4 Things You Should Know about His Only Son, Angel Studio's Newest Movie

Abraham is a hard-working man who loves his wife, his children and his God.

He knows he's blessed. Long ago, God told Abraham his descendants would equal the number of stars in the sky. God even told him that his descendants would live on a bountiful stretch of land and that all the nations of the Earth would be blessed through them.

But now God is asking Abraham to do the unthinkable: to sacrifice his son Isaac on an altar in Moriah, a land that will take three days to reach.

Abraham weeps at the thought. Yet he also begins preparing for the grueling trip.

"The Lord commands it," Abraham tells his wife.

The new film His Only Son (PG-13) follows the Old Testament story of Abraham, Issac and Sarah.

Here are four things you should know about it:

Photo courtesy: ©Angel Studios, used with permission.

1. It's From the Studio Behind The Chosen

His Only Son is being distributed by the same company, Angel Studios, that brought us The Chosen and The Wingfeather Saga, two well-done and popular projects. It received an impressive 72 percent rating from the Angel Guild – the 64,000 Angel Studios crowd funders who "review and greenlight creator projects," according to a news release.

Angel Studios crowdfunded the marketing and advertising budget, which was more than $1 million. The crowdfunding was "historic," director David Helling told Crosswalk.

"It totally blew away their expectations," he said. "We made the full cap of what they were wanting to raise in a little over 80 hours."

Photo courtesy: ©Angel Studios, used with permission.

2. It's a 'Controversial' Story of Obedience

The story of Abraham and Isaac may not be controversial to your Christian-centric mind, but it is so outside the church. After all, didn't God command his people not to murder?

"It's such a confusion-inducing or contention-inducing account from Scripture with non-believers in conversations I've had over the years," Helling told Crosswalk.

Believers often "don't really know" how to answer critics of the story, he added.

His Only Son handles the subject well as it follows the biblical text and tackles a few questions – with plausible scenarios – that Scripture doesn't fully answer: What was Isaac's reaction in learning he was the one to be sacrificed? Was he obedient? The final 15 minutes of the film are the best media rendition of the story I've ever seen.

Helling believes the film can serve as a form of apologetics and education.

"[God] had a purpose in testing Abraham in this way and in setting this example – this memorial stone of sorts – that people could look back on for 2000 years from the time of Abraham to the time of Christ," he said.

Photo courtesy: ©Angel Studios, used with permission.

3. It's the Story of Abraham's Life

The story opens with God telling Abraham to sacrifice Isaac and closes with the angel intervening in the sacrifice. The rest of the film follows Abraham, Isaac and two servants as they travel to Mt. Moriah, the site of the sacrifice. Through flashbacks, we also see scenes from Abraham's life: his witnessing of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, his learning that his descendants will be given a new land, and his being told that he and his wife Sarah will have a child at an old age. The film also confronts the difficult subject of Sarah giving her servant, Hagar, to Abraham as a child bearer. ("Perhaps through her I will bear children," a weeping Sarah tells a surprised Abraham. The family-friendly film does not include any bedroom scenes.)

The film portrays Abraham as obedient and full of grace. Told by Sarah that he should not travel several days to build an altar in Mt. Moriah, he tells her, "It is not my decision to make." Told by a servant that Sodom is filled with wicked people, Abraham responds, "We are no different when we go our own way." Told that he may be worshiping the wrong god, Abraham responds, "There is no other God."

Photo courtesy: ©Angel Studios, used with permission.

4. It Points to Christ

Although it's a story from the Old Testament, the movie points to Christ. The film begins with a quote from Jesus in John 8:56 and 8:58 ("Abraham rejoiced to see my day …") and closes with a brief scene of Jesus on the cross.

The story of Abraham and Isaac is not a traditional Easter story, Helling acknowledged, but it has Easter-centric themes. God is "showing us these hints all throughout the Old Testament" about Jesus, he said.

"The Old Testament narrative is Christ's narrative," he added.

His Only Son has an authentic, ancient Middle Eastern look and feel. The landscapes are dusty. The people are dirty (as they should be after walking for three straight days). Nicolas Mouawad, a Lebanese film and TV actor, portrays Abraham, while Tehran-born Sara Sayed portrays Sarah. Both are solid.

The script stays true to Scripture even as it takes artistic license for those in-between-the-verses scenes. It's a thought-provoking film with more than a few powerful scenes. At about 90 minutes in length, the film is not too long, not too short.

His Only Son is another impressive addition to the Angel Studios library.

His Only Son is rated PG-13 for thematic content and some violence.

Entertainment rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

Family-friendly rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

Photo courtesy: ©Angel Studios, used with permission. 

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.