Noble (Bradley, 2014)

Did I want a biopic that was critical of its heroine? Of course not. But I wanted one where she was presented as a fully realized human being. The Christina Noble represented in this film is a walking sermon object lesson. Expository dialogue–the practice of having a character verbally explain or interpret the the meaning of their own movie for the benefit of the audience–is always patronizing: in Christian movies, it can feel especially so….

There is one way that Noble stands out from most Christian films. The seriousness of its subject matter also immunizes it somewhat from any sense of glibness or smugness. Christina does a lot of good work, but the film never succumbs to the Christian movie addiction of needing to be a “feel-good” story. Because of that, paradoxically, we do feel better watching it than we do at some Christian movies that will only show evil as a prelude to showing Christians conquering it. While Noble doesn’t present the world as a place that is easily cured of its sinful ways, nor Christians as above the fray, it does suggest there is a way of working for good and even bringing light into some fairly dark places.