The Book of Ruth: Journey of Faith (2009)

When I was 13 years old a version of The Book Of Ruth came out with Stuart Whitman, Tom Tryon and Elana Eden in 1960. Eden was in the title role and the two men played her husband. It was a scaled down DeMille like production replete with bible quotations and a bit of sex thrown in just to show what you're giving up. Ruth if I recall was a Moabitess temple girl and that Moab crowd liked to live good.Poetical verses from King James with a little sex was always good to sell a biblical film, a tried and true formula. But in The Book Of Ruth: A Journey Of Faith there's no sex and the people speak like they could be from anywhere be it Chillicothe or Cheektowaga. Sherry Morris is certainly no Elana Eden in the sex appeal department. Peggy Wood was Naomi the mother-in-law that Ruth decides to stick with and make the journey to Israel with. She was light years better than Eleese Lester.But Boaz the second husband is played here by Christian entertainer Carman Licciardello. He plays him like the Las Vegas lounge singer he was before Carman took up fundamentalist Christianity. Who told this guy he could act?The film was produced by fundamentalist Christians and the parameters of their religion made filming this impossible to do in an entertaining fashion. The acting is terrible, the direction is static and the whole pace slow and boring.This will be good for Sunday school and little else.

I found that the Book of Ruth Journey of Faith was written with great integrity holding true to the Biblical account of Ruth. I loved how the incorporated David! I can not speak of the acting or budget but I believe that the story held true and because of that it will have a great impact to those who watch it. There are other films out there about Ruth that do not hold true to the story. It might be hard to watch through some of the cheesy acting but that seems to be true of most Christian films to date. I believe that will change with time. But I'd recommend this film over any other film about Ruth because of how it stays true to the story. The through line they wrote with David gave it a wonderful perspective of the whole story. So, if you love the story of Ruth as I do I believe you will like this film.

I can forgive the film makers for using the least offensive book from the Bible. You want the biggest audience you can and you lose that if you offend anyone. Or do you get more publicity that way? But anyway, least offensive can also mean least exciting. You might try Judges next time (esp 19!). So to begin with the story isn't exactly interesting or even mildly captivating. Yet faced with this kind of material to work with the director has managed to turn a bland story even more bland. The actors are out of place, out of character, and woefully unprepared for this period piece. The scenes are shot with little thought for dramatic effect or emotional emphasis. Not that there is much to be found anyway. The editing is uninspired, pedestrian, and often poorly executed. What you end up with is a weak story made weaker by a factor of ten.

This is just sloppy film making. First of all the acting is incredibly sub par. It appears as if the choice of actor for each part was made in a very haphazard manner. Did they get everything set up, camera and crew ready on the first day of shooting, only to discover that they needed actors? That's what it feels like. One could imagine the producers and director scrambling around pulling people off the street or calling in favors from friends just to fill empty parts. This gives the whole story a home movie feel. You can tell that so many characters roles are filled by individuals who are not even remotely right for the parts. Usually you find one or two individuals who are not right for the part they play in a movie. But here almost everyone is miscast. Resulting in performances that are very flat, obviously awkward, and at times painful to watch. All in all it looks like a rush job. I realize that small independent film makers are extremely limited in time. The old saying time is money is quite true. But that doesn't excuse this effort. Next time put a little more thought into essential elements like your cast and it will show in the end product.