Act Like Men

Documentary
45 minutes; 2012
Rating 8/10

This documentary uses the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic as the means of teaching us about manliness.

On the night of April 15, 1912, this “virtually unsinkable” luxury ocean liner struck an iceberg and quickly started taking on water. There were lifeboats for only half the people aboard, so the captain gave the order that, with the exception of able-bodied men to row, the boats would first be filled with women and children. The end result was that 75 per cent of the women and children were saved, but just 20 per cent of the men.



Several Christian pastors – most of whom seem to be Reformed – are interviewed and they establish a firm connection between the example of the men on the Titanic and God’s call for all men to be sacrificial leaders (Ephesians 5). As the filmmakers tells us more about these men who willingly gave up their lives, they also start contrasting them with men of today, many of whom aren’t even willing to give up their X-box for their loved ones. As one pastor, Scott Brown, explains:

Fathers today have too many diversionary activities. They have too many sports, too many interests, too many hobbies. They have things that just get in the way of the discipleship of their children.  If a man is going to obey the biblical commands he has to lay aside lots of lawful, interesting, fantastic, fun, engaging kinds of things or he will never be able to be a shepherd of his children. 

This is another well-made, thought-provoking production by Reformed filmmaker Colin Gunn. My only critique would be that it goes a tad overboard, tracing most every evil in the world to the lack of godly manliness. That said, lack of male leadership is a pressing problem, and this is a challenging presentation that the men in our circles would benefit from seeing and discussing. You can purchase it at Christianbooks.com.