A Great Awakening

by Mike McGranaghan

A Great Awakening is the newest film from Sight & Sound. The Lancaster, Pennsylvania-based theater company is known for elaborate, visually dazzling Biblical plays and faith-based productions. They made the leap to cinemas with 2022’s Christmas drama I Heard the Bells, which earned a respectable $5.6 million in specialty release. This one could do even better. It bears some of the same limitations inherent in transitioning Sight & Sound’s style to the big screen, but still manages to be a lively historical drama with a potent faith message.

The film details the real-life friendship between Benjamin Franklin (John Paul Sneed) and George Whitefield (Jonathan Blair). Flashback scenes depict how Whitefield went from aspiring actor to highly motivational preacher, using his theatrical skills to deliver sermons that shook up the establishment and inspired believers into new levels of religiousness. Once in America, Whitefield convinces Franklin to publish his sermons right at the time when the original American colonies are on the verge of collapse. His insights ultimately help to stabilize the new country.

Seeing a Sight & Sound movie is a little bit odd. Whereas most historical dramas these days go for heavy realism, their style is unabashedly theatrical. The performances are given with that “play to the back row” vocalization. Characters are prone to giving long, elaborately written monologues. Every important story beat is emphasized by swelling music or some sort of cue to let you know there is great meaning in what you’ve just seen. There’s a definite “stagey” quality to the film. That can take some getting used to, and it occasionally threatens to overtake the history being conveyed.

That said, the company knows how to tell a stirring tale. Scenes where representatives from the colonies bicker and debate make you realize just how tenuous things were in America’s earliest days. Franklin and Whitefield have earnest, fascinating conversations about differing beliefs within Christianity. Whitefield’s early struggles and eventual conversion to roaming preacher contain the kind of drama that forces your eyes to stay glued to the screen, especially a sequence where he washes the feet of prisoners to let them know they are loved. The big finale, which finds Franklin addressing the delegates, is a rousing highlight.

A Great Awakening has first-class production values to boot. Production took place at authentic locations like the Daniel Boone Homestead and the Landis Valley Village & Farm Museum. That gives it an atmosphere that no set, regardless of how brilliantly constructed, could ever match. Performances from the cast are strong. Blair is believably devout as Whitefield, and Sneed brings a nice sense of wry humor to Franklin. They and the other actors understand the assignment.

The picture ends with a slight suggestion that religion should continue to play a role in government - a thought that might rankle viewers who feel strongly about the separation between church and state. Otherwise, this is a fusion of history and faith that reminds us how lucky we are that America managed to thrive.

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