Stand Your Ground (A Cry for Justice)

Stand Your Ground (A Cry for Justice)

I agreed to review this DVD because I believe there will soon come a time, if it has not come already, when each of us, will need to “stand our ground”.  What sane, dedicated to God and family person does not, once challenged, want to stand up for his/her family, his/her rights, and his/her faith?

This movie depicts the real life experience of Jackie Carpenter, a wife and mother who had to do just that when it seemed “the system” was taking care of itself -- at the expense of the truth and her son.

In the process, Carpenter feels she is forced to take on not only her husband who prefers not to make any trouble, her advisors, her son’s lawyer, and ultimately God Himself.  She tells God that if He won’t “fix this” when He hears the “cry for justice” [which also happens to be the movie’s sub-title], she will.

It is at this point that she may have felt as abandoned as Christ may have felt on the cross when He uttered the words, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” It was not an easy place for Jesus to have been and it is never an easy place for any of His followers to be – to feel like that. Understanding that God is still there and cares very much requires great commitment and dedication – a faith that you do not get until you have to be there. Carpenter has to come to grips with her options. She can fight this alone with her own human capabilities and knowledge or she can let God be God and participate as a child of His while still fulfilling her role as a mother and watching her son suffer.

Trusting God and accepting what He allows are two different things as Carpenter finds out. And some people handle it bette than others.

The main actors are Drew Matthews (the falsely accused son); Francine Locke (the mother); Kelsi Chandler (the daughter-in-law); and Cameron Arnett (the brilliant defense lawyer). But do not watch this movie if you insist on perfection when it comes to the films you watch. There are no Oscar nominations waiting to be announced. Some of the lines, especially those taken from the real story, sound corny and no award-seeking writer would ever have proposed them. I felt the music did not always fit the scene and was quite disjointed. But once you get over these expectations that you are accustomed to, you will find a gem from reality – and most often real life is more awkward than how Hollywood portrays it. Here is a low budget film with a great message. You can knock it or you can ask yourself, “Am I prepared to go through what Jackie Carpenter went through? And what if in my case, the results were different? Would I survive – my faith, my family, myself?”

The movie was issued in 2014 by Triple Horse Studios and distributed in 2015 by Phase 4 Films.  It is now available on DVD.  Watch it alone, with your spouse, and even with your teenagers.  

    -- Ken B. Godevenos, http://www.accordconsulting.com , Toronto, 15/05/17  

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