Flywheel (2003)

As with many non-Hollywood movie productions and movies with a strong Christian message, you are not likely to find this movie in your local movie rental store. I recently purchased the movie Flywheel online from the American Family Association. However, while Christmas shopping this past week I noticed that the movie is being carried in Wal-Mart stores. You can also get this movie online from Amazon.com.

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It is a movie with a strong Christian worldview. Flywheel tells the story of restoration of a 1950’s British Triumph classic car and the transformation of a used car salesman. It is a very low budget film, actually created by a church in the South. The film depicts the depths and emptiness and meaningless that a human life can sink as well as the heights it can reach and miracles it can experience. Just like the mechanic who restores the non-functioning classic Triumph vehicle, God hears and answers Jay Austin’s, the crooked used car salesman, cry for help and makes something good out of an utterly downtrodden and dysfunctional life.

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The following review by Bret Fetzer on Amazon.com is an excellent summary of the movie, “Flywheel is the first film from the creators of Facing the Giants . . . Used car salesman Jay Austin . . . swindles his customers and teaches his assistant salesmen to do the same--but despite the profits, something gnaws at him. When he realizes that his own son doesn't respect him, Austin has a conversion and accepts God into his life. This would be the end of most spiritual stories, but Flywheel finds a warm comedy in the obstacles on the path of righteousness; Austin discovers that being right with God means grappling every day with what it means to be honest. Though the filmmaking is raw (the editing is often clumsy and the cinematography is flat), the story is well-paced, has a gently ironic sense of humor, and Kendrick's central performance is compelling. Kendrick is just as persuasive as a man struggling to emerge from a joyless life as he is when he's rediscovered his faith but finds it constantly tested. Though Flywheel is forthright about its Christian inspiration, the story is about actually living a moral life, not about abstract spiritual truths. The result is a movie that looks towards heaven, but has its feet on the earth.”

RATING

The movie rates a ****1/2 out of *****. I certainly agree with the reviewer on IMDb.com who wrote that the makers of Flywheel “created a film with $20k that's better than most of the multi-million dollar productions out of Hollywood today. You'll laugh, cry, and more importantly, you'll feel the presence of God in this film . . .” The movie is thought-provoking, inspiring and entertaining. The movie would make a nice last minute Christmas gift . . .

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I recommend this film to every Christian family or anyone else who wants to expose themselves or their children to a clear and practical demonstration of traditional virtues and values which were once commonplace in this nation and can be again . . .