging secret burning like a fire shut up in his bones.

That is, as a teenager, Chiron and his buddy Kevin once shared an intimate moment together on the beach that reached well beyond the bounds of platonic friendship.

Despite this, when it’s put up time, Kevin betrays Chiron to save his own skin (which leads to the violent episode landing Chiron in juvie) and the two lose contact.

moonlight movie christian review
(Photo: David Bornfriend, courtesy of A24)

So when Kevin calls Chiron out of the blue years later wanting to apologize for mistakes made and reconnect, the allure of closure proves too strong to resist.

Even in the light of betrayal and the passage of time, Chiron could never shake Kevin.

A symptom of his desperate search for affirmation?

An appreciation of the complexities that led to the broken bonds of friendship?

Love?

You decide.

Whatever the case, by the final scene, when Chiron rests his head on Kevin’s shoulder contentedly, at peace with himself having found peace with the only person (male or otherwise) he’d ever really loved, we the audience want to want what he wants, what he never could have but finally has.

However, this poses a real problem for Bible-believing followers of Jesus who want the happiness of our gay friends and neighbors, but are unwilling to compromise on God’s design for sexual relationships displayed in the conjugal marriage union.

Still, it almost seems cruel after all Chiron has endured to roll in like rain on a parade and douse the little spark of happiness he’s managed to ignite.

Yet the earnest contention of the Christian faith is not “choose happiness or Christ”,  but “choose happiness in Christ.”

The choice between Jesus and whatever keeps you from him is a choice between whatever it is you’re holding on to and something Infinitely Better.

I cannot go as far as affirming the validation Chiron finds in the arms of another man, not so much as a same-sex attracted person of color (which I am), but as a Christian (which I also am).

But in this broken visage, I see an underlying desire for wholeness all Christians will eagerly affirm as we point the way to Jesus as the summit of what it means to be at home with ourselves and to discover true wholeness at the Source.


Editor’s Note: This post was first published at Unpretentious Spiritual Musings.


Eric J. Miller is an avid religion nerd, Mexico enthusiast, and undergraduate preaching major at Cincinnati Christian University. He blogs at Unpretentious Spiritual Musings.

Leave your vote

0 Points
Upvote

Browse and manage your votes from your Member Profile Page


Share This Post

Share via

Share This Post

  • Digg
  • Tumblr
  • Flipboard
  • SMS
More
  • Report
Advertisement
Ancestry US
208
SHARES
ShareTweetPin It
Eric J. Miller

Eric J. Miller

Eric J. Miller is an avid religion nerd, Mexico enthusiast, and undergraduate preaching major at Cincinnati Christian University. He blogs at Unpretentious Spiritual Musings.

More Articles

Hurricane Irma
Inspiration

Awed by God’s Grace in the Midst of the Storm

September 19, 2017
white supremacy racism
Inspiration

Stop Talking About Racial Reconciliation and Start Talking About White Supremacy

August 26, 2017
women
Inspiration

Women of the Glass

July 15, 2017

Discussion about this post

Upcoming Events

Oct 5
1:00 pm - 6:00 pm EDT

Event: Black Religion and Critical Theory Colloquium

Oct 10
7:00 am - 11:30 pm EDT

Event: Free Virtual Church Mental Health Summit

View Calendar

Trending

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Tony Evans and Carla Crummie engaged to be married

Dr. Tony Evans Engaged to Former Pastor’s Wife and Widow Four Years After Lois Evans’ Death

September 12, 2023
Pastor Albert Tate has been placed on a leave of absence by his church board for inappropriate text messages and questionable comments

Fellowship Monrovia Church Puts Pastor Albert Tate on Leave Over ‘Inappropriate’ Text Messages

October 2, 2023
Twitter user posted image of Jesus sitting next to Donald Trump in court

Trump Shares Fake Courtroom Sketch of Himself and White Jesus; Users Respond With ‘Fixed’ Versions of Satan, Black Jesus

October 3, 2023
faith leaders

‘God Will Work a Miracle’ — Thousands of Foreign-Born Faith Leaders Could Be Forced to Leave US

September 30, 2023
jackie hill perry tbn fruits of the spirit heterosexuality

Sexuality Has Nothing to Do With Salvation, Jackie Hill Perry Says in TBN Talk About ‘Gay Girl, Good God’

