2015’s Faith Of Our Fathers tells the story of a road trip to Washington, D.C.
John (Kevin Downes) and Wayne (David A.R. White) might not seem to have much in common. John is uptight and neurotic, on the verge of getting married but feeling like he has to do one final thing while his fiancée (Candace Cameron Bure) plans their wedding. Wayne is a proud redneck, someone who lives in a trailer and enjoys picking fights. When John first shows up at the trailer, Wayne shoots a shotgun at him. When John refuses to leave, Wayne eventually allows him into the trailer and the two of them talk.
They are linked by their fathers, who both served and bonded in Vietnam. Through flashbacks, we see how John’s father (Sean McGowan) found strength from his religious faith and how Wayne’s father (Scott Whyte, who viewers of a certain age will recognize from City Guys) eventually set aside his cynicism. Wayne is in possession of the letters that his father wrote home from Vietnam and John, feeling a need to know who his father was, wants to read those letters. Wayne agrees to show John the letters if he drives Wayne to Washington D.C. so that they can visit the Vietnam War memorial.
Along the way, the two of them bicker, bond, and have adventures. This is a road film, which means that it has to take a while for John and Wayne to stop arguing with each other and start to open up about their pasts and their views on the modern world. They meet a wide variety of people while on their trip, some of whom are trustworthy and many of whom are not. They also meet Mansfield (Stephen Baldwin), who served in Vietnam with their fathers and who offers up some details about what happened to the men while they were serving in the military.
Unfortunately, the film itself doesn’t really work. It has all of the flaws that one typically associates with a faith-based filmmaking. The budget is noticeably low, something that especially becomes an issue during the Vietnam flashbacks. The dialogue is often didactic. Downes and White are familiar faces when it comes to faith-based films and they’ve both given good performances in other films but they both feel miscast here. As played by Downes, John is a bit too neurotic to be believable (or particularly sympathetic) while White’s earnest and, at times, goofy style of performing feels wrong for a character who is supposed to be into random fights and beer. For someone whose career has largely become about appearing in faith-based films, Stephen Baldwin seems rather detached throughout Faith of our Fathers. In the flashbacks, he’s one of the least convincing commanding officers that I’ve ever seen in a war film. In the modern scenes, he just seems bored. If I’m being hard on Baldwin, it’s because I’ve seen him give really good performances in other films. Knowing that he could be giving a good performance makes his bad performances all the more frustrating.
I will say this, though. Faith of Our Fathers takes a stand for supporting our veterans, both when they’re serving and after they’ve come home. I appreciated that. All too often, we seem to hold the unpopular wars against those who served, as if the mistakes of those in command are somehow their fault. That happened with Vietnam and it’s happening right now with Iraq and Afghanistan. No one should ever be forgotten or deserted by their own country.
Through the Shattered Lens 