3 Reasons Why We Liked ‘I Still Believe’ + Small Group Discussion Guide & Movie Review
Written by the Princess and Ranger March 12, 2020
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Know Before You Go:
*Most theaters have sent out notices that they are re-doubling their cleaning, sanitizing and precautionary efforts. Most theaters have not closed yet, we will let you know if that changes!*
**Release dates have been impacted, however this movie has been released on schedule! We’ll do our best to keep you up to date with those on our social media platforms**
Movie: I Still Believe
Rating: PG
Age Suggestion: 10 and up
Running Time: 1 hour 55 minutes
You can watch the trailer here!
Release Date: March 13 2020
Stars: 4 out of 5
Themes: Faith, Suffering, Unconditional Love, Loss, Friendship, Forgiveness
Warnings: This movie depicts a painful cancer scenario. It is not suitable for any child that is too young to understand the subject matter.
Quick Summary: The tear-jerking true story of musician Jeremy Camp and his journey of love, loss, musical success and faith. This story centers around a the complexities of a relationship. A beautiful, and timely, reminder that in this crazy world we will all struggle but we can hang onto faith and love.
3 Reasons we Liked This Movie!
1) This movie doesn’t show faith in a cheesy or fake way (Like most Christian movies show & other movies satirize). It shows someone struggling through hard questions and not dismissing them because of their belief. But struggling with those questions about faith and hanging on to it. It didn’t shy away from the fact that we all question and hurt.
2) The love story was 100% amazing and beautiful and we loved every second of it. It reminds you that you can hurt and struggle and still believe. Still hang on to love. It was beautiful.
3) It had us talking after the movie. Sometimes after movies you have to struggle to find things to talk about – thank goodness we have blogs like this one to help with that! 😉 With this movie, we naturally had a thousand things to say afterwards and had many great conversations afterwards.
I Still Believe Discussion Questions:
1) What did their story mean to you? How did their story make you feel?
2) What did this movie make you think about believing in Jesus? Struggling with faith and doubt?
3) Why do you think Melissa still had faith, even in the hard times?
4) What was your favorite moment of the movie?
5) Who do you relate to most from the movie?
*Further questions for an I Still Believe Discussion Bible Study or I Still Believe Small Group Discussion* 1) What verses do you go back to when you are struggling? 2) Would you be comfortable taking your friends who do not believe to see this movie? 3) What did you already know about Jeremy Camp’s story- what surprised you? 4) How did this encourage you in your faith journey?*
I Still Believe Review: *SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT*
Characters & Acting:
My gosh, the acting is amazing. Those actors truly make you believe you are watching someone’s life unfold right before your eyes. They did an amazing job and had incredible chemistry. Which doesn’t always happen in faith based films. The fact that this is a true story makes it even more wonderful. The characters are real people and the situations are real. The characters were developed beautifully and it was a very well done movie.
Script & Story:
The real life story of Jeremy Camp is some tough subject matter. He left for college and met an amazing woman there. Through cute and awkward encounters, he fell deeply in love with her only to deal with one of the hardest struggles this world can throw at a couple, cancer. The story cannot truly be criticized due to it just being fact. The script did push faith (but not religion which I truly appreciate) in some very blunt ways, but that truly has to be included due to the realities of the story. Overall it was a well written script for the true, heart-breaking story of a young couple in love dealing with the realities of life – faith, struggles, and loss
Film Quality:
This is a faith based movie, so naturally I assumed that the film quality would be lacking, I assumed it would feel like a low budget hallmark movie. Boy was I wrong! This movie is extremely well done. The quality is incredible. If they had not mention faith as frequently as they did I would have thought that Nicholas Sparks himself had a part in making this movie. It was extremely well done and we were highly impressed!
Favorite Moments:
I love the scenes between Melissa and Jeremy when they first start talking. It is SO cute and awkward and just makes you remember falling in love. There are many scenes that we don’t want to spoil so I will just say when Jeremy and Melissa visit the museum/ astronomy center – I loved every second about that scene and it was my favorite in the movie. I also love the scene where Jeremy and his father have a talk during a critical time in Jeremy’s life.
Closing Thoughts:
I still believe reminded me about faith in very unexpected ways. I thought I would come out with a “camp faith high” – hyped up to go start sharing my faith with everyone. Instead I was reminded that faith is your own story, that it is complicated and beautiful and can be shared by example. Melissa didn’t force Jeremy to have stronger faith. She had faith and her example led to his growth. I loved that lesson.
I loved that Jeremy shared all the hurt and pain and next steps with us. He not only shared the good, but the bad, and he did it in an honest way. I am so thankful for that and truly became a better person after seeing this movie. Overall I think this is a wonderful movie to take your teenagers who are starting to, or will soon learn about love and relationships. This movie truly can start some amazing conversations about love, faith, and life. HIGHLY recommend for a date night, mother/daughter, friend outing or parent/teen outing!
What to check out next:
-If you enjoyed our I Still Believe Discussion Guide, then you might like our posts on…
*Overcomer and Breakthrough movie reviews with discussion questions.
*The Chosen Series Bible Study
*Brene Brown’s Netflix Call To Courage special
*Bethany Hamilton’s new documentary review: Unstoppable
*ALSO check out Jeremy Camp’s music!
What was your favorite moment from the movie?! If this I Still Believe Discussion Guide and Review was helpful, please share it!
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