October 8, 2021
Marla Frederick

Religion Scholar Marla Frederick Is First Black Woman to Lead Harvard Divinity School in 200 Years

September 30, 2023
Twitter user posted image of Jesus sitting next to Donald Trump in court

Trump Shares Fake Courtroom Sketch of Himself and White Jesus; Users Respond With ‘Fixed’ Versions of Satan, Black Jesus

October 3, 2023
iraq wedding fire

Wedding Fire That Killed More Than 100 in Iraqi Christian Community Prompts Letter From Pope

October 2, 2023
Pastor Albert Tate has been placed on a leave of absence by his church board for inappropriate text messages and questionable comments

Fellowship Monrovia Church Puts Pastor Albert Tate on Leave Over ‘Inappropriate’ Text Messages

October 2, 2023
Marla Frederick

Religion Scholar Marla Frederick Is First Black Woman to Lead Harvard Divinity School in 200 Years

September 30, 2023
faith leaders

‘God Will Work a Miracle’ — Thousands of Foreign-Born Faith Leaders Could Be Forced to Leave US

September 30, 2023
teacher classroom students

What Black Teachers Face Today Isn’t Much Different From What They Faced During Segregation

September 29, 2023

Most Shared Articles

  • Can Money-Making Microgrids Empower Black Churches to Close the Clean Energy Gap?...
  • Dr. Tony Evans Engaged to Former Pastor’s Wife and Widow Four Years After Lois Evans’ Death...
  • Kirk Franklin Finally Finds His Birth Father After 53 Years...
  • Christians Plea for Prayer, Help Amid Haiti’s Surging Gang Violence...
  • ‘Color of Compromise’ Author Jemar Tisby Comments on Quitting Kendi’s Antiracism C...
  • New and Upcoming Books: ‘Sacred Self-Care,’ ‘Unwind,’ ‘Damaged But Not...

From The Archive

lamor whitehead, brooklyn bishop and pastor

Preacher Robbed of Jewelry During Livestream Shows Off His Gucci-Louis-Fendi ‘Prayer Closet’

by FM Editors
August 2, 2022
Michelle Obama
Uncategorized

How First Lady Melania Trump Compares to Michelle Obama

by FM Editors
April 27, 2017
Christian author and preacher Dr. Voddie Baucham
Web Exclusives

‘Fault Lines’ Author Voddie Baucham Confused or Making Things Up, Richard Delgado Says in Response to Misquote on ‘Righteous Actions’ of Whites

by Nicola A. Menzie
August 3, 2021
Castle
Inspiration

How a ‘Keeper of the Castle’ Mentality Holds the Church Back From Racial Healing and Unity

by FM Editors
July 7, 2020
faithfully magazine header logo
Editorial Fellowship

Apply to Join Us as a Faithfully Magazine Editorial Fellow

by FM Editors
April 4, 2021

Who’s Online

There are no users currently online
Facebook Twitter Youtube Instagram
Faithfully Magazine

Faithfully Magazine is a news and culture publication centered on Christian communities of color.

Recent News

  • Trump Shares Fake Courtroom Sketch of Himself and White Jesus; Users Respond With ‘Fixed’ Versions of Satan, Black Jesus

Category

© 2023 Faithfully Media, LLC (Owner and Operator)

  • From The Magazine
  • Inspiration
  • News
  • Opinion & Analysis
  • Profiled
  • Q&As
  • Remember
  • Specials
  • New Jersey
  • Listen & Watch
  • Web Exclusives
  • Shop
    • Clothing
    • Faith Heroes Bookmarks
    • eBooks
  • Events
    • FM Live Events
    • Community Events
  • Resources
    • Black Christian Content
  • About Us
    • Advertise With Us
    • Submit Content
    • Give Via PayPal
  • Members
    • Log In
    • Your Freebies
  • Subscribe to Faithfully Magazine
  • Newsletter
No Result
View All Result

© 2023 Faithfully Media, LLC (Owner and Operator)

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

*By registering on our website, you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
Share via

Share This Post

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Email
  • WhatsApp
  • Copy Link
  • Tumblr
  • Digg
  • Flipboard
  • SMS

Add New Playlist

Log In

Sign In

Login with Facebook
Login with Twitter
Forgot password?

Don't have an account? Register

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Back to Login

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Accept

Add to Collection

  • Public collection title

  • Private collection title

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?
Send this to a friend