{"id":1799,"date":"2026-04-18T19:32:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T19:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fruitinthedesert.com\/NewFruits\/?page_id=1799"},"modified":"2026-04-18T21:15:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T21:15:32","slug":"a-great-awakening","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/fruitinthedesert.com\/NewFruits\/a-great-awakening\/","title":{"rendered":"‘A Great Awakening’\u2014A Movie of Faith in Time for America’s 250th"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Diane Howard, Ph.D.<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

A must-see movie in theaters right now is \u201cA Great Awakening<\/em><\/strong>.\u201d<\/strong> It is an historically accurate dramatic film about the friendship between George Whitefield<\/strong> and Benjamin\u00a0Franklin<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0the\u00a0influence\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0Great\u00a0Awakening\u00a0on\u00a0the founding of the\u00a0
of\u00a0the\u00a0United\u00a0States of America.\u00a0The acting, especially of the leads, is excellent. The dialects of Whitefield and Franklin are convincing (the dialects of minor characters are less compelling). The cinematography is very good. The life of George Whitefield is fascinating and powerfully inspirational.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The movie is honest, as it follows the friendship of Whitefield and Franklin. Starting with the debates during the Constitutional Convention <\/strong>and the states\u2019 inability to find unity, the elder statesman Franklin is deeply discouraged.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film flashes back to Franklin\u2019s revisiting Whitefield\u2019s journals, beginning with his early struggles with a lazy eye and harsh treatment from family and peers. However, Whitefield was able to receive theater training leading to his powerful style as a \u201ctrumpet from heaven\u201d and education at Oxford<\/strong> in a servile position at which time he was taunted by other young men but also met and joined the Holy Club made up a strong, serving  Christian leaders such as John and Charles Wesley<\/strong>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The movie shows Whitefield\u2019s own spiritual awakening and that which he facilitates in countless others, especially marginalized peoples such as coal miners. He emphasizes God\u2019s equal love for all and the need for each to be born again spiritually. Thousands throng to hear his captivating voice everywhere he goes. Franklin publishes Whitefield\u2019s sermons and follows Whitefield\u2019s ministry, which ends up influencing the foundation of the United States of America.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joshua Enckco<\/strong> wrote and directed the movie. It was produced by Sight & Sound Films<\/strong>. It was released for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence<\/strong>. The film has been praised for its historical accuracy, cinematography, rich production values, and performances, especially Jonathan Blair<\/strong>\u2019s portrayal of Whitefield. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0movie\u00a0has received high approval with a\u00a0\u201cA+\u201d\u00a0CinemaScore\u00a0from\u00a0audiences.\u00a0Teens through adults will find it riveting, as it is full of action, jeopardy, and drama. The cinematography is powerfully engaging. \u201cA Great Awakening<\/em>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>is at this time in theaters and is not streaming on Netflix or Prime Video right now.\u00a0\u201cA Great Awakening<\/em>\u201d\u00a0is a small, independent film distributed by Roadside Attractions<\/strong>. Roadside Attractions has an output deal with Hulu<\/strong>, so Hulu has the exclusive rights to stream \u201cA Great Awakening<\/em>\u201d\u00a0<\/em>after the movie\u2019s theatrical release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May this movie encourage a new Christian awakening today!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diane Howard, Ph.D. is a dialogue, dialect and voice-over coach, as well as a journalist who writes about the role of faith in movies and in the entertainment field. Her website is dianehoward.com<\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Diane Howard, Ph.D. A must-see movie in theaters right now is \u201cA Great Awakening.\u201d It is an historically accurate dramatic film about the friendship between George Whitefield and Benjamin\u00a0Franklin\u00a0and\u00a0the\u00a0influence\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0Great\u00a0Awakening\u00a0on\u00a0the founding of the\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0United\u00a0States of America.\u00a0The acting, especially of the leads, is excellent. The dialects of Whitefield and Franklin are convincing (the dialects of minor characters […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"custom-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1799","page","type-page","status-publish","czr-hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fruitinthedesert.com\/NewFruits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fruitinthedesert.com\/NewFruits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fruitinthedesert.com\/NewFruits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fruitinthedesert.com\/NewFruits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fruitinthedesert.com\/NewFruits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1799"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/fruitinthedesert.com\/NewFruits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1814,"href":"https:\/\/fruitinthedesert.com\/NewFruits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1799\/revisions\/1814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fruitinthedesert.com\/NewFruits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